Water Damage/Mortgage Probs?
We have an accepted offer on a house that has water damage in the rear corner of he building that runs the length of the four floors. The brick on the rear wall of our house needs to be repointed and the funnel cap thingy on top of the drainspout is missing which is also…
We have an accepted offer on a house that has water damage in the rear corner of he building that runs the length of the four floors. The brick on the rear wall of our house needs to be repointed and the funnel cap thingy on top of the drainspout is missing which is also contributing to the problem. But the neighbor’s rear wall is even worse, badly in need of repointing, mortar completely missing. THe listing agent has heard from various structural engineers that the difference in temperature between the two walls is creating the condensation and that unless the neighbor’s wall is repointed too, the problem will persist. For this reason we are in negotiation with the sellers to fix the problem before closing.
So here are my questions:
Has anyone dealt with forcing a repair on a party wall/neighbor’s property. If the owner (who is an absentee landlord in this case) is unwilling to make the fix, is there any recourse?
2. How will this visible water damage effect our ability to get financing. My understanding from our loan officer is that the bank will probably see if as a health and safety issue and balk. Has anyone run into this problem before?
dear lucybb,
we must tell you that we also have an accepted offer on the very same house…we have fully investigated the water damage including an engineering report from richard perri, a masonry quote for about 25k to do the pointing, replace the cornice and scupper…we also have lots of information about financing with these conditions…
think we need to talk…
jdlcnm@gmail.com
Richard Perri came do help us with water leaks on our unattached side and we found him very helpful. I wouldn’t hesitate to reccommend him for an inspection. BTW we also used Scott Schnall. Seemed okay, but a little slow although that could have been our intermediary.
Thank you for these excellent and thoughtful responses. Slopefarm, in particular, you basically echoed the case put forward by our attorney, and then today sellers offered a 25k discount without us even asking, so I’m hopeful that we can all come to a happy compromise once we have had an inspector and a contractor come to look.
Vinca, thanks too for those links to the water damage research. It’s a little over my head but it’s good to at least get some of the basics when talking to the various players…
If you all have any additional thoughts on Richard Perri versus Heimer, I would welcome them…. But I don’t want to be greedy!
LucyBB
We have a leak that looks just like this on one floor, bank appraiser didn’t seem to notice. I think they are just there to make sure there’s a house standing where you say there is, and it has the right number of units, floors, etc. They don’t know a thing about structure or condition. (The closing was in the last two months, so definitely after the crackdown.)
Agree if you want to go forward with this, make sure you get the place inspected yourself by a licensed structural engineer, not just a licensed inspector. Heimer is a good one for issues such as this. They charge $950.
I can’t comment on the work needed, inspection, etc (but others have done a good job at that) but I can on whether on not you’ll get financing.
We bought a house with extensive water damage throughout the top floor – you could see the sky from inside the top floor kitchen ceiling – and we didn’t have any problems with the bank or mortgage broker. They simply asked if the building was habitable which technically it was. And the appraisal came back OK so they were fine.
Actually, in reading Vinca’s comments, I have to agree with the comment about the neighbor. You can’t force anything and you first need to understand the problem and if it involves any significant action on their part which they don’t want to do, that’s trouble. But check the whole thing out completely.
Commenting on your leak only: absolutely bring in your own engineer to closely review the condition, both in the building you hope to purchase and in the neighboring building. Proceed with extreme caution if your neighbor remains unresponsive. From experience with facade leaks in my own building, I cannot imagine that you will cure the particular problem you’ve described by making repairs to your building alone. Below are some links that might help you further. Click on the “water penetration†sublinks at the first site on the list:
http://www.gobrick.com/html/frmset_thnt.htm
http://cooperator.com/articles/1583/1/Essential-Elements-of-Your-Building039s-System/Page1.html
http://www.cooperator.com/articles/1407/1/Surface-101/Page1.html
http://www.randpc.com/ask/ate_Leaks.html
http://www.randpc.com/improve/cis_roof_leak.html
Oh there is my friend Slopefarm. It seems that we had our share of difficulties in getting our buildings in shape when we bought them. I completely concur with him. You need to get an engineer in there and contractor to assess costs. Everything is fixable. So relax about that. It is a matter of cost and you need to get a realistic handle on that. Then please recognize that you can never force a neighbor to do anything. Any attempt at force of any kind will backfire on you. Also any naive belief in the overwhelming power of love/neighborliness to motivate people doesn’t help either. Direct, concrete information presented to your neighbor with a menu of solutions is what you need. Be prepared to do stuff on your own. And good luck.
First of all, be thankful the owner didn’t just try to paint over. Presumably your offer reflect’s the house’s condition. A few thoughts:
If you really want this house, bring in your own engineer and a potential contractor now to give you their own opinion as to what needs to be done. I wouldn’t rely on what the seller’s agent heard from an engineer you haven’t consulted with directly yourself. Discuss with your own folks whether the neighborhing building is a problem and whether it is possible to make your building immune to it through work at your end.
Second, even an honest seller has no financial incentive to get the job done well. Done, yes. Well, no, not if it costs more. You want people accountable to you doing the work.
Discuss the situation with a mortgage broker, and see if someone will lend in your circumstances. It’s easier than going bank to bank. Some of this will depend on the lona to value ratio. The better the ratio, teh more flexibility banks will have. If it looks like a loan will work, get some bids on the work and negotiate a price reduction to account for you, not the seller, doing the work. Or the seller could agree to use the guy you pick under the supervision of an engineer you pick.