Just when you thought you knew what you were getting into, an inspector comes along and tells you that the previous owner was a do-it-yourselfer. Now, I'm all for DIY. My friend Ben Spence once called me the most self-reliant person he knew. He could picture me up the woods, Hunter Thompson compound style. "Roads? Don't use 'em. Didn't build 'em." However, there's doing it yourself, and having someone do it for you right.
Case in point, anything electrical.
The house is right around a hundred years old. Back then, they had two prong outlets instead of the three-prong grounded outlets that we have come to know here in America. What this guy did was install the three prong outlets without grounding them. Would you like fries with that? How about a house fire? Two options: go back to the two prong outlets, or install three-prong outlets with a built-in circuit breaker. Oh, and if you're going to put the two-prongs back in, make sure they're wired correctly. A couple of leftover outlets are wired with reverse polarity. Also, not good.
Now, the outlets I can forgive. I could do it myself [DIM?] except it's customary to ask for things you want done when buying a house. He simply needs to get the power lines looked at. The inspector... let's call him Steve, since that was his name. Steve says that apparently the previous owner/handyman SPLICED INTO THE POWER LINES HIMSELF. Now, I'm no electrician. I'm not even technically a homeowner. But this doesn't sound like a very good idea.
However, it wasn't even properly attached, but simply WRAPPED WITH ELECTRICAL TAPE.
[!!!]
The house is still standing, so it's probably not as big a deal as it sounds. But before selling a house, I think that you'd want it to pass a minimum of whatever safety standards the utilities have, you know? For example, making sure there was a handle on the water shut-off valve. That is unless I'm supposed to go down there with a wrench and figure it out when there's a flood in the middle of the night. Better yet, how about when there's a power problem and I need to shut off all the power to the house. Am I supposed to go down & throw every single switch on the circuit breaker board? That is, instead of having a main power switch or the maximum of six levers?
Apparently, the guy threw a fit when his realtor gave him my list of requests. But his mom is the actual owner of the house, and she talked him down. They conceded everything except having a structural engineer look at the garage. [More on the garage in a second.] The point is he's as ready to have the house sold as I am to get into it--once it's up to code. Our tactic of giving them the entire inspection report worked. We listed what I'm willing to fix as the buyer, and what I expect him to fix as the seller. My realtor said this is a good idea & doesn't just make a list of demands, but shows what both parties are willing to do.
Now I haven't sold a house either, but as a do-it-yourselfer, there's a certain amount of pride you take when you make something yourself. Whether it's a pizza, or a deck, when you build something you take a certain amount of pride in it. I think it's the production co. for the X-files that has the little kid saying, "I made this," after the credits roll. And when someone comes in with a list, it would be pretty easy to take it personally.
That's why we have realtors. They can offer perspective, because they deal with these things every day. It's not personal, just business. Just me protecting my interests, since I can't call him to come fix or install things the way his mom could when she was living there. I know I'll have to deal with some of this, so I'll have to tuck away some extra $$ for moving out repairs.
Who woulda thunk? It costs money to sell a house, too.
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