Are you working with an agent? You could have him or her go down and check the county or city's physical records to see if there was something filed prior to 1985. Have you had an inspection? What did the inspector think? You could base an offer on the confirmed permitted SF of the house, if you are up for that challenge. In addition to the "not up to code" possibilities, the appraisal will come in lower if based on permitted SF.

The above post shows how bad it could be. I live in a more rural area and nobody cares. Given that it was so long ago, in my area no one would even ask the question. In other states, retroactive permits aren't that hard to get.

Having said that, your realtor needs to advise you as to the local policies. You can go down to the tax office and planning office of the local authority yourself. Ask the nice people to help you with the question. It won't be the first time they have seen the issue. They are usually happy to help when you nicely throw yourself on their mercy. Depending upon the answers, you may want to also consult a real estate attorney in order to understand the process for your area. This way there won't be any hidden issues.

It's not a reason to not buy something. But, you do need to have your information and appropriate response up front rather than after you buy it. An ounce of prevention......

Thanks for the feedback, everyone. Yes, I am working with an agent. Having made a career in the field of risk management, I tend to investigate and analyze everything :) We did hear back from the seller's agent and he states that the addition was put on "around 82/84". Conveniently enough, the online permit records only date back to 1985. I will definitely be driving over to the County office tomorrow to verify this information.

Some places this is a big deal, most places not so much. If you live in one of the latter the main thing is to look at the addition and make sure it is structurally sound and safe. Whether it fulfills all of the details of whatever code might have been in 1945, 1965, or 1985, and whether the town got its permit fee back when is much less important than whether it is sound and safe today. If you live someplace where the building officials are going to care and intervene in an obtrusive way then that is a different story. Houses are reassessed on a regular basis most places, so there shouldn't be any tax consequences of an old unpermitted addition, the assessor will have seen it and factored it in long since.

Good luck and let us know what you find.

Just because a permit was not pulled does not mean the work is subpar.

@maddielee - No, it doesn't mean that it is subpar, but it could present problems if something happened. For example, if there was a fire and the insurance company discovered that the work was not permitted, they could deny the claim.

I'm happy to report that a permit was pulled for the addition (1981) and everything was inspected and passed. The lady in the permit office was kind enough to send me a screenshot of the information. On to the next battle...the seller's agent said an offer was submitted last night and he was going to present it to the seller today. I'm still going to submit an offer and stick to the amount I intended on offering. I'm a huge believer in if it's meant to be, I will get the house, if not, I'll keep looking.

That is good news. Good luck.

Well the sellers decided to go with the other offer. It came in first and was higher than mine. My cautiousness did cost me some time due to wanting to verify the permitted work, but it put me at ease knowing everything was done properly. Plus, I made a contact in the permit office which could come in handy in the future.

It seems like I have a knack for getting houses rented or sold. The first one I wanted to put a contract on rented out the same day I contacted my realtor after 100+ DOM. Now this one after 158. I have my eye on another one that has been on the market for 189 days. Let's see if I can get that one sold, too.

Thanks again for your feedback, everyone!

Just to say I love your attitude:)

I'm telling myself we bring bad luck, first to the GC, second, to the realtor..they were doing great until they met us, so it seems lol

Good luck, hope you find your home soon!

I'm a firm believer in the if it was meant to be.

Many years ago when the ex and I were looking to move to a better school district, we found a beautiful small home on 1/3 of an acre. Loved the house, but after the house had been on the market for about the same amount of time as the one you just lost, we too lost out.

Two weeks later we lucked into a beautiful 1898 victorian house we had driven by many times but felt we could never afford because it was on over 2/3 acre and a much larger house. However the seller had already gotten approval to divide the lot and they wanted to move to FL. The house was almost 1000 square feet larger, in a slightly better location and when divided, it too wound up with 1/3 of an acre. And we got it for the same price as the house we lost out on.

Me too - a couple years ago we dawdled in deciding on a house in a location we weren't familiar with and thought might be too far away. It was a beautiful house on a beautiful piece of land and we finally decided we wanted to go for it. Before I could even get back to the realtor I heard from him that it was sold. I even hoped the deal would fall through but it didn't. We then looked for another year, sold our place without a realtor and at the last minute settled on a different place. Now that we've been there over a year we keep saying how happy we are that we didn't buy the other place.

So today I made an offer on the now 191 DOM house. This was my second time looking at this property. The first time I was actually put off by...ready for this...the size of the lot. Living in the metro DC area, postage-stamp lots are the norm, so a property just shy of an acre intimidated me. It's kinda funny now, but we'll see how funny it is if I get the house and I spend the rest of my life raking leaves :)

Things have a strange way of working out. The first house that I wanted became available and I am happy to report I have a ratified contract. I liked the second house, but loved the first one...southern exposure, two-car garage, gas and really no work to be done except installing a privacy fence. Closing is on 12/30. Nice way to end the year/start the new year!

Happy for you! Yes, things work out.

Congrats. And again it goes to show if it's meant to be...