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Help Please Urgent


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2011 Dec 1, 11:10am   6,183 views  21 comments

by leo9   ➕follow (0)   💰tip   ignore  

We recently bid for a bank owned reo from BOA. The house is close to bay 0.5 mile away. The property foundation is raised foundation. When I saw the house I noted that
the soil was little moist in the crawl space. Now here is the important thing. In the disclosure packet from received from BOA there is disclosure which says "Seller hereby advices buyer that the property including but not limited to the basement is or may be affected by water or moisture damage, toxic mold, and/or other environmental hazards or conditions". My realtor says that its a standard language for reo and it doesn't mean that the property has this issue but I don't trust them, specially when its written on disclosure.

Please help and let me know if this is standard language bank uses and if this is fine or not ?

#housing

Comments 1 - 21 of 21        Search these comments

1   joshuatrio   2011 Dec 1, 11:17am  

We're you not able to get the property inspected?

2   leo9   2011 Dec 1, 11:21am  

Yes, but inspection are not always through.

3   Mr B   2011 Dec 1, 11:29am  

This is a standard issue. REO is usually sold as is because the bank does not want to take the heat is something goes wrong. The inspector has to act in your best interest because of California law. If he with holds information he can be held liable and you can sue him/her!

4   TPB   2011 Dec 1, 11:49am  

Demand any test during inspection.
Make sure you're Title guy is a Lawyer, and have him include any services to cover your concerns.

If there are any violations he'll be sure to find out, and if there are any facts they are with holding, he'll get to the bottom of those as well.

5   Bap33   2011 Dec 1, 12:15pm  

Are you using a lender? If so, the lender will require that be checked.

If you are not using a lender, then you are using cash, and you should reduce your bid by the amount a contractor tells you it will cost to make the house meet your standards.

Two choices, both easy.

remember, The house is "as is", so it is up to you or whomever gives you a loan to worry about any issues.

p.s., your REtor is not to be trusted.

6   bighorse   2011 Dec 1, 3:17pm  

Crawl spaces are usually wet. You have a headache when it rains. Even on concrete slab foundations; water seeps out of the concrete!

How is the topography? Does water seem to settle on the said property?

7   JodyChunder   2011 Dec 1, 3:27pm  

You want that crawl space Leo. better than slab. you can dry up that moist water with special sand. this is not a thing any handy man worth his salt cant help you with.

8   bmwman91   2011 Dec 1, 3:33pm  

Yeah, some maintenance like improved crawl space ventilation & making sure that the ground is graded away from the foundation will help (the latter with rain, anyway...not so much ground seepage form the bay). If it was inspected for MOLD and tested negative, you are probably OK. Wood-rot is also an issue, and can get costly, but mold is the biggie.

9   TMAC54   2011 Dec 1, 10:08pm  

Hire a contractor to inspect the house. He advises to scrape it and rebuild. Costs of demolition and rebuilding are deducted from the purchase price. Move in & patch it up or flip it.

Would that be an immoral thing to do to the seller ? Then gimme the address !

If You don't ask, You don't get.

10   elliemae   2011 Dec 1, 10:34pm  

inspection. 'nuff said.

11   fbauerle   2011 Dec 1, 10:59pm  

Please go and visit your neighbors homes. Introduce yourself and ask about their property. If raised crawl underneath. Find out if they have minor flooding at times. Neighbors will be honest. They are your best bet to know all there is to know about your purchase.

12   bob2356   2011 Dec 2, 3:23am  

What did the inspector say? Ask your insurance company if the house is in a flood plain. If not occasional dampness in a vented crawl space is irrelevant. It happens to most crawl spaces after heavy rain. If it really bothers you have someone lay down plastic over the dirt.

Continuous dampness would mean a drainage problem or very high water table or as happened to me once a leaking water supply line. Those would be problems that the inspector should have noticed and addressed.

13   woggs1   2011 Dec 2, 3:38am  

Buy a house up on a hill, the sea levels are rising. Check this map to see if the house will be inundated with the expected sea level rise:

http://geology.com/sea-level-rise/san-francisco.shtml

14   corntrollio   2011 Dec 2, 5:17am  

Did the inspector indicate any problems? Can you observe any damage to the house that could have been caused by this? The inspector should have checked the stuff that bmwman and bob mentioned and you often can find out about flood plains from the disclosures.

As someone mentioned, REOs are generally sold as is. If you're concerned, you should follow up on this before closing.

15   leo707   2011 Dec 2, 5:31am  

woggs1 says

Buy a house up on a hill, the sea levels are rising. Check this map to see if the house will be inundated with the expected sea level rise:

http://geology.com/sea-level-rise/san-francisco.shtml

That link is set to 7m sea level rise. Probably in our life times we will only have to worry about 1 or 2 meters.

There are currently solutions for floating houses, and by the time the sea rises you could just put a floating house on your plot of land... uh... errr... I mean plot of water.

16   PockyClipsNow   2011 Dec 2, 6:02am  

uh oh the global warming fraudsters are here.

Save the world, drive a prius. lol. total fiction.

17   leo707   2011 Dec 2, 6:25am  

PockyClipsNow says

uh oh the global warming fraudsters are here.

Thank you for announcing your presence, but who did you bring with you?

18   Patrick   2011 Dec 2, 6:41am  

I for one both believe in and welcome global warming! Being easily sunburnt, I look forward to living in a warm climate at a high latitude.

And an extra meter or two of sea level sounds like fun. Though I'm sure the Bengalis and the Dutch would disagree with me.

No idea about that crawl space though.

19   corntrollio   2011 Dec 2, 9:55am  


No idea about that crawl space though.

Patrick, is it possible to merge the thread located at http://patrick.net/?p=1187133 into this one? Seems like the OP double-posted.

20   Patrick   2011 Dec 2, 9:59am  

update comments set thread_ID=1187151 where thread_ID=1187133;
delete from threads where thread_ID=1187133;

OK, done.

Thanks for telling me.

21   elliemae   2011 Dec 2, 3:42pm  


update comments set thread_ID=1187151 where thread_ID=1187133;
delete from threads where thread_ID=1187133;

I love it when you talk dirty...

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