Adventures in Home Buying Part IV

Last post in my Adventures in Home Buying mini-series!

After the offer was accepted we had a certain amount of time (I think it was ten days) to set up inspections.  We had a whole house inspection as well as Radon testing and a termite inspection.  The whole house inspection was recommended for us because it was our first home and we didn't really know what to look for and also weren't really in a position to deal with any big surprises.  You can Google Radon if you want but it is a gas that leaches into the house from the ground and can apparently give you cancer.  Some people we talked to thought it was no big deal but we went with it anyway.

Alex wasn't able to take off work for the inspection so I had his dad come with me because he is a former building inspector so he knows his stuff.  The sellers weren't there, so it was me and Alex's dad plus someone from our realtor's office (he could not be there himself because he was moving that day) and the inspectors.  One guy did the termites and the other guy had set up the Radon tester and then did the whole house inspection.  Mostly I just stood around and took pictures for my own planning purposes why the professionals did their thing.

The house inspector did this whole huge and detailed report with a bunch of pictures.  He pretty much looked at everything and then some.  He gave me a preliminary report on the spot and by the end of the day the whole detailed report was online for me to look at.

We spent the evening digesting all of the information we had gotten and came up with the list of things we wanted the seller to fix.  We ended up deciding we wanted them to address an issue in the attic, termites in the backyard (luckily no damage to the house yet), some grading issues and Radon (it tested like four times the recommended amount).

After a little bit of negotiating, we got to a final agreement.  We told them what we wanted them to do and then they got bids on the work and came back to us with a counter offer.  Looking back the only thing I would change is that I would not have had them do the grading--they did a shabby job and we could have done it much better ourselves.

We then had a bit of a lull because we set our closing date for closer to the expiration of our lease.  We got the financing squared away and then the weekend before we closed we had our final walk through.  The sellers had basically moved out by then so it was kind of neat to see the house empty and waiting for our stuff. 

Closing was pretty uneventful.  The sellers closed earlier in the day and my closing was closer to lunch because I had a hearing in the morning that I needed to go to for work.  Other than the title company not having any outside signage so it was a little hard to find, everything went smooth.  Whenever I am signing something my lawyer instincts kick in and I like to actually read over it so I have a general idea of what I am agreeing to.  Then we got the keys but had to wait a couple of hours for the money to clear before we could actually go in. 

It was super fun to walk into our house for the first time when it was really ours.  We took some cleaning stuff with us because the sellers left it kind of a mess and packed up the dog and just chilled for a few hours.  We opened a bottle of champagne and just soaked it all in.  Then the hard work began...