If I had a good realtor, I would ask them this question, but I don’t. Our realtor very much wants this sale to go forward, to the point I don’t feel they’re acting in our best interest (for other reasons that I won’t go into here).
Pictures of water seepage and gutters + last pic is of basement when dry
FTHB here, in New England. We did a “pre” final walkthrough on the house we are purchasing and supposed to close on on Tuesday, July 5 (doing another final walkthrough then), because I wanted to see how the house looked after it rained. I’m very glad I did. Some of the walls are dry-walled in the basement.
We found this seepage coming out of the drywall in the corners where the gutters end immediately next to the foundation. There was 0.61 inches of rain over ~8-12 hours for it to get like this. We also used a pinless moisture meter that beeped at the highest “high red/very wet” setting near these spots in the drywall and the cement at the appropriate settings. However, it beeped “low green/dry” for drywall about 2-3 feet up directly up from these spots. There is no “wet” or “musky” smell and the rest of the drywall seems dry according to the moisture meter. The drywall looks mostly fine (no bubbles or anything).
We are paying appraised price with $5k in EMD. The house is 100 years old. It’s a flip, but not a professional flip – many examples of shoddy workmanship. Our inspection was several weeks ago and the inspector wouldn’t have been able to see this as it was not raining during inspection and it’s been a dry summer thus far.
How big of a deal is this? Is this something we should delay closing for or ask for seller credits? According to our contract, we have waived the right to further inspections, as we’re outside the inspection period. There are already a number of other issues with the house that we are already setting aside money for (~20k total for new roof, installing washer/dryer hookup, other plumbing costs) but I just don’t know how much water is “bad” and what this drywall could be hiding. Seller offered no disclosures since they are flippers and never lived there.
Contract Language:
At closing, Seller shall convey the Property in the same condition in which it is on the Date of this Agreement, except for reasonable use and wear and/or any improvements or repairs required by this Agreement. Buyer shall be entitled to a final walkthrough of the Property prior to the delivery of the deed in order to determine whether the condition of the Property complies with the terms of this section.
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