Expert: Russel Ray - 3/24/2009

Question
QUESTION: Hi, we are in the process of buying a house. After many months of searching, we finally found the right house, and our offer was accepted.The house is 2,648 sq.ft. and has 5 bedrooms, it is located in Chula Vista, CA. It was on sale for 395,000 and we offered 407,000 with the seller paying 12,000 closing costs. The only problem is the house is sold as is. There are several things that need repairs like carpeting, and closet doors, which I don't mind. But one big issue that I found, was in the bathroom and the guest bedroom. On the guest bedroom there were moisture stains below sink, and black stains at wall behind the entry door.In the bathroom upstairs, the subfloor shows moisture damage,and in the shower there is moisture damage on exposed dry wall.  My concern is because it is sold as is, and me and my husband are overwhelmed with the process of looking for houses, we really want to keep this property, but is it really worth it? When a house is sold as is, what is a considerate amount of money for a buyer to do the repairs needed? Thank you for your time, and I will appreciate your response before we go further with this property.

ANSWER: Hey, Elsa.

I'm hoping that you had a professional home inspection done, especially in Chula Vista where the boom times caused many builders to take some short cuts here and there because of the demand.

Notwithstanding that, only you and your financial advisors can answer the question about what amount of money is appropriate for repairs in a house being sold "as is."

It's more important for you to know exactly what the problems are with the house so that you can properly determine if there are items that you can do yourself, whether now or later, or whether they need to be take care of immediately by a licensed professional in order to make the house safe to live in and easily maintained.

If you move in and start spending money immediately because you didn't have a home inspection to help you see where the problems were, it could become the inevitable money pit with ongoing expenses above and beyond what you are prepared to spend.

Moisture stains below a sink are not uncommon. However, a functional drainage evaluation and a functional water flow evaluation should indicate if the stains are an active problem.

Black stains behind an entry door could be just about anything. I couldn't begin to address that in this forum without actually seeing them, their location, and how the home and roof are laid out.

In the bathroom upstairs, you shouldn't be able to see the subflooring, but moisture damage to the floor and exposed dry wall in bathrooms also is not uncommon because people forget to use the exhaust fan or open the bathroom window to help moisture escape more rapidly.

If you need help analyzing your home in more detail, I have many different services at different prices. My STANDARD home inspection is my most popular because it's the most thorough and detailed. If money is tight for you, though, I do have a more BASIC home inspection, and I also work as a CONSULTANT on an hourly basis to look at your home with you and just discuss specific problems that you want help with. Although I don't know what area of Chula Vista you are in, I'm guessing Eastlake based on the square footage. I'd highly recommend at least a BASIC inspection for anything in Eastlake because of the relative newness of the homes there (1994 or later) and the fact that I've done thousands of home inspections there since 2001 and can tell you that there are a lot of problems that you should be aware of, especially in this economy with an "as is" purchase and if this is your first home.

If you want to explore a more detailed analysis of your home, feel free to call me at 619-341-0173. I answer the phones 24/7, and once you hire me, you and your family have access to my knowledge from 43 years of real estate experience, forever and ever.

Out of the problems you talked about here, though, all of them involved water, which insurance companies report is the #1 cause of home owner claims. Have those checked out further just to make sure you won't have water damage as soon as you move in and have to go through the time and trouble of filing a claim and having repairs done.

If the home is vacant -- and I'm guessing it is -- please, please, please have a good, thorough home inspection done. Homes that have been vacant for any length of time create their own unique set of problems. Homes are meant to be lived in, used, and maintained, and when they are not, they fall into disrepair that is not always obvious until you move in and start using things again.

Hope that helps.

Russel

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hi Russel,the property is located in Sunbow and was built in 1989.We had the home inspection done a week ago. There were some minor issues that the inspector recommended to be repaired like carpeting, closet doors missing, springs on garage doors, some tiles missing on master bathroom, and the main supply needs to be replaced. As far as the plumbing, he did mention that the draining was slow, and there was some leaking evidence in the master bathroom sink.But my biggest concern as I mentioned is the bathroom and the guest bedroom wall. I'm afraid that because of the moisture damage, there can be mold hiding in those places and will cost us big bucks. I already had planned to remodel the bathroom prior to this issue,if there is mold, do you think once I remodel the bathroom it will go away? Thank you for your time.

Answer
Hey, Elsa.

I don't understand what you mean by "the main supply needs to be replaced."

Was the drainage slow throughout the house, or was it localized to one bathroom, or even one toilet, sink, bathtub, or shower?

Mold has been found everywhere on earth except the north and south poles. When I was young growing up in South Texas, spring cleaning meant getting out the stainless steel wool and the Clorox and cleaning the mold out of the showers and bathtubs. Mold only causes problems when you give it a source of moisture so that it can grow and reproduce. Most common molds have about a 24-hour life cycle, so if you see mold or smell mold, you have mold. Now it's just a question of determining where the water source is coming from, putting an end to that water source, cleaning up the mold, and moving on. So you don't have to be afraid of mold just because it's a four-letter word. The extent of any water damage would be a bigger issue.

The possible exceptions are if you are pregnant, you have very young children or very elderly people living with you, someone is recently home from the hospital, or someone has a compromised immune system of any sort. If you're going to remodel the bathroom anyway, remodeling in and of itself should take care of any water damage and mold.

For more information on mold, see this documennt: http://www.russel-ray.com/reports/Mold%20and%20mold%20remediation.pdf.

Hope that helps.

Russel