Sounds like it needs alot of expensive work. The pool repair itself is thousands. I'd lowball even more.

Those things you listed are only the visual problems. What could the HI discover?

After what you've been through, Julie, think about resale value on this one.

I've had a laundry room in the garage, it's a pain especially with kids. My daughter used to lock me out of the house. It wasn't funny the 1st time as I didn't have a key out there...

When you say the laundry is in the kitchen, would you be able to fit a side by side washer dryer or will you need to stack them? Our laundry is right off of the kitchen in the mud room. We used to have doors but took them down, added a curtain which is easier on me. Are you able to build walls around that area to do something like that?

I wonder why there are no closet doors. We have one room like that, my daughters. I had to take them down because she was driving me nuts with the boogy man. I wouldn't want to buy a house missing all of them (we're willing to replace if we get a bid). Depending on the closet size, you may be in for a big expense. You should go back & measure them because if they are an odd size you will need to buy solid doors so that they can be cut down. You also may have to custom make them. I wonder if this is why they are gone. They'd probably decided to upgrade them or they were trashed from someone living there but didn't because of the expense. If they are over $200 each, it adds up quick.

Pool sounds expensive to repair. Would it be cheaper to fill it in?

There's a cement slab, but nothing overhead, which is unusual.

The pipes were laid in the concrete which, if you want to eventually change the layout of a bathroom or kitchen - good luck. So glad we are not built on a slab!

hall bath hasn't been updated in 50 years with original shower tile, toilet, and vanity.

Sounds like a big project. Do the walls also have tile or just the shower area?

Does the house have 1 bathroom or two?

After what you've been through, Julie, think about resale value on this one.

Have to agree. Reality, who will do the repairs / updates? IIRC your DH isn't the fixing / updating type; while you are probably capable to do some of this stuff, how will you manage if you have another baby?

The house is actually in good condition for a 50 year old house, the price range in general, and the area. Believe me, for the 40+ I've looked at, this is better than most! LOL I think it all comes down to perspective in different parts of the country, new build vs. old neighborhoods. It's a beautiful solid brick house on the outside, much better than the stucco and chicken wire of the new builds! LOL

Resale value will be fine, if not very good. It's in an up and coming area that's predicted to be one of the most appreciating neighborhoods over the next several years (probably because it's one of the few affordable areas left inside the city!). We'll stay there long enough to recoup, I'm certainly not worried about that.

Pool I figure will be $5~7K to fix. We definately want to keep it! This isn't something that needs to be fixed right away, just in the next few years.

1.75 bathrooms, master has already been updated. Flooring has all been updated, so I'd just need to redo the shower tile, replace toilet and vanity. I think I could do the whole bathroom for under $2K easily.

Cement slab is typical for Phoenix and I have no need to change the layout of the kitchen/baths. Kitchen has been updated with new cabinets, just looks like they put a side by side washer/dryer where the fridge would go and moved the fridge to where a little eat in kitchen table would go. So they are hanging out RIGHT there and the kitchen is a small little enclosed room. It probably gets really hot with the dryer and oven going! I could very well flip it back and add a pantry next to the fridge. But the question is if the pipes/electrical have been updated out in the garage where the original laundry room was. I could knock out a door through the family room for direct access so I wouldn't have to go out two doors. Just don't know what cost would be involved if I had to replumb in the garage.

Closet doors -- the originals are gone which are floor to ceiling odd sizes. I'm sure they just got annoying with the kids. We leave all our doors open anyway. But I could frame in the top 2-3 feet of the closet so I could put normal height bi-fold or bypass doors there. Nothing immediate needed, but something I'd eventually do or need to do down the road if I sold. Probably less than $600 for all the closets if I did it myself.

Patio cover is something I'd do immediately -- hopefully $1000 to hire out?

Any further thoughts? Of course, this is just what I see and hopefully the HI turns out just normal stuff. Makes me feel better that $270K doesn't sound like an offensive offer.

I'd offer what YOU want, and not what your realtor suggests..Pool costs to replaster,replace coping and tile will likley be more then 7k, and could be much more depending on whether coping is monolithic with surounding pool decking..i could easily see you spending over 25k in no time for some of your planned renovations..moving the laundry room might entail plumbing and electrical work. Patio cover will be more then 1k, though that all depends on size of patio...good luck

I think $270k is a good offer especially in the Phoenix market. Where in Phoenix? I have family in Gilbert and Chandler - both areas have gone way up in value since my family bought homes there. Fortunately, labor out there seems to be fairly reasonable. You do need to be careful about the workmanship. My sister has had a number of things done to her place so I could ask her for some recommendations if you're on the east side of Phoenix.

We found our workmen in Tucson through referrals from friends. My DH likes to do a majority of the work himself but on those few things he can't do (like re-plastering/re-tiling the pool) or doesn't have time for, we found hiring an extra set of hands most helpful and fairly reasonable.

Fairygirl43 - I have sent you a PM :-)

I think your agent's number is good. I don't know if you want to go up too much. Starting at 10% off the listing price is not a bad thing.

I don't know how property is assessed for taxes in your area. But in my area - the property taxes are assessed at the sale price of the home. I say this to have you bear in mind that if you should ask for concessions like assistance with closing costs, that essesentially that amount (could be several thousand) will be factored into the sales price - i.e. raising the sale price of the home, and affectig the property taxes. Not to mention you will be financing that portion also.

If you can afford to pay the closing costs, I personally think it would be better to try to get the sales price down in an amount equal to the concession. Say for instance, you want 3% toward closing costs, wouldn't it be better to just get another 3% off of the price? Saving you thousands in the sales price, interest and taxes.

The people who bought my house wanted $3000 for closing costs, and they got it - but effectively what happened to them was they financed VA at 100% - the closing costs were factored into the sales price - so what they ended up doing was financing about $6K in closing costs for the next 30 years.

It depends a lot on what you have to come out of pocket. In the N.E. where I am living, the taxes are running $20 - $27 per thousand - so, maybe it's only $120-150 a year, but that adds up to another $10 in monthly payments. Add to that the cost of financing that additional $6k could add another $7-12 per month in mostly interestd. For some people that's a make or break number in getting a mortgage. It may not be for you.

I'm quite the bear when it comes to housing prices. If the comps don't support it - I'm not going to pay it. Even at that, with an expected continued downturn for the next several years, esp. in your area of the country, it's going to be a few years before you level off and go back to normal appreciation.

If I were selling my house today, I'd probably have to take another 25K off the listing price. I am lucky to have gotten what I got and gotten out of it when I did.

Just some of my totally unsubstantiated random thoughts. In the end, it's all about your comfort level. Financially and personally.

Your mileage may vary.

MP

Julie,
Do NOT post where it is or anything else too specific. We'll help you all we can, but I am not confident giving out too much info. There is a real chance it could get back to the selling agent. The last thing you need is for the listing agent to know your top dollar.
Best of luck.
Jo

Looks like there's NO other practical place to put the W/D. I can't even enclose them in a portion of the kitchen because the kitchen is already so tiny! There's no plumbing or electrical in the garage, I'd have to run a new line and that could easily be $5-10K. It's not a deal breaker for me, I just need to get a competitive price on the house so I can afford to relocate them. I DO NOT want them in that kitchen.

Pool will be $7-8K after talking to a few pool specialists.

We have plenty of cash from the sale of our current house to put down, so that's not an issue. Taxes are not based on sale prices here, thank goodness, or we'd all be broke! LOL

Found out the owner's not in a hurry to move though, so I'm not sure how motivated they will be to sell.

I guess if it's meant to be, it's meant to be!

Julie - Good luck to you on the offer. Is there space in one of the bathrooms for a stacked w/d? Since there already is plumbing in that area it will be easier and cheaper to do there. The electrical isn't as big of a deal to put anywhere as long as you have attic access. Either way it will cost, but would probably be good for re-sale to not have it in the kitchen.

Nope, bathrooms are very small. There is literally no place to put build it in in the entire house. There IS a hall closet containing the gas furnance and gas water heater. This is near the kitchen and bathrooms. I'm not sure what the a/c unit is and if it will run heat. If so, we can get rid of the furnance, but don't know how costly it would be to move the water heater to the garage. Less than w/d??

You could put in a tankless water heater. They require very little space.

"There IS a hall closet containing the gas furnance and gas water heater. This is near the kitchen and bathrooms. I'm not sure what the a/c unit is and if it will run heat. If so, we can get rid of the furnance, but don't know how costly it would be to move the water heater to the garage. Less than w/d??"

A washer needs electricity, cold water supply, hot water supply, and a drain line. Getting all four of those things to a hall closet, especially on a slab foundation, will not come cheap. A dryer will need either electricity or gas, which again, with a slab foundation, will be difficult and pricey. The dryer will also need to vent exhaust outdoors, probably through a vertical pipe through the ceiling and out the roof. Not as tough but you'd have to be pretty handy to do it yourself and be confident that the roof wouldn't have a new leak from the hole for the exhaust.

That applies for moving them to the garage too. I don't mean to throw cold water on your house, but I think its better to know this beforehand.

Without knowing more about your floorplan I can't think of much in the way of solutions not already suggested by other posters. Maybe build a small addition on the house that has a laundry room or mud room? That's pretty drastic...

Not a bad idea, cordovamom -- I love my tankless water heater -- we gained a closet when we had it put in. But a good quality one is not cheap. Price those out before you go planning on it.

My friend has a tankless, that's a good point.

This closet is directly in front of the kitchen. The kitchen faucet, dishwasher, washer and dryer (gas) are all along that wall behind the closet. Gas is already right there in the closet (going to both water heater and furnance). Wouldn't it just be a matter of making sure the washer's drain hose could reach through the wall to the kitchen's sewer line? Venting the dryer would be the biggest obstacle, I think, but could it use the vent stack from the existing water heater? Next problem would be heat -- sounds like the a/c is just electric a/c, at least, that's all she put on her disclosure. Don't know much about a/c units besides my heat pump and evap cooler.

Do gas and sewer lines have to be underground in the concrete?

"This closet is directly in front of the kitchen. The kitchen faucet, dishwasher, washer and dryer (gas) are all along that wall behind the closet."

That helps tremendously - maybe this is feasible after all.

"Venting the dryer would be the biggest obstacle, I think, but could it use the vent stack from the existing water heater?"

Only if the vent happens to be the exact same size - but even if its not, it would be relatively easy to take out that vent, enlarge the hole in the ceiling and roof, and put a little bit bigger one in.

"Do gas and sewer lines have to be underground in the concrete?"

Depends on your local building codes, but I'd guess a definite "probably".

I'm also kinda unclear on what you are going to do with the "furnace". Even if your air conditioner is also a heat pump, it still needs a unit inside the house called an "air handler" which is basically a giant fan that looks a lot like a furnace. The system won't work without it. I think maybe you could relocate the water heater (or go tankless as suggested) and maybe have room for a stacked washer and dryer, but you will still need an air handler for your ventilation. You might be able to replace the air handler with one that is physically smaller - modern HVAC has really big condensers outdoors and relatively small air handlers indoors.

This could work, but there's an awful lot that has to go just right.

I see, that explains why the "furnance" sounded as if it was running even though the A/C was on. I didn't realize there is a separate "air handler" located in my attic. I've never been up there. Sounds like either way, it will be costly and I need to factor that. Thanks!

Julie - the AC/furnace unit could go in the attic if there is enough space to get it up there. However again this is a costly move and likely you'd just need to get a new unit that fits the hole and can be in the attic (however if the compressor is fairly new you might get away with just getting a new air handler that matches with the compressor). You also need the return air to go to the attic unit (you know the one with the filter).

Depending on where the garage is in relation to the airhandler right now you could possible even move it there. All depends on the return air. You want the return air to be a straight shot to the unit.

Also a laundry closet need to be at least 27" deep for you to be able to fit the washer and dryer easily.

Julie, do you know what kind of heat it has? Does it have baseboards with forced hot air or is it tied into the AC unit?

With ours, we have the heating unit down in the "stand up crawl space" as well as our hot water heater & water softener. For the AC, the unit is outside with the air handler in the attic as well as the duct work.

Thanks for the 27" tip lyfia, I'm not even positive it's wide enough for a side by side. I'd have to get back in and measure. The return is right there by the furnance in the wall. It'd be nice if it was relocated to the ceiling if we can put an air handler up there. The furnance looked huge, taking up one whole half of the double closet and going from floor to ceiling. The compressor is fairly new, I believe, located outside.

Roselvr, it's forced air using the same registers as the a/c and evap. All the registers are located near the ceiling since all the duct work goes in the attic (cement slab).

Julie, the airhandler in the attics usually lay down instead of being upright like in the closet. The hard part about moving the existing one up would be if it fit into the attic opening and how tall the space is in the attic at that point so it can make it through to then be placed horizontally. Also you need to make sure that unit can still be used horizontally.

Even if you don't have the full 63" opening I'd recommend you could still do a stackable unit and then have some storage space for dirty or clean clothes next to it or for storing detergent etc. if this turns out to be an option for you.

May I suggest you'd ask for some bids before you go through with the purchase to see how much it would reallly cost to do this.

Perhaps it's personal preference, but I wouldn't buy a house that required moving appliances, electrical, plumbing and had odd size closet doors. Never mind the cost for the pool repairs.

Julie - everything you wrote about the house would be totally negative for us. Small Bathrooms. Movement of appliances/electrical etc. No closet doors. All these visual things could add up to thousands and thousands of dollars.