The "Looking to become a homeowner" Thread

[tigeraid]

We'll be in a similar boat this Fall. The new house has a 25+ year old oil furnace, and the tank is expired.... When we arrived to view the house, the furnace was off and she was just running the wood stove in the living room, so half the house was quite cold. Noticed the tank was well below the "E". The home inspector reminded us that expired tanks are sketchy as fuck for insurance companies, plus most oil companies won't refill an expired tank unless it's had an inspection. Which led me to believe she was running it dry to avoid re-certifying the tank, before the house sold.

The catch? The hot water heater is also on oil. The seller is annoyingly incapable of answering even our most basic questions, and still hasn't told us what her plan here is exactly--will we even have hot water when we move in? Is she going to fill the tank somehow?

In the end, because we were in a rush to get the house (the market in the area is INSANE) we just settled and said fuck it. I hate old furnaces and I hate oil anyway, so we'll be putting in a whole new propane setup before the Fall. The only problem now is, we'll have to install a new electric hot water heater as soon as we take possession of the house.

[dodint]

Hah. We installed a nice new electric heater in the old house, then promptly was offered a job elsewhere and we sold the house.

[speedpimp]

My furnace was installed shortly after buying the house in '03. A few things have gone out and needed to be replaced over the years. Each time something is replaced the tech always says "You know your serial number has been removed?" and each time the reply is always "Now I do." Turns out the guy the house was bought from replaced the furnace with some stolen shit. Oops.

[balki]

Looking to buy a family friend's apartment and she wants as simple a deal as possible (so do I, just looking to buy her shares in the co-op)
What risks are involved in buying an co-op apartment w/o a lawyer on either side?

Co-op's status (the building is structurally and financially sound)
Apartment condition (non-issue as I plan to gut it, the pipes in the walls are the building's responsibility)
Loans/Liens (UCC search came up empty)
...
???

[dodint]

I assume there is some kind of HOA in play. Read it and be sure it's something you want to be a part of.

[balki]

No HOA, but there's a co-op board with rules in place; owner-occupied only, flip tax, pet restrictions, ... all stuff I can deal with
Only concern is if I'm missing something (would not dare think about going without a lawyer if it was a house, condo or seller that I didn't know for years)

[dodint]

Might be worth it, for piece of mind, to seek out an attorney that does flat fee work for stuff like that. No chance of the cost getting out of hand and you have adequate representation.

[balki]

Thanks, makes sense / not worth the risk

[dodint]

*shrug*

I'm trained to do it.

[21Kid]

Co-ops are very difficult due to the shares, etc... Only certain lenders work with them as well.

We have a special department that deals with them.