By Living Room Realty, November 5, 2019
The inspection period in any home purchase is one of the busiest and most volatile times of the entire transaction. There is so much to look into: sewer lines, oil tanks, radon tests, electrical panels, plumbing systems (by Slam Plumbing Atlanta), roofs, etc., etc. The sale with my client Caitlin was no different. We went though all the standard protocol and were just about to submit an addendum with a light seller credit for some issues when we got a bit of a curve ball.
The masonry contractor that we had out to look at the chimney noticed that it was pulling away from the house. Yikes! The signs were so subtle that it was easy to look right past it. We ended up extending the inspection period a few times and had numerous contractors out to look at it. The variation in opinions that we got back was staggering. One mason suggesting tearing it most of the way down, re-leveling and then rebuilding (to the tune of $27k). One foundation contractor wanted to install 3 hex-piles for $15k; we found another contractor who would do the same job for $6k. There were a couple of other opinions that were borderline-confusing.
At one point our transaction was totally terminated! We were able to put it all back together and ended up settling on a generous seller credit that offset all of the buyer’s closing costs. The process was slightly painful for all, but we got through it and closed the sale with smiles all around.
