Buying our first home! UPDATE pg 4: Starting Over

[ChicknThief]

Oh man. So we have officially hit our first snag. Turns out that our instincts were correct. Mary, our original real estate agent was NOT our friend. Apparently this house has been tagged by El Dorado County as "uninhabitable" due to unpermitted modifications on the house. This is going to REALLY complicate things. And she was going to let us drive all the way out there without so much as mentioning this huge piece of information. The only reason we found out is I contacted my mom's friend (who is a RE agent) and he did some digging for us. Needless to say, we fired Mary and are now working with my mom's friend, named Dave.

We are still going to look into whether or not this house is a realistic thing to hope for, but it's not looking good. Luckily there are several comparable houses in the area. I am still pretty disheartened. I had really gotten my hopes up for this place. It is perfect for us in every way.

We are still going to look at it tomorrow, but we are looking at another house as well. No need to keep all of our eggs in one basket at this point.

 

[gryeyes]

Glad you got a better real estate agent. I could recommend one, of course, but you've got one.

 

[EweSheep]

Well the house needs to be up to date on the modifications. Did they specify what kind of modification it needs? Maybe dropping the price even more to get it up to code might help if you are game to do that kind of work or hire some company to get it up to code to be habitable.

 

[Jferlisi]

aaahhh im sorry, that stinks.

 

[gryeyes]

It's Saturday. We're waiting. How did the house-hunting go??

 

[speckledhen]

As a realtor, I'm not sure how I would have known that piece of information if it wasn't disclosed in the listing itself or the disclosure statement filled out by the seller (not sure if they do that in CA-they do in GA). I was a realtor for 8 years here.

There are literally thousands upon thousands of houses on the market and a realtor cannot know every bit of information about every house he/she shows. There isn't time to do intense research on one unless someone is very interested in it-that's when you research stuff, if you suspect something is wrong. Did you find out she knew that for sure? Or did you just find out something she wasn't aware of yet?


Every house does not have to be brought up to current code when it's sold if the item was not code when the house was built-that is a misconception. Now, if some DIY'er did something nutty-stupid and made the house completely unsafe, that may be a different story.

 

[ChicknThief]

Well, we didn't get to go

David is still researching the house, and we didn't think it would be wise to go look at it and get our hopes way up, just to have them dashed if we can't buy the place.

BUT we may possibly go tomorrow. But if not we will be going on Saturday, January 7th. Looks like this will be a much longer and drawn out process than we were really expecting.

 

[speckledhen]

Jess, in this market, there are so many great bargains available, if this isn't it, keep looking.

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

Quote:
After reading about what Linda had to go through, I would march myself down to the county offices that handle zoning and get it in WRITING that you can have chickens on whatever parcel you purchase before you sign.

I don't know if that is even feasable, since I don't know real estate, but that would make me more comfortable.

Here's to the perfect place for you and your chickies!!!

The views are absolutely gorgeous on those houses you posted. I know you will find the perfect place.

 

[speckledhen]

Agreed on the ordinances. I'd get copies of them and verify them with county officials. Never let that be the realtor's responsibility (since it really is not anyway, being public record)