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View Full Version : Buying house and found issues with inspection



cidley69
11-06-2012, 10:59 PM
Made a conditional offer on a $500K house. Conditions were acceptable financing and inspection.

Vast majority of inspection was very good, only minor issues.

The major concern is many windows (7 of 14) have small holes drilled in the top and bottom corners. These thermal pane units are no longer sealed, and have lost some of their R value.

The cost of replacing just the panes (not frames) for windows with holes drilled in them is about $7K to $8K.

If half the window seals have failed, the others will likely fail soon.

Is this worth re-negotiating the purchase price?

What is the difference in R value between an argon filled low E double pane thermal window, and a non-sealed double pane window?

If you were the seller what would you say to a potential buyer?

Sugarphreak
11-06-2012, 11:13 PM
...

msommers
11-06-2012, 11:38 PM
Bingo, try to get as much as you can. They might budge considering on a 500K house, 8k is 1.6%. Guess it depends if you think that spending more (if they don't move) is worthwhile sacrificing to get the home.

Truthfully, they'll probably 50/50 it.

davidI
11-07-2012, 12:19 AM
Yep, give it a shot. What do you have to lose?

There was around $8k in issues on my place (most of which I was already aware of, but a few I was not). In the end, they only dropped down by $1500, but that's still $1500 I used to make the repairs.

masoncgy
11-07-2012, 05:36 PM
I would. When I bought my house here on the Island, the inspector advised me that a lot of the rear deck was rotted and needed replacement and I managed to get another $3,000 off the price, even though it turns out the repairs to the deck were perhaps a hundred bucks in replacement materials and a bit of my time to fix.

Get them to at least go half on it.

ercchry
11-07-2012, 05:38 PM
you should really be asking your realtor...

with our place there was nothing new that we found out that i didnt already see in the first walk through... but we still came back and got $2k and the house fully furnished since the furnace and hot water tank are pretty old

ee2k
11-07-2012, 06:26 PM
Originally posted by ercchry
you should really be asking your realtor...

with our place there was nothing new that we found out that i didnt already see in the first walk through... but we still came back and got $2k and the house fully furnished since the furnace and hot water tank are pretty old

... and insist on getting something from the seller if the realtor downplays it.

jaylo
11-07-2012, 10:47 PM
Unless it is considered a defect like mold behind the drywall, it will be tough getting them down 8k on a 500k house, unless they are really desperate

JordanLotoski
11-07-2012, 10:59 PM
Can you post a picture of the windows?

cidley69
11-07-2012, 11:20 PM
The windows look like regular windows, except they have 1/4" holes drilled in the bottom left and top right corners. The holes have small opaque screens over them.

I'll work on getting a photo posted.

JordanLotoski
11-07-2012, 11:42 PM
My guess would be a repair

http://www.clearvucanada.com/HowItWorks.html

Zero102
11-08-2012, 08:34 AM
Yep, those are repaired windows that have fogged up in the past. The repair doesn't really impact the R value as the windows were probably just air filled to begin with and there won't be significant airflow through the holes, but visually it is a little unpleasant and when you see so many of them repaired already that is generally an indication that the other unrepaired ones are going to experience fogging problems as well.

If the holes don't bother you then I suppose it isn't a huge issue, but on a $500k house I doubt you are going to get them to move $8k on the price. That wouldn't stop me from trying though :devil:

cidley69
11-09-2012, 09:00 PM
Update:

Seller met us half way and knocked $4000 off the purchase price.

We'll live with the holy windows for a while and see how quick they need to be replaced.

Definitely worth bringing up the issue!

thetransporter
11-18-2012, 01:41 PM
I can only think these holes were made to insert coax cable... But 500k is a lot of money - even in Calgary

justincalgary78
11-19-2012, 12:46 AM
Jordan is right. It's to suck the moisture out of failed sealed windows. It is mainly used as a quick fix for people selling there homes. Going by what other people have told me, the moisture will usually return between 6 months to a year from the procedure.

There is a significant difference between windows without low e and argon vs with. Especially if you face south and/or west for heat. If you have a humidifier, you will also notice a lot more condensation room side during the winter.