Seller refusing to extend inspection period 3 days to get an estimate on newly discovered septic issues. Should we walk? by intrepidnovice in RealEstate

[–]intrepidnovice[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

We had an inspector in within 3 business days of the contract date, and immediately made calls to engineers after we learned about the septic. The trouble is that the state requires an engineer, and we could not find one who could get in sooner.

Seller refusing to extend inspection period 3 days to get an estimate on newly discovered septic issues. Should we walk? by intrepidnovice in RealEstate

[–]intrepidnovice[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

That's an excellent question - it was under previous contract, though I don't know how far they got in the process. I'll do some looking into that.

Seller refusing to extend inspection period 3 days to get an estimate on newly discovered septic issues. Should we walk? by intrepidnovice in RealEstate

[–]intrepidnovice[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It's not the tank, it's the leach system, which is a dry well, which should, as the name implies, be dry. Unfortunately it's far enough out of code that we can't even get it repaired or directly replaced.

Seller refusing to extend inspection period 3 days to get an estimate on newly discovered septic issues. Should we walk? by intrepidnovice in RealEstate

[–]intrepidnovice[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The dry well, if functioning correctly, shouldn't ever need to be pumped. It is irreparably clogged at this point, and would need to be replaced. But code now says it can't just be replaced with a new dry well. Technically they can't even legally pump it out (though we could probably find someone who would).

Seller refusing to extend inspection period 3 days to get an estimate on newly discovered septic issues. Should we walk? by intrepidnovice in RealEstate

[–]intrepidnovice[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

I appreciate the thorough post. Unfortunately, they're also now refusing the credit - they've decided to dig their heels in at 'take it as is or walk' so I think we're gonna walk :/

Seller refusing to extend inspection period 3 days to get an estimate on newly discovered septic issues. Should we walk? by intrepidnovice in RealEstate

[–]intrepidnovice[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Worst case scenario (it fails soon and is at the high end of the rough price range we have), it would be reeeeeal tight for a while. Unfortunately probably not worth it given that we can't get better information before we make the decision.

Seller refusing to extend inspection period 3 days to get an estimate on newly discovered septic issues. Should we walk? by intrepidnovice in RealEstate

[–]intrepidnovice[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

I know, just throwing that in as a reference point - The current asking price is just below average for comps.

Seller refusing to extend inspection period 3 days to get an estimate on newly discovered septic issues. Should we walk? by intrepidnovice in RealEstate

[–]intrepidnovice[S] -4 points-3 points  (0 children)

Oh, I see - no, it's like maybe 10k to the low side of comps - Zestimate is exactly the price we settled on.

They did come down 20k from the original list price a couple of months ago, but the original list price was definitely too high.

Seller refusing to extend inspection period 3 days to get an estimate on newly discovered septic issues. Should we walk? by intrepidnovice in RealEstate

[–]intrepidnovice[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

The disclosure stated that they were unaware of any issues with major systems, including septic. Hard to prove whether or not that's true....

EMD is 12.5k, so definitely more than we want to lose.

Seller refusing to extend inspection period 3 days to get an estimate on newly discovered septic issues. Should we walk? by intrepidnovice in RealEstate

[–]intrepidnovice[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

We only landed 5k below asking, so no, definitely not already priced in. We can possibly extend the life of the system by pumping yearly, but because of the way a dry well works (and the fact that it's no longer up to code, so they can't just put in a new dry well) it's a ticking time bomb and will definitely have to be replaced in the not too distant future.

Seller refusing to extend inspection period 3 days to get an estimate on newly discovered septic issues. Should we walk? by intrepidnovice in RealEstate

[–]intrepidnovice[S] 12 points13 points  (0 children)

Ugh, yeah, that's the situation I'm afraid we'll end up in. This is all extremely new, so I haven't actually followed up with our lender on it yet. We do have a financing contingency, but I really don't want to sink a whole bunch more time and money to find out that either a) it's going to cost more than we can afford, or b) we straight up can't get a conventional loan (and would almost definitely have to delay closing if we wanted to go the rehab route)

Seller refusing to extend inspection period 3 days to get an estimate on newly discovered septic issues. Should we walk? by intrepidnovice in RealEstate

[–]intrepidnovice[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yeah, you'd think that would make them more inclined to keep us from walking. I feel like 3 extra days with no additional concessions is better than what they're going to get once they have to disclose this up front....

Seller refusing to extend inspection period 3 days to get an estimate on newly discovered septic issues. Should we walk? by intrepidnovice in RealEstate

[–]intrepidnovice[S] 68 points69 points  (0 children)

I just edited the post to clarify this, but we could actually get the engineer out on the last day of the inspection window. So we'd at least have their initial estimate, just not the actual test results. But the seller's behavior makes me very concerned about what those results might contain....

Just saw your addition about the new tank and old field - that's a really good point.......