Thursday, October 24, 2013

Cassie Barron "Attorney at Law": Putting on my Lawyer Pants and Mastering Legal Jargon

New words I learned the true meaning of this week: mitigation, abatement, friable, non-friable, encapsulated, and probably a bunch more that I'm not thinking of right now...

After the last post about all of the "deterring" inspection results and newly found concerns, we asked for a 3 day inspection period extension in which we had to schedule and complete 3 more contractor inspections to obtain written quotes and estimates for the scope of work they found. I spent hours on the phone finding, scheduling, and holding in depth discussions with plumbers, electricians, structural engineers, and mitigation specialists, while trying to entertain and keep fed our 2-year-old daughter, as well as lugging her out to meet the contractors at the house. It was a juggling act, and time was of the essence.

Once we received all of the results it was time to quickly get down to business and decide what exactly we were going to request from the seller in order to move forward with purchasing this home. Again, we spent hours putting everything into a spreadsheet, seeking the advice of our realtor and attorney, and debating what line items we were going to present to the sellers for reimbursement and/or credit.

Our lawyer acted ask if we were slightly crazy for what we were proposing, and did not seem optimistic that the sellers would see our side of things. I felt strongly that what we were asking for was fair and these were true numbers that we would have to fork up once the house was in our hands. So, I took it upon myself to type up a word document that explained, in my most legally intelligent verbiage, the results of our inspections and what we were asking for on each issue and why, and sent it to our lawyer so that they could put their lawyer-y spin on it.

Apparently, I really got in touch with my inner lawyer self, and mastered some major legal jargon, because our attorney responded saying they were just going to use my document verbatim to send over to the sellers' attorney. This made me really nervous, seeing that I did not expect my amateur write-up to be the legal manuscript asking for about $20,000 in credit... that would make or break this entire deal.

We were pretty pleased when the sellers agreed to give credit on 5 out of 7 line items. Our attorney said he was a little shocked that they had responded so reasonably to our request. There were 2 line items they marked as "not agreed"and their attorney expressed their reasoning by throwing some new legal jargon at us, which I was not familiar with. But Google is a wonderful thing, and within a couple of hours I had schooled myself on this new vocabulary, and I determined that his reasoning was simply incorrect. Again, I used my new found verbiage and typed up my most eloquent response.

I won't bore you with all 7 line items, but here is the back-and-forth on the interior asbestos issue: 

Me: "We had the home tested by the Environmental Consulting Group, Inc. for asbestos-containing materials (ACMs). Results show several materials are positive for ACMs. For detailed documentation see attached document: “REVISED Asbestos Material Testing Report” 

The state of Illinois labels Asbestos as a hazardous material and therefore, the removal and disposal of asbestos from the home requires an Illinois Department of Public Health licensed/insured worker. 

Professional estimate for the removal and disposal of the ACMs estimate is based on the inspection results. For detailed documentation see attached document: “Bluestone interior asbestos quote”." 

Response from Sellers' Attorney: "Not agreed. The asbestos is contained in the floor tiles and linoleum. It is embedded and non-friable. The only abatement cost would be for the disposal of the material. My clients offer a partial credit in this regard." 

Me (back to Seller's Attorney): "We have confirmed that currently Cook County does not distinguish between friable and non-friable ACMs. A permit is required for both removal and disposal of both friable and non-friable asbestos containing materials in Cook County. Therefore, a licensed asbestos removal contractor is needed for labor, removal, clean up, disposal, and air-quality control. 

We had positive tests for floor tile, linoleum and mastic (adhesive). Linoleum is not considered non-friable because it contains friable paper backing. In either case it is not advised to remove any of the asbestos containing material on our own.

Both licensed companies we spoke with will not cooperate with clean up or disposal of asbestos waste if they did not perform the labor due to liability issues.

We have received two quotes from Illinois-licensed asbestos removal contractors. We stand firm on our estimated cost for the labor, removal, clean up, disposal, and air-quality control from a licensed contractor."

The seller agreed to the full interior asbestos credit we requested. And that's how it's done. :)

In the end the seller agreed to give us about 75% of the total credit we asked for combined on all 7 line items. This was a relatively satisfying result and we decided it was agreeable to move forward with purchasing the home.

Cassie Barron "Attorney at Law"

Thursday, October 10, 2013

Lead, Asbestos, and Mold, Oh My! Also, Radon and a Chipmunk

When you buy a home there is always the general inspection that takes place. But, when you buy a 100+ year-old-home there are many more inspections that are a good idea to complete to make sure you are not getting yourself into a money-pit situation. The dilemma is: how much $$$ do you dish out in inspection costs in the interest of the ever invaluable peace.of.mind? Especially, when there is the possibility that the problems you uncover, may be far too big for your future wallet to deal with, and you may have to back out of the home completely...At this point we have told several of our friends relatives about our suspicions of the homes "hazards", and the common response is, "run away". But, I guess we're determined not to get scared off. It's just going to take a little extra effort, research, and $$.

Well, in our case it was about $1200 big ones. And in the end, how much did this save us by learning the results up front? Let's just say, it was WELL worth it!! And I now only enter our house looking like this:


There were several little clues along the way that guided us to hire specialized inspectors in conjunction with the general inspector. The home listed that the exterior was covered in lovely asbestos siding. When walking through the interior of the home with the architect, she pointed out some tile that she recognized as asbestos as well. I think it was the combination of our combined years of HGTV watching experience, as well as the home's lovely "musky" smell that led us to consider the possibility of mold. And, in doing some research on older homes I came across lots of documentation concerning lead paint (which can be present in any home built before 1978). We also paid extra with the general inspector to perform a radon test.

THE RESULTS ARE IN!

1) Asbestos: Positive - The entire exterior of home (excluding garage), 1st floor tile in breezeway, laundry, and closet areas, 1st floor bathroom tile, and 2nd floor bathroom tile, as well as the mastic (or adhesive) under the tile.

2) Mold: Positive results came back as "high" for three different types of mold in both the breezeway underneath the wallpaper, and the timbers throughout our attic.

3) Lead: Positive - Wall in kitchen, painted wood flooring throughout both 1st and 2nd floor, 2nd floor closet, 2nd floor bedroom doors, windows throughout both 1st and 2nd floors.

4) Radon: Positive - If your average radon concentration is at or above 4.0 pCi/L, mitigation is recommended. Ours came back at 4.2 pCi/L. Go figure.

5) General Inspection:
- Structural Issues. Dunt, dunt, dunt. The general inspector has suspicions of structural issues. That is a dreaded term when buying an old house. Structural issues. It just doesn't have a nice ring to it, does it?
- Electrical. We were also made aware that we have no 3 prong outlets in our entire home or GFCI outlets in the bathrooms or kitchen as required by code, and this would require some electrical work.
- Plumbing Issues.  Both 1st and 2nd floor baths drain slowly. This could indicate something simple like the need for cleaning pipes or something serious and expensive such as a collapsed old clay pipe, which could literally cost us thousands of dollars.
- Chipmunk Living in House. This is him.


We now have 3 additional inspections/quotes to acquire and assess before our "5 day inspection period" ends.  It's looking liking an extension is going to be needed...




Sunday, October 6, 2013

Risky Business: Making an Offer on a Potential Money Pit

It had been 3 days since the home had been back on the market. We knew that 2 other times this house had gone under contract within 2 and 3 days of being listed. As I mentioned, we had looked at every other home in the area and we knew its competition. Sure, it was old, outdated, smelly, and had 2 other buyers fall through for unknown reasons...But the location was phenomenal, the price was one of the lowest we had seen in the whole area, and it seemed to have massive potential.

We knew that if we made an offer we would have the 5 day inspection period to back out for any reason, so...we decided to make an offer!

We had no way of knowing what the amount of the other offers were that had previously been accepted, but we figured the sellers were most likely motivated seeing that this house was back on the market for a third time. After discussing offers with our realtor we made an offer that was competitive, while hoping not to completely insult the seller. As much as we wanted this situation to work out, we knew that this home needed A LOT of work, and there would most likely be "hidden" inspection issues that we were not yet aware of. We knew every dollar was going to count. We made our offer first thing in the morning.

We were pleasantly surprised when the sellers quickly responded and made a reasonable counter-offer that fell between their asking price and our offer. We countered back, but did not move much from our original offer, knowing it was risky but necessary. They countered again, coming closer to our offer, but informing us that this number was about as low as they were willing to go. We now had a choice: to come up a little and meet their number and the home would be ours, or stay firm on our last offer and hope they were motivated enough to concede. We decided to stay firm, and gave our realtor the OK to say that we stood firm on our final offer.

They accepted!!! We couldn't believe it. The house was ours. Within just a few hours of the initial offer the deal was done.

We were excited and it felt surreal after weeks of searching and searching. It was pretty immediate that a bit of anxiety started to creep in as we wondered what kind of "discoveries" we were about to uncover during the inspection process. Did we just buy our future dream home or a disastrous money pit??? We now had 5 days to complete as many inspections as possible in order to determine if we wanted to back out or continue toward closing...

Saturday, October 5, 2013

Visiting the Home: 60's Retro and Classic Antique Charm

We made it out to the home the very next day.

The original "Folk-Victorian" home was built in 1907, and there had been an addition put on in the 60's, which included a large attached 2-car-garage (an attached garage is rare in the historic district of Barrington!). It was a 2-story, 1300 square foot home with 3 bedrooms and 2 baths. It had a partial basement, which was basically an exterior storm cellar with a crawl space. The lot was amazing! Compared to everything else we'd seen in the village, this was basically a double lot. It was flat as can be, and the completely fenced-in backyard was beautiful, as well as the giant maple tree that had called it home for 100+ years.

As we walked through the home it became apparent that it had not been updated or kept up since the addition was added in the 60's. It was like walking into a time capsule. The house was vacant with yellow patterned wallpaper, an antique GE refrigerator that was shorter than me, and linoleum sheet flooring in the kitchen and baths. The windows and doors were surrounded by large pine decorative trim and molding. The doors featured gorgeous decorative hinges and hardware, and the front door still used the original skeleton key.

We decided to ask an architect, whom we had met during our previous home searches, to come with us to give us an idea if the home had structural potential. After walking through the home she confirmed that this could be a possibility for a remodel/build-on situation.

We wanted to bring in a contractor to give us an idea if we could build onto the home and fix up the current rooms within our budget, but there wasn't time. We had to act fast if we were going to be the first to make an offer.

Here are some photos!













Can you see the potential? :)

Friday, October 4, 2013

Third Time's a Charm: Seeing a Home with New Eyes

The first few weeks of home searching there were many properties that I had quickly dismissed because they did not fit into our "move-in-ready" criteria. As time went on and desperation set in a bit, we became a little more open minded, and as I mentioned in the previous post, had even started looking for land to build and fixer-uppers.

Anything I saw an email come through with "New Property in Barrington" I couldn't open the link quick enough. I was often disappointed to find that for one reason or another it wouldn't work for us.

It was October 4th and I received one such email. I quickly opened the link and found a home listed well below our price range. I recognized the one and only photo of the exterior of the home. I had seen this home when we had initially began our search and had quickly marked "Not Interested". It was interesting to see it listed as a new property, since I had first seen it listed weeks ago.

I read through the description: "...just minutes from downtown Barrington, schools and train...The sellers are offering the property in "as is" condition. Bring your ideas for updating the house with you..." Hmmm "as is condition"... intersting.

I immediately gave our realtor a call and she said she would look into it. She quickly called us back and said that the home had gone under contract not once, but twice since first listed in Spring 2013, and both times the deals had fallen through. The home was now listed for a third time and it was only Fall. We wondered about the other situations, but decided to set up a home visit anyway.