Home Inspection

Today was a very long day for us.  Our meeting with the home inspector was scheduled for 11 am.  However, as of 9 o'clock we still had not received a copy of the ratified contract that the listing agent assured us had been ratified last Friday.  Oh, and did I mention that the house was still listed online as actively "for sale"?  Not the sort of things that inspire confidence.  Our realtor tried to assure us that she would get to the bottom of it and that all would be well.  We knew that would likely be the case, but deep down, we were a little concerned that things were going to go pear-shaped thanks to the sellers' realtor.  Which, as N pointed out, would have been stupid since there was a legally binding contract in place. 

The contract arrived via email as we were en route to the house for the rescheduled 11:30 meeting.  Once there, we waited for 20-30 minutes: no inspector and no realtor.  Our realtor is nearly always late so this was no surprise, but no home inspector?  Not good.  So we called our realtor, and she was concerned for a bit until we all realized that perhaps someone should check the house next door...  which is also for sale.  Lo and behold, there he was!  The poor guy hadn't double-checked the address; he turned the corner and there was a house for sale.  He assumed we were running late and started the inspection on the wrong house, which he was actually able to complete since the back door was unlocked (he thought our agent had unlocked it for him).  Thankfully, he thought it was pretty funny and was in good spirits for our inspection.  Nice guy!  We had to go through the backyard first, as the realty system that provides codes for the lockboxes was down so our realtor had to wait on the phone a good ten minutes before we could get into the house.

Overall, the inspection results were good.  Major findings as follows:

• Older roof that will likely need replacing in 5-10 years.  No surprise there - we knew that already.
• Ancient air compressor that is probably on its last legs and could go any time, but is running quite well for now.  We knew this was old but didn't realize quite how old it is, and it is an expensive thing to replace.  This is why home warranties exist.
• Sloppy caulking on the flash (I think he said flash?) at the chimney - it's ugly but it's working great.  Might need to be redone when the roof is replaced.
• Windows all appear to have 8-10 years of life in them yet; nothing is leaking but some of the exterior windows should be caulked.
• Solid plumbing, particularly for the recent kitchen/bathroom remodel.
• Aforementioned remodel involved some questionable wiring decisions that need to be remedied.  Namely, the dishwasher and the oven are sharing a circuit, which is a no-no.  Plus, the master bathroom is sharing a circuit with the kitchen, which is also unacceptable.  These are easy to fix and according to state law, the seller has to fix them before closing.  The inspector is also willing to peek at it after it gets fixed to make sure it's done properly.
• We can't use antibacterial soap since the house is on septic and you need to let the bacteria do their job.  OK, so this isn't an official home inspection finding, but he told us about it since we're new to septic.  We don't like antibacterial soap anyway (messes with the skin's natural pH barrier), but this is good to know.  The inspector was full of useful tidbits like this.
• The attic could use slightly more heavy-duty insulation for efficiency's sake, though it's not bad the way it is.  On a related note, that attic actually has a fair bit of storage space - yay!
• Furnace is only a few years old and is in excellent working condition.
• Fireplace and chimney look great, and it would be cheap to swap it from a gas fireplace to a wood-burning fireplace if we wanted to do so.
• If we want to have chickens in a few years, the inspector is raising Rhode Island Reds for sale.  Again, not official "inspection material", but he is an avid gardener (and chicken farmer) and got all excited when we found out we want to grow some of our own food.  So we also got his two cents about where to put the garden because hey, why not? 

I am entertained at the notion that since the house next door is also under contract (twice the size and 1.5 times the price of ours), we will not be the only new kids on the block.

Then it was time for a lunch break at the best bakery in Warrenton.  We will only be ten minutes from this place, which is both a wonderful thing and a potentially bad thing.  We may have been eyeballing the 5 lb bag of coffee beans for sale.  Old Town Warrenton is so cute!   On the way out of town we discovered that the listing agent had finally changed the status on the house from "active" to "sale pending",  or as I like to call it, "my house - no touchy!"  Then on to a meeting with our mortgage guy.  This involved lots and lots of paperwork, many pages of which detailed my student loans in excruciating fashion.  All in all, it was relatively painless and he is a pleasant fellow.

Not the way I would choose to spend my only day off, but it needed to be done.  Home appraisal should be done in about two weeks' time and we should close in about four weeks.  We are too tired to be appropriately jubilant.