I love Art Deco homes and have found one I would love to buy. I will attach some photos, I love it! What are the potential problems? I know flat roof and guttering issues, can the not so great weather proofing be remedied?
Depending on where you are with the purchase decision, get a book on home inspections, which will list all potential issues and how you can spot possible problems. Bring along a friend or family member with experience. Once you've decided to buy, get a good inspector and spring for any extras he recommends. (We were recommended to get someone to send video up the chimneys, which turned out to be unlined and not particularly safe). We bought a house in good shape, but thanks to our inspection report, negotiated down the price based on a number of items that needed to be fixed that we didn't see, but our inspector did. For stuff like the chimneys, which didn't get negotiated down, we had an estimate.
Many things will be clues as to how well the house has been maintained and upgraded over the years. Have the electrics been redone? When? What about the heating? Or the roof? The house looks pristine, but you want to know if the house has been care fully and lovingly maintained over the years, or just recently painted for resale.
The bath shower arrangement, for example, is strange. What happened to the shower curtain rod? Was there a miserable moldy -- or worse yet, rotting --- bathroom that got fixed up and they didn't put the curtain rod back because a quick sale was more important than doing a good job.
It's great if someone else took care of headaches so you don't have to, but make sure they did a good job. Ask questions about the history of the house and its updates. Unless there's another serious buyer who sounds like he'll buy at the asking price now, honest sellers will be happy to answer questions.
Thank you! I live in christchurch, New Zealand. We had an earthquake 2 years ago, that destroyed many homes. We now have a unique situation of most homes having at least some damage. There are records of repair work done, or assessments on the work to be done. Most land has been categorized also.
This means that good houses are hard to find. This house was put on the market yesterday, open home tomorrow. Auction in 3 weeks. There will be multiple bidders.
We must get a builders report and valuation done before hand, which is fine. My partners is dead set against flat roofs, but I love this house and would love to be able to walk into the open home and know what the look for, what to point out is a plus or a minus.
Sigrid
tesskerrOriginal Author
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