Reading between the lines, it sounds as if this is a fairly new home, 3 years or so. I don't get the impression that that house is 20 plus years old. If I am correct, it is likely that the ground underneath the compressor pad was disturbed during construction. It has settled in the intervening three years. This happens.

Drive down the street and you will see compressors in all kinds of higgly piggly degrees of slant. When it gets too bad and shifts far enough, it causes the type of damage you have on this property and it needs to be reset. The compressor should be level. After taking the assembly apart, gravel is usually set underneath the settled area. Some people might pour a small concrete slab. It's not difficult to do. But, it's more expensive than gravel and resetting the prefab pad. Both work. Do not believe that your agent knows what is really involved in resetting the unit. It doesn't require a tractor or a back hoe. It requires HVAC technicians and a guy with a truck, a wheelbarrow and shovel.

I'm glad that you are getting an HVAC specialist out to provide a remediation estimate. It must be in writing. You will be expected to pay for the service call. A good seller would step up and agree to pay for the service call and fix the situation. I would. But, I'm interested in closing the sale. If I'm getting over asking price, I can afford to be generous to move the sale forward. Don't expect that. If you are paying for the service call, try your very best to be present so that you can discuss the situation and resolution thoroughly with the technician. If you can't be there, get the phone number and a call the technician. They will answer your questions and provide expert advice.

Your realtor is out of line. She cannot negotiate or contract on your behalf without your knowledge or permission. All interactions with the seller and their agent must be in writing. She could lose her license over doing this. It depends on how far you want to push it.

The seller is probably unaware of the drama surrounding the inspections. Try to remember that in your negotiations.

You've gotten good advice from the participants of this thread. Now you have a few decisions to make. After you get the estimates back, what do you want the seller to repair or credit? That's entirely up to you and not your agent. She may have suggestions, but you make the decisions. Also, what are you going to do if the house doesn't appraise? You need to think about that.

The property contract has fallen through once already. The sellers are probably getting nervous. If the property does not appraise, I would press for price concessions to the match the appraised price. I would also press the seller to repair and reset the compressor. They are already fixing the little items. You could also ask for a cash concession for a portion of a new hot water heater.

Let us know the resolution. We are interested.

Hi! No, the home is from the '80s, but the current owners have only lived there three years is what I meant (and making a ton of money just off their asking price, much less our offered amount). They bought it 2018. The HVAC unit is a 2015 Ruud Package Unit, according to the inspection report. So it must have been replaced within the last few years.

Honestly, although we'd prefer to take the credit so that we could choose ourselves who will do the fixes, we'd take either option, repair or credit, but that's the problem is I don't think the sellers are going to go for either option. I think this is why they chose (because my agent offered it to them) to just go with the warranty rather than fixing or crediting us, although now that I've asked the agent for it in writing showing the warranty would cover the fixes, now she's going back to the seller telling them we can't go with that option and need it fixed.

I just looked back through my emails and this past Wed I asked her if she ever contacted the warranty company to find out if these pre-existing problems would even be covered by a warranty and she responded they would. Yesterday, I asked for that in writing and it's no longer covered. I believe my agent thinks because it's my first home purchase I would be naive and go along with her response of "Great, news, they're covering the warranty!" and just try to get the things fixed through the warranty -- I think she knew the sellers were not going to want to make the fixes or credit us the money and she doesn't want the deal to fall through so she can get her commission. We put an offer on this house last month when it first got listed for sale but they went with a different offer, and that deal fell through about 25 days into the process, and that's when we put our offer in again (higher offer this time). I keep thinking it may have fallen through because they didn't want to make repairs or credit the buyer, and our agent probably knows this and doesn't want it to fall through so tried offering them the cheaper option of taking a warranty that she knew they'd be fine with and hoped we'd be unsophisticated enough buyers to be grateful.

Thanks for clarifying the age of the house and the HVAC unit. This explains the issue with the hot water heater. You will need to plan to replace the hot water heater before it sprouts a leak. They have a nasty habit of surprising you because they are so silent. Change it out the first week after you close. It's at the end of it's useable life. It's waiting to spring a leak. That event will cost you a lot of money and angst. Budget for replacement. You can always ask, but I doubt you can get a credit.

If it were me, I'd make a stand at the compressor. They need to fix it. It should have been fixed before the house was marketed. A seven year old compressor is middle aged. It's not old. But, it's not new either. It does need a new pair of orthopedic shoes to level it.

You are not pushover. You are asking all the right questions. You are in control of your destiny.

Don't be surprised if your agent gives you a year's home warranty for a house warming gift at closing. I had an agent do that one time. I would have really rather had a mediocre bottle of wine.

Just to be clear, if I was the seller I wouldn't fix a working HVAC either, unless you were the only buyer. It is a properly functioning system in a home that needs some maintenance to continue functioning properly.

You really should get an inspection from an HVAC professional. You have no real information to make a decision right now. You should find out if this is a hill worth dying on, and to do that you need real cost information

My HVAC had to be leveled 5.5 years ago when I purchased my house, it sits on a significant slope and over time runoff had removed some of the aggregate under the pad it was placed on. It was basically the cost of a service call for a tech and helper, they didn't disconnect the unit they just lifted the pad a bit and stuck some more aggregate under it. I went out later and hit it with a bit of epoxy to keep it from happening again. The entire thing was a couple hundred dollars.

Oh, wow, that's all the cost was? When me and my agent were going over what the sellers were going to repair and I told her, so they're not actually really fixing anything, they're just purchasing a home warranty for us, she started yelling her head off that, "Nobody is going to fix that! It's $5,000 and you need a crane to come in! Nobody is going to get a crane to come in there to fix it!" But so in our mind we were thinking, yeah, we are going to have to fix it. That was what the inspector told us was the number one most immediate fix we needed (that and the water heater). So it seemed vital and, after hearing her yell nobody will fix it for $5,000 and a crane) we thought a much more extensive job. That's good to know it may not be as expensive as how she made it out to be. I guess I'll know for sure tomorrow when the hvac guy comes to give us the quote.

bry911's experience with leveling the compressor is pretty typical.

I'm not sure where she is getting the crane and $5,000 from. Maybe a townhouse with a unit on the roof? Most houses, it's just not that hard. The expensive part is if you have to disconnect, purge, reconnect and charge the system. The resetting the pad is manual labor.

You agent sounds like a bit of a wacko.

The line set is fairly flexible, they didn't purge our system. If it flexed enough to move where it is, it can likely flex back to where it originally was.

"she started yelling her head off that, "Nobody is going to fix that! It's $5,000 and you need a crane to come in! Nobody is going to get a crane to come in there to fix it!'"

I would encourage my new agent to yell her head off anytime... she wants to terminate our relationship. You should call her broker.

I was typing on my phone earlier while I was out, but wanted to add a bit more then. I will add it now.

I have serious concerns about your realtor. Some of the behaviors you are describing seem a breach of ethics to me. Your realtor shouldn't be suggesting a home warranty to the sellers without consulting you first. Only once the sellers reject your repair demand should your realtor bring up the option of home warranty insurance and only after you approved should it be brought up to the sellers. Also no reasonable realtor would present that as getting the repairs you want.

I am more concerned about estimate for HVAC repairs and the assertion that sellers never fix those things. The estimate seems way off base to me and completely fabricated. Which really brings to light two problems. First, I strongly suspect your realtor is not advocating for your interest at all. You don't note what type of home this is but I can't imagine any scenario where leveling an outside unit would require a crane. Even on a tall building you would use bottle jacks once the unit is on the roof. I just can't see this being anywhere approaching $5,000. Honestly, I don't see it hitting $500.

Which really brings into focus my second concern. Your realtor is apparently stupid. Why would a realtor, who is trying to sell a home, inflate a repair to the extent that any rational buyer would reconsider the deal?

If your HVAC estimate turns out reasonable, I would seriously consider a call to her broker.

ETA: Home warranties generally only cover things that were in working condition at the close, but they also don't make you prove they were in working condition at close. If you call about the water heater in six months they are going to attempt to repair it. Realistically, it is often not worth it, as they will do anything to keep from replacing it.

The HVAC unit is a 2015 Ruud Package Unit, according to the inspection report. So it must have been replaced within the last few years.

With it being a package unit all you have to fear is that leveling might break it away from duct work going in the house. --- there is no refrigeration work unless someone punctures the condenser coil trying to level it. (stranger things have happened)

I doubt it would take any more than 1 person knowing what they are doing, plus a couple of helpers.

If you got a picture of it or two I'm curious to see it.

Your realtor is trying very hard to not loose the deal and commission. Please do not believe any stories about having to hire a crane for $5000 to level an HVAC unit. Do not say anything to this person you don't want the seller to know about. If there a sticker on the unit of the installation company I suggest calling them to get an estimate to level the unit. I would think you would want a small pitch (1/4 " per foot) away from the house to water drainage.

The issue with the hot water heater is it's just not reaching the temperatures it should be. It's about 40 degrees colder than what it's set at. So technically, it's working, but not like it should.

A properly operating hot water heater should heat the water between 120 and 140 F degrees. If cannot do this then it is not operating properly in my opinion. Water below 120 degrees has the potential of forming bacteria which could cause Legionnaire's disease. Above 140 degrees becomes dangerous. Replacing a hot water heater is not a show stopper. You have to decide who is going to pay for it. If the house was listed with all major systems operating correctly then you have the right to ask for a working hot water heater. My suggestion is to get a credit and install a hot water heater you like. If you ask the seller to replace it you will likely get the cheapest hot water heater sold at Home Depot with a poor installation.

Oh, wow. I never thought of the Legionnaire's disease from the water. I knew it was caused from water but never put and two and two together. That is exactly what our inspector told our agent is the water has to be at 120 when she tried telling him it's working and doesn't matter if it's not reaching 140.

That is my goal at this point is to just try to recoup the cost and make the repairs ourselves. Now that I have a lot more information from all the responses on here, I feel a lot more confident speaking to our agent to try to explain why I think these things should be fixed. Also, I was contemplating giving the house up because I thought the hvac was going to be such a huge repair cost that the sellers weren't willing to fix and weren't willing to credit us the cost and I was thinking of walking away, but now knowing the costs aren't as high as I initially thought, I feel much more confident in continuing with the deal.

And I honestly think our agent isn't dumb, I think she knows exactly what she's doing. I think she didn't want to approach the sellers with the repair request when I was telling her I wasn't satisfied with just a warranty that I was afraid wouldn't cover the stuff. She didn't want to approach them asking for the fixes because she was afraid they'd decline and back out. So instead she tried making me feel like I was being outrageous for asking for the fixes hoping I would just back off and say fine, nobody is going to fix it for $5,000 and a crane, okay, I give up, and just be satisfied with the warranty. I think it was very calculated.

Your agent is very smart and is taking advantage of a new home buyer's lack of experience in my opinion. She and the other agent, who likely is also very experienced, are trying to figure out what it his their best path of closing the deal and getting their commissions. This is how real estate agents make a living. Unfortunately is creates conflicts of interest.

Have you read your contract carefully? I highly doubt the seller can cancel the deal because you have asked for something to be repaired or replaced. Most contracts will have a clause which deal when situations like this come up. The seller has the right to say no, and then you as the buyer decide whether to proceed with the deal or not. You are paying above asking price. There is room for negotiations to make these repairs.

I think your agent is well beyond dumb. If you want to get buyers to stay in the transaction you tell them that these are maintenance of functioning systems and not a big deal to repair after the purchase and shouldn't be a reason to tank the deal. The last thing you do is make up a ridiculously high cost for a repair that new buyers are unlikely to be able to afford.

Having said that, I don't think anyone here, myself included, should be telling you what to demand the sellers fix. I suspect many people here haven't bought in this market and I doubt any of us know anything about your current market. So, with respect, the people telling you that the sellers should repair really don't have enough information to actually know that. There could be a dozen offers behind you and it is entirely possible that a home warranty is the best you are going to get, because the sellers have someone else that is going to be so happy that you let the deal fall through over these things that they will not ask for anything.

I can say that these are not items that I would lose the home over if it was an otherwise good purchase for my family.

-----

Credits are generally not allowed anymore, they went away in the reforms after the 2008 mortgage collapse. You can get a price reduction and do the work yourself but generally can't get money at closing. When we closed 5.5 years ago our buyers didn't finish an item they agreed to fix and tried handing us $500 during closing and the attorney made them stop. She said you can give them money if you want in the parking lot after everything is signed but it can't be a part of the deal.

If you are that concerned about getting it done before you move in and the sellers are not willing to fix it, consider offering them a price increase to cover the cost of the repair (talk to your mortgage representative first). Then you get the repair rolled into the loan.

And I really think that has a lot to do with it is she knows how bad we wanted this house. We were very disappointed last month when they went with a different offer. Honestly, the water heater I still feel should be working properly but had I known the hvac wasn't $5,000, I would have told her off the bat to let that go and we'll fix it because we do want this house and have been looking for a long time. She just made it sound like such a massive fix, and then the inspector made it sound like that and the water heater were the most immediate fixes we needed to make. She set up the appointment to have the hvac guy come look at it this morning so we should get the estimate, which I'll take because I'll likely be fixing it in the end, but still wouldn't have been as vital of a repair had I known it would cost hundreds and not thousands.

I know it can be hard if you are busy, but you should be talking directly to the HVAC contractor. Your agent or the seller's agent will need to be present at the property, but it is preferable that you meet with or at least talk to the HVAC contractor yourself.

I agree, and I am planning on speaking with him today. I wasn't able to attend as I had to work this morning when they met at the house, but I am planning on giving the company a call later to ask for the quote to be sent over and also just ask the HVAC person a few questions.

By a credit I meant a reduction of the price at the closing. Where I live almost every real estate closing is handled by two attorneys. I realize in many states this is not the case. Both sides are agreeing there was some consideration on an item at the time of the sale.

In case you have any concerns, it would be reasonable for you to call another HVAC contractor yourself and get a second quote.

Just spoke with the hvac man that went out this morning. He said it was an extremely minor issue, is having the owner do it himself, just prop up the unit and will go back and check it tomorrow, took pictures he will send over to me after he goes back tomorrow. But he said the unit itself is working great. So I'll wait until tomorrow when I see the photos to see if I need a second opinion regarding it, but he seems to think it's not an issue at all, luckily. So that means I would just be focusing on the water heater at this point, which I likely would just suck it up and purchase myself as I don't want the deal to fall through and also would prefer to purchase a high quality one. I do appreciate all the responses, I've learned so much over the past few days!

@fleurssauvages

I am just so sorry that you had to deal with an arrogant, incompetent Real Estate Agent for your first home purchase. Even though everything should go smoothly from this point forward, when it is all said and done I would have a heart to heart with his/her broker. The agent not only has a license to sell real estate, but has to work under the broker's license. This person should not be allowed to deal with clients one on one until he/she learns what is appropriate, legal and ethical behavior. If I were his/her broker they would be required to work with a partner. Some of her shenanigans could have come back to bite the broker in the back end. It also could have resulted in you backing out of the deal all because she didn't know what she was talking about.

This hurts the broker's reputation as well as the agent's reputation and in the Real Estate world word of mouth is the difference between success and failure.

I really wish everyone could work with my realtor. I moved from California to Pennsylvania. I traveled to PA 4 times in the year prior to my move and each trip included a day with my realtor where she set up 6 to 8 homes for me to see so that I would have a really good idea of what my money would buy when it came time for me to make the move. She pointed out the difference in taxes and school districts in different areas, pointed out the areas that are prone to flooding and anything else I would need to know when I made my move.

When I did finally move I stayed with my niece while looking for a house. Within 2 weeks I had found a house and was in a 30 day escrow. Shortly after going into escrow I got sick, had to go to the hospital, had major surgery and was diagnosed with cancer. My agent took over and did everything that needed to get done. She met with the home inspector and used her phone to video tape all the things he found so I could hear his commentary. She ran paperwork from the bank and insurance company and escrow company where ever it needed to go, got a notary to come to the hospital to have paperwork notarized, She got the radon test, set it up and came back to pack it up and ship it to the lab, then worked with the buyers to have a radon system installed. She picked me up on the morning of close and took me to the bank headquarters which was an hour from where I was staying to pick up the check and took me to close, took me out to lunch after close and back to my niece's home. (I wasn't allowed to drive after surgery). As a gift she hired a cleaning woman to come in after close and clean the house. On move in day she surprised me and came with her husband and 2 teenage kids to help my friends and family move everything in and unpack my boxes. (I wasn't allowed to lift anything over 5 lbs.). I was also surprised when I found out that when she talked to the sellers and explained why I wasn't at the inspection or walk throughs that they decided to leave all of their lawn and garden equipment (including a lawn tractor and snow blower), their gas BBQ and their patio furniture for me. They were moving to assisted living and selling all the furniture through an estate sale, but they knew I was moving from CA and assumed (correctly) that I didn't have outdoor furniture and equipment.

I hear from Melody about every 4 to 6 months. Since helping me secure my home 4 years ago she has sold a home to one of my nephews, is showing homes to one of my niece's and another nephew and has the listing for my brother and his wife who are selling his wife's mother's home. She is always kind and compassionate. She knows the market and provides excellent guidance when making a purchasing decision. She has been wonderful with the first time buyers and held their hands through the entire process. She has never been short or unpleasant or pushy. She points out the positives and the negatives and really helps them learn how to make a good buying decision.

This is the experience you deserved. Someone who was truly working for you and had your best interest in their heart.

Just spoke with the hvac man that went out this morning. He said it was an extremely minor issue...

Yeah, I agree after seeing the pictures -- I don't even think it's worth to try to level the unit just seal up where it connects to the house.

That little bit of slant is good insurance if your condensate gets clogged at some point that the water doesn't run inside the house when the pan over flows. That amount of slant isn't going to hurt anything. Power surges and brown outs will kill it long before this amount of slant does anything to it. (also if it's a heat pump, this will keep ice from building up too much when it goes into defrost mode during heating season.)

When dealing with HVAC issues after inspector, always hire an HVAC contractor that goes out and investigates things the inspector notes. It's best that if you are buying the house, you meet with the HVAC contractor to discuss any concerns you have. I know this gets expensive, but it's far better than buying the home and having a bunch of problems shortly after you move in.

I think the RE agent was right to be concerned about it, but should not have fashioned a cost in their head. HVAC is expensive, but often times the inspector is just trying to cover himself. Also if you hired an inspector and they never found anything you'd question that too.

Hello, everyone again. I wasn't sure if I should start a new post, and I figured I'd just continue it on this one as I received so much useful info on this post. So we still love the house, same house I originally posted about, and we're set to close on it this Wed. We weren't very happy with our agent but wanted this deal to just go through smoothly and didn't want to do anything to interrupt it so figured we'd finish the deal out with her and then after it closed we possibly were going to make a complaint with the broker.

Fast forward to this past week. She scheduled our walkthrough (she keeps saying it's not our "final" final walkthrough but we were assuming it is because it's the only time we'd been to the house in over a month now and don't have another walkthrough scheduled before Wed.) But I guess it's the walkthrough to make sure all the repairs were made that were on the repair addendum. So anyway, this past week she scheduled our walkthrough for Friday at 5:30. Then at some point during the week she calls to answer a different question I'd had and says, "Okay, see you Sat. at 5." So I write to her and say, ugh, so is it Friday at 5:30 or Sat at 5? And she tells me she had a conflict Friday, changed it to Sat (without even telling us but whatever) after her open house.

So we get there yesterday, Saturday, around 4:45, are waiting in our car outside the house. We can see the sellers moving their stuff out with the U-haul parked in front. So after about 20, 25 minutes of waiting, I write to her and ask if she's on her way. She says no, she's not on her way, her open house ran long and she's not going to make it and then proceeds to tell me how her sister showed up in town and her sister and husband surprised her and this and that and that we could reschedule for today, Sunday. My husband was leaving for a job today so couldn't do it Sunday. He'd initially changed plans to do it Friday, then changed them again to do it Saturday for her, and now she wanted us to do it Sunday which we refused as he couldn't. She told us we could do the walkthrough alone and photograph everything and report back to her about the findings. Our problem with it is had she let us know earlier we WOULD have rescheduled it do it Sunday with her. Even with him supposed to be going out of town for work, he would have rescheduled it. But she never called to even tell us she was going to be late and/or wouldn't make it, i.e., she completely forgot about us.

So we did the walkthrough alone. And overall everything was fixed that was supposed to be fixed, but there were a few things that we saw that it would have been nice for her to be there to confront the sellers on. We didn't feel comfortable confronting them about certain things that look janky. Really, there was only one thing we saw. Initially, I think the inspector said the wrong type of conduit was used or plastic was used and it needed to be replaced. Well, it was replaced but it's not hooked up correctly. It's just electric taped up (photo attached). That's something we would have asked her about right then and there so she could get it fixed properly.

So I guess my question is does anybody ever do their walkthroughs checking to be sure the repairs have been made without their agent present? I'm so upset. We're not inspectors. We'd not Realtors. We're not even homeowners. We don't really know what to look for, looking for home repairs and if they were made correctly. We had the checklist of things with us, but I don't have a clue what a hi-loop is or if electrical wiring is correct or the right kind of conduit was replaced. Anyway, I'm mostly upset at myself because I let things get this far in the process with our agent, but I thought it was the right thing to do because we wanted our house and we wanted to finish the deal smoothly, and then I thought I'd possibly make the complaint after all was said and done. Anyway, anyone ever heard of doing the walkthrough without their agent present?

Edit - I should note also that the water heater was replaced. We were hoping to do it on our own so we could choose which one but they went ahead and did that. A company did also come out for the HVAC. I spoke with the HVAC person who went out, he said it was extremely slight and they leveled it out. So the "major" repairs were made. It just still would have been nice to have the agent, who I'm sure looks as these things way more than we do, be there to confirm they were done correctly. We told them we wanted the things fixed in lieu of the warranty but they still purchased the warranty for us, so I guess we're getting it regardless, although the things have been fixed.

Skip the home warranty. Bunch of garbage. How old is the HVAC system? What type of refrigerant does it use? If the unit was installed unlevel that is one thing, but if the ground is liteerally falling out from under it that is a whole ’nother issue. Negotiate before closing with the buyer. If you inspector says it’s an issue i would trust him/her.

26 days ago and 28 days ago I advised you to go to your agent's broker. Instead of doing something to change the situation you chose to continue working with this agent without doing anything to demand that she treat you with respect and demand that she do her job and earn her commission. Yet you are surprised when her behavior hasn't changed?

Let's be honest about this, given the track record, if your agent was present she would be much more likely to confront you about your unreasonable demands than the sellers. It is very unlikely that your agent knows anything about this and fairly likely that she would pretend to have knowledge. I mean she invented an astronomical price and and an imaginary crane requirement for a minor repair, so why would you trust anything she says anyway?

The question isn't really regarding whether I'm surprised or not. Nothing would surprise me at this point. We felt very nervous about jeopardizing the deal if we went to the broker before everything was complete. At that point we didn't feel there would need to be much more communication between us and the agent anyway, and because I try to be somewhat independent anyway in terms of doing my own research at every step, we thought there wasn't much left to really mess up. And really, that's been overall true. Not much has happened because we're just waiting for underwriting to finish.

So I'm sure it's not common to attend the walk-through alone, but I guess I'm wondering more so if it does happen for one reason or another or if it's just completely unheard of and/or a requirement the agent attend?

That's very true, I don't trust most of what she tells me (including her open house running late and/or sister unexpected arrival story) and the major fixes were already done so everything else we needed to check was all very minor. I asked our inspector about the electrical tape janky fix they did, the one thing we found that didn't look right, and the actual proper fix is very inexpensive and something we'll go ahead and do for the $10.

So I guess I'm wondering more so because I plan on going to the broker when all is said and done and I am wondering if this is someone that happens that a broker would think we are being unreasonable being upset about, that she didn't show up, as she offered to reschedule for the third time, or if it's completely unheard of they don't attend.

Nothing is completely unheard of when it comes to real estate agents. When I bought my first house my real estate agent told me she couldn't come to the closing because she had a doctor's appointment.

I really do not understand your logic. What did you think you were going to jeopardize by going to your agent's broker? The commission split is generally a 4 way split.

25% to the buyer's agent

25% to the seller's agent

25% to the buyer's agent's broker

25% to the seller's agent's broker

No agent can work without the supervision of a broker. Real estate brokers are held legally responsible for real estate transactions that occur on their watch, whether conducted by themselves or by agents acting on their behalf.

Given this information don't you think you had an obligation to express your dissatisfaction and unethical behavior of this agent to their broker. Maybe if the 10 people who worked with this agent before you spoke up you wouldn't have had to put up with her unethical and unprofessional behavior.

I also don't know why you would want to pay someone for treating you like the dirt on their shoes. She has yelled at you, lied to you and abandoned you, but all of that seems to be acceptable to you. If you won't stand up for yourself no one can help you.

I don't really think I owe an explanation as I already explained myself, but I'll give you an example. A year and a half ago when we began looking for a home we were pre-approved for a mortgage with a different company than the one we are currently using. On the day we found a home and were about to make an offer I contacted the mortgage company to ask a question. Dont remember what the question was now. Probably something about the interest rate or payment. The mortgage guy came back telling me we were no longer approved for the mortgage we'd applied for one month earlier. So initially we'd applied, say, January 1st, got approved for X amount. Then January 14th he came back saying that amount was too high and he lowered it to Y amount, I think by $20,000 ( can't remember what the explanation had been). Then January 30th we go to make the offer and now he tells me we are not approved at all whatsoever anymore but the system is not giving him a reason why. I continue asking why and how it possibly went from X to Y to 0. We went back and forth and I never got an explanation. He became very frustrated with me for not understanding, saying, "I don't know any other way to explain it. I don't know what you're not understanding." I was just trying to find out why though, like did the credit score drop or what happened. He gave me no answer, just said the system is declining it.

So I called a supervisor whose phone number was listed on the website and spoke with her. She was a supervisor in another state but she said she would try to help me. She tried but couldn't figure anything out so said she'd forward my info to the local supervisor and I'd receive a call. The call comes the next day and...it's from the original guy who I was making thr complaint about. His tone was more professional this time but still had no answers for how it went from X to Y to O. I never got a call from a supervisor, never got a reason why it wasn't approved. They just speak with each other, and that's it. I got nowhere and it was a total waste of time. So I was very hesitant this was going to wind up in the same situation. I'd complain and complain and wind up with the same agent anyway, except now she knows I'm making complaints about her so is even less likely to want to help.

Nobody needs to understand my rationale, but that is why I wanted to stick it out. I know these people work together, they talk, they cover for each other. I've seen it

I think that sounds correct, that another agent likely would have covered this walk-through had she not forgotten about it and actually scheduled someone to meet us there. She completely forgot is my assumption. Yes, that's what we were hoping to do was swing by one last time first think Wed morning. The sellers told us they'll be out by Monday but we'll still make it first thing closing morning just to be sure.

Thank you so much. It' sbeen a very long process from starting to look for a home a year and a half to two years ago to now. I am so incredibly excited and such a weight off my shoulders.

So I guess my question is does anybody ever do their walkthroughs checking to be sure the repairs have been made without their agent present? I'm so upset. We're not inspectors. We'd not Realtors. We're not even homeowners. We don't really know what to look for, looking for home repairs and if they were made correctly.

It varies widely... some will get home inspection that doesn't list any problems then months after new home owners move in problems show up. When I say problems I am referring to AC & Heat as this is what I do. (RE with no problems, is really a myth. The harder you look, you can find problems with nearly anything.)

If testing the AC in 80 degree weather is done by an inspector and not an HVAC contractor, it's easy to make mistakes. The load on the structure is different at 80 degrees versus 95+ degrees. So things can get costly either on the front end or back end and sometimes both.

Some will buy the house "as is" and then adjust the offer to reflect that. In an over heated RE sellers market that can be just as harder to pull off.

As far as the agent and her behavior... If I had to guess her priorities are likely 'centered' around what her commission check is from. If you're getting 3% from a million plus property over the value of what your home purchase is... well, what would you do? Not that it's right, but that's a capitalism flaw when it comes to people working for commission.

It's also quite true in your experience of complaining --- that there's a team behind the scenes working together. It's also no different when it comes to larger HVAC companies... someone requesting a supervisor --- so they send a different tech that is 'acting' as supervisor. Been there done that. I like to explain that away as 'Ray being used and not in fun ways'. So I put a stop to that and started my own HVAC company 14 years ago.

But now (for me anyway), there is no supervisor --- it's me and my opinion 24/7 some like that approach, some do not. For those that do not, I have a saying for that too it goes like this: "I fix air conditioners, I do not fix people and their perceptions." --- any 'thing' can be fixed... people can not.

Enjoy your new home, you made it --- now you're in the driver's seat to make it your own.

"Some will buy the house "as is" and then adjust the offer to reflect that. "As is" means just that and that there's no implied guarantee or warranty regarding condition. The same is true when buying a car from a private party.

In the world of real estate, houses are always sold "as is". With the added expectation that one should assume that the visual presence of commonly found features suggests they function as would normally be expected unless there's a disclosure to the contrary. If you see a faucet over a sink, assume that water runs out when it's turned on and that the drain properly connects to a waste system. If you see a door, assume it opens. If you see a heater or an AC system, assume they function. They don't need to function well or adequately, they simply can be assumed to be functional without a disclosure to the contrary.

Anything learned beyond that as with inspections, including the capability of functioning of visible features or the need for work, become matters for discussion or negotiation.

In the world of real estate, houses are always sold "as is".

'As Is': no work is being done to fix or change anything with the house prior to the sale thereof.

If a home inspection is done noting various things that need to be corrected and or fixed; but those things are not corrected prior to the sale / change of ownership. That would be an "as is" sale.

Certainly if things were missed during home inspection that 'could be classified as is'... but the point is that the buyer as well as the seller know certain things with the house need this or that / possible replacement of appliances and such and the buyer adjusts offer to reflect that. A bargaining tool to reach a price agreement between two parties.

So "as is" in home buying is considerably different from buying a car. For one a house is an appreciating asset, where as a car is a depreciating liability.

"As Is': no work is being done to fix or change anything with the house prior to the sale thereof. [...]

So "as is" in home buying is considerably different from buying a car. For one a house is an appreciating asset, where as a car is a depreciating liability."

One of the problems with looking up contract terms in just any dictionary is that the legal usage of a term may be different than the common vernacular.

"As is" - used to describe a sales transaction in which the seller offers goods in their present, existing condition to prospective buyers. Any implied or express warranties that usually accompany goods for sale are excluded in an "as is" sale.

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All homes sales in all states are as-is sales unless the seller provides a specific warranty. So they are like buying a used car.

Sellers will often advertise a house "as is" but that has no real meaning. It is really used by realtors to lower buyer's expectations thus to attract the right type of buyers. It is essentially just code for "investors preferred." I have purchased many homes listed as "as is" and have occasionally demanded some repair which the sellers agreed to do. So it is less a statement about what a seller is willing to do and more of a statement about what buyers should ask for.

For one a house is an appreciating asset, where as a car is a depreciating liability.

Well, Ray, it appears that you don't know your asset from a liability. A home is an asset, so is a car. Whether they are appreciating or depreciating depends on the condition of the asset and the local market. A liability associated with those assets would be a mortgage or car loan, respectively.

Thanks for the embellishment, bry911. Of course "as is" means just that, the item is offered for sale in its present, existing state. New information for Austin Air to understand.

Assume a house is being sold and there are no professional inspections. The buyer makes a visual inspection and, finding a cracked window, asks that the window be replaced before the sale contract closes. The seller agrees and replaces the window, but he could have refused. Once the sale closes, so long as there are no major problems the seller is aware of that were undisclosed, the seller has no further obligation. In many states, mine included, there is a required seller's disclosure form in which information concerning the condition of the property, its location, problems and adverse factors that might influence a potential buyer's decision and pricing must be described, in the form of answers to preprinted questions and open ended questions requiring responses. Omissions and untruthful disclosures constitute fraud. Negative factors and conditions need not be fixed (again, houses are sold "as is") but simply disclosed.

Just for fun I thought I would point out that a house is actually a depreciating asset, the land typically is the appreciating asset, not the building.

The county I live in assesses land and homes as separate line items in the assessment database. Valuation is targeted to be 100% of market value. With the exception of values during the Great Recession, prices of homes tend to appreciate over time, driven in part by the increasing cost of new construction.

Unless there are a number of recently-sold vacant parcels in a neighborhood , the assessed value of the land only portion is really more of a best guess than a number to stake an assessor's reputation on. Like the value of homes, we saw declines in assessed value of land following the Great Recession. What goes up can come down.

"Just for fun I thought I would point out that a house is actually a depreciating asset, the land typically is the appreciating asset, not the building."

This may be true in some areas but it's not the case in my region. Far from it. The cost of inputs - especially lumber but most other materials too, rising labor costs, rising governmental fees, building code changes that raise costs, and the high demand for and shortage of good contractors that allows them to command higher profit rates, all serve to steadily increase the cost of construction. Even through the two are not severable, one way to think of the value of a structure alone, without considering the land it sits on, is to consider how much it would cost to replace it. Two lots sitting side by side, one with a structure on it and one without, will differ in value by approximately the cost of building the identical structure on the vacant parcel.

Just one data point for me is the annual increases in my homeowners insurance policies for the portion of coverage that provides for rebuilding the structure itself in the case of loss. Insurance companies track rebuilding costs by house type on a per square foot basis and this stat has been steadily increasing for many many years. .

It is going to cost me more to replace my car than my car cost brand new 15 years ago. Does that mean that it appreciated in value?

IRS rules allow you to depreciate a building on a rental property, but not the land it sits on.

If you don't maintain a building and pour money into it it will become dilapidated, but the land will continue to appreciate in value.

Sorry - the house is a depreciating asset.

I don't feel inclined to address the false reasoning and some misunderstandings in your comments. Have a good day.

Whether or not a house depreciates is a bit of a black hole discussion. I have heard this debate several times and don't really have an opinion but I do have an understanding of the points.

Suppose you have a 10 year old house that you love so much you want to build the exact same house next door. So you reconstruct the house exactly, with the same model of appliances, AC, roof, etc... the new house will be worth more than the old house. Which is rather concrete proof that houses depreciate. However, the house may still be worth more than it was ten years ago, which is rather concrete proof that houses appreciate.

Complicating this question further is the fact that land with a house appreciates faster than land without a house, so it isn't just the land appreciating.

The solution that is probably most popular, is that land improved by a house appreciates while the house that improves the land depreciates.

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My opinion...the problem is that the definition of depreciation is fuzzy. It comes from the Latin words for for "down" and "price," which is different than the Latin word for "value." In the original sense it meant to write down a price. It is closer to mark down than it is to devalue and bookkeepers have used it to write down an asset's value since before Latin was a dead language. Today the word largely means something different in finance than it does in common parlance.

Just for fun I thought I would point out that a house is actually a depreciating asset, the land typically is the appreciating asset, not the building.

LOL, that's true but only in the eyes of the IRS when the property is used as an asset to produce income. The home is depreciated as a way to 'account' for writing the cost of the home off against that income (less the value of the land). (whatever it is... if the home is in HCOLA the rent attained usually results in a small monthly loss, the income comes when the home is eventually paid off, which is entirely different than a LCOLA profits are made from rent consistantly 'when rented' otherwise known as 'cash flow'. The opposite of 'cash flow'?

If it's used as a primary residence there is no depreciating that asset. It doesn't produce income in that sense, so there is nothing to write off.

A car is appreciating? LOL. If that were the case people would go to the new car lot, buy a new car and then immediately sell it for profit. But any person with smidgen of common sense knows that isn't the case. If you're in the business of selling cars for profit, that is entirely different. Common sense.

You buy a car, drive it off the lot -- it's value drops by at least 20-30% in most cases, if you get into trouble with a car loan --- often times the value of the car is less than what is owed - known as being upside down in the car. The home flipping market is a market in which people buy homes, do minor improvements and sell them for more money than purchased for... unless you're in the business of selling cars that isn't possible in the automotive market.

WHY? because car dealers have access to auto auctions. These auctions are not available to the general public.

It's admittedly a little off the path, but some houzzers need educating in a wide variety of subject areas. Ray, many collector cars sell for a multiple of the original purchase price. It depends on the condition of the car and the market. Interestingly, there was a story on ABC World News just last night which reported used cars appreciating due to current market conditions. That's been happening for a while now. I know you're a YouTube fan, so here's a link to a story from June of this year which reports the appreciation of used cars:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hcd7wQ_EBP4

@fleurssauvages - I think you're going to want someone to come and fix the conduit connection to the box in the picture you show or research what to do yourself. That appears to have been wrapped with duct tape (not electrical tape as your post mentions).

I think when you go for your final inspection on Wednesday before closing, you should bring your own inspector again to make sure all is done correctly. If not, then even at closing they can amend the contract price.

I love that I can count on some good discussion points and varying viewpoints here on Houzz.

I am sticking with thinking of a house as a depreciating asset, but you guys made me think about it and try to understand your logic and why you feel it is different than a car.

Drive the car off the lot and you lose money. Live in a house for a year and see if it appraises at the same amount that an identical home that is new construction appraises for. Don't sink money into maintaining the house and it will go to pot and the building will be a tear down in 30 years.

If I have two homes that have similar floorplans, square footage and finishes on similar lots in the same neighborhood and one is brand new and one is 30 years old the price tag of the brand new home is going to be higher than the price tag of the used home. It may be more than what it originally cost, but if I deduct all the expenses used to maintain the home, the taxes and the cost to insure the home and adjusted for inflation would have I realized a gain? Would I be better off if I had just purchased the land and let it sit for 30 years? What if I put a tiny house on the land and spent far less on maintenance, taxes, insurance? If I minimize the size of the house and maximize the investment into the land (best location I can afford) or get a larger house in a less desirable location?

Based on my thinking if the house is appreciating as well as the land I would come out even regardless of location, but I think the smaller house in the more desirable neighborhood will yield a much higher profit. If I don't continue to invest in the house (maintenance) it will yield a loss, not a profit, but the land will still appreciate in value.

I just don't see where the building is appreciating faster than inflation less expense. That means it is a depreciating asset.

I don't have the data to validate my conclusion, but I do believe that the three most important consideration for a real estate investment are location, location, location.

I am sticking with thinking of a house as a depreciating asset, but you guys made me think about it and try to understand your logic and why you feel it is different than a car.

Affordable housing? Have you ever heard about this logic? No one ever say's anything about affordable automotive?

The three requirements for appreciating real estate: location, location, location.

The one requirment to remain right side up in a auto purchase: cash.

You can argue auto collector type mantra all you want that market is extremely small and easily fits under the header that those participating in it are "in the auto business" -- thru restoring etc.

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Additionally when it comes to depreciating RE: If you run a business out of the home you can deduct a portion of those costs in terms of a percentage of the parts of the home you operate the business from. There are limits (IRS imposes them).

I've done this every year I've been in business. But depreciating these assets [as expenses] does not decrease the value of what you would sell said Real Estate (RE) for. The IRS is also looking for a 'someday' payday... that comes when RE holdings are sold for profit.

Home warranties often do not cover pre existing failures, improperly installed and/or equipment too old to service, requiring all to be in working condition when you bought the warranty.