Who has ever bought a house? (not a new one)

In Michigan, the seller ha to provide a disclosure form filled out and sworn to for accuracy. This form doesn't guarantee the mentioned equipment in any way.

Lots of lenders require a lead paint disclosure.....

SellersDisclosureStatement.pdf (brokerdirectmlsmichigan.com)


Also, in Michigan, once the ownership is transferred, the real estate taxes become "uncapped" and can take quite a jump to get to the SEV.

As far as I know, home inspection services do not guarantee the condition of any thing they inspect. You are paying for a service to show that they were "inspected" and found to be operating or not. (DUH!)

Going through life getting as much experience with installing/maintaining/repairing/replacing (etc.) any home related items pays off.

 

Groundhawgs pop their heads up for a look around mid season/winter too...

 

I was. Couldn't pass up $25 monthly internet charge, so......

 

I didn't read everything. I'd ask to see the utility bills.

 

If the water heater fails, the water will go down.

 

I didn't meet the people who owned my house before me. My county assessor has a lot of stuff available online like sale records, taxes, and even a floorplan. When I first looked at this place, the neighbor was outside and he answered some questions for me about previous owners, reason for sale, builder, general feel of the neighborhood, etc. When I met him I also knew he would be a good neighbor.
The previous owners' agent gave my agent an envelope with appliance manuals and a sketch of the septic tank and drain field.

 

To what comment was this directed at> It's too early in the morning to confuse me like this

 

That's a good question...I would think that would be required to be disclosed too, but maybe not...the reason I say that is that my employer has easement rights on many properties, and sometimes when we go through doing maintenance/etc people come out ready to confront the trespassers and often times seem to be unaware of the easement, unless maybe they were the ones that granted it, those people know/remember more readily. Or maybe its one of those documents people just sign and never read...

 

House inspection with pro inspector was today, as was termite inspection. One of the biggies for me is that the central a/c system is 19 years old. For some reason, that surprised me. Also, the furnace isn't operating correctly, so, it will have to be repaired no matter what. A google search states that a/c systems have a life of 12-17 years. I assume that this means a/c and furnace for winter. That's what we have down here. Regardless what google revealed, my thinking was that 20 years is likely a good life. What do you think?

The floor over almost the entire house is peel and stick stuff (flimsy laminate) and it appears to me that it was installed by the homeowner. In fact, the inspector even told me that "a professional did not install this floor." The edges are not professionally done and also, the seams, they did not stagger or alter them from a set pattern, and it looks hokey with the seams lining up. My point in bringing up the floor is that installing a new (good) floor... I am guessing... $10k. And the a/c system, it's a 5 ton unit, and I would guess... at least $10k. If I were to do both of those ($20k) takes some wind out of my sails at the offered price, lol. I was high bidder but there were a total of four offers within just two days. It's a very nice 57-year-old, 2550 sq ft house on a slab (plus a screened porch), IMO in the top 5% of houses in this town as far as overall quality, but I had to pay a good price to be high bidder. I was told that I "barely" was top bidder and I don't doubt that. So, asking for an amended sell price of quite a difference from my offer, I dunno how that would work. Especially since the realtor said that they accepted the 2nd offer, lower than mine, in the event that my purchase does not go through.

It has some other stuff that def needs fixing. I won't mention anything other than both water heaters have no drains to the outside, there are some light fixtures that don't work, and the dishwasher water backs up into the sink! Anyway, main question is about life of a central air system.

The house did have a termite 'event' in the recent past, on the porch, but was treated successfully. No termites revealed today.

 

What's the issue with the furnace? Likely it can be repaired without major expense...unless it has a cracked heat exchanger, or something bad like that.
As for AC life...it really varies, if is a quality unit and installed/maintained correctly it could go 30 years, maybe more...I replaced mine back in 2012, it was still working, but rusting very badly! It was from the 70's, at the latest! My service guy has been at this for 40 years plus, said it had been a very long time since he had seen one of those units!
A 5 ton AC sounds pretty large for a 2500 sq ft house...unless the insulation is really poor? Our place is closer to 2000 sq ft and had a 2 ton, and not great insulation. The new system is 3 ton, but only because that's what my guy could get a deal on...2 ton would do the job no prob, especially since beefing the insulation up.
My point is that HVAC guys like to sell new systems, rather than fix old ones...they make more money on it...and they like to oversize things too...they make more money on it, plus they don't want it to be "too small" either...but going too big on AC is not good either, it will not dehumidify the house properly.

 

I doubt this system is oversized. (EDIT: It might be, but if it is, it's not much. Probably nothing wrong if it is, a little bit!) Perhaps visiting Louisiana in July would prove that up. Heat here is brutal. And humidity. The a/c systems will usually not ever shut off until dead of night and sometimes, not even then. The past few years, summer humidity has just been horrendous.

On test, the furnace would cycle on and off, it would not stay off to reach thermostat temp.

On my existing house, I have to replace parts now and then to keep it going and it's about 20 years old. Believe me, it will not be replaced until it conks out; my a/c guys are honest, I have about three of them! These systems have an outside condenser unit and the main unit is inside the house. Which I detest, because they are loud!

 

What kind of furnace, gas?
Did it come on and off on its own, like you didn't have to reset, or restart anything? If that's the case I'd start by checking out the tstat and wiring...
What say you yooperdave ?

 

The biggest issue in my mind would be if the A/C has the old refrigerant. Makes it very expensive to get rid of the old unit - and extremely expensive to recharge since it can't be imported any more.

The consult I had with a well regarded local company when putting in the mini-split, said they wouldn't even try to repair my system for those reasons if I decided to go that route. There were other reasons, particular to this house and geography, I went with mini split instead of replacing the outdoor unit for the vented A/C.

This was an older guy from a company that repaired my 30 year old boiler as well as an older (now, no longer to code) water heater - he didn't even blink or try to sell me new equipment.

 

I'm here to help.