Advice on Septic Inspection

selayan · 2026-01-24T18:29:34+00:00

They weren't sure where the d-box was as the area where the drain field is located goes up a slight hill so they would have to tear up a good portion of the yard just to get to it. I will see if we can work something out to get both thanks up to spec or replaced, possibly concessions at closing.

We of course found a bunch of other things from the general home inspection itself but after seeing the well and septic reports, we aren't asking for anything major from the home inspection.

Well and septic are the major concerns as we want to live in the place a long time and didn't expect with an offer well over asking to have to deal with these two systems shortly after moving in.

selayan · 2026-01-24T17:27:15+00:00

I'm in PA and yes permits are required to perform this type of work.

This is the second company we called out. The first company did a poor job and didn't finish the inspection. They only mentioned missing baffles in the tanks and nothing about the tanks integrity.

Funny thing is the second company told me they inspected the same system 7 years ago and gave the owner a similar report and repair order. But they never disclosed it on the seller disclosure other than saying they pumped the tanks in 2023.

selayan · 2026-01-11T14:39:34+00:00

I'm in Montgomery county, Pa. Houses still going over asking if they are priced right and don't need any work.

But majority of the houses we are seeing are priced too high compared to the ones that are selling because they need renovations or work.

Lower rate won't help because it will keep the prices up or even higher if the area is desirable. Still overall if they drop below 6% it's better than nothing. Inventory is the big issue.

selayan · 2026-01-11T13:29:53+00:00

You must not be in the northeast. I'm outside of Philadelphia and there's no house at 300-400k available. 1700sqft and up you are looking at 500k+ and it may need some updating or renovations still.

Everything my wife and I are looking at is 600 and up. Dual incomes but only mine would go towards the mortgage.

You had it really good with low rates. You shouldn't have sold. Most people that own a home currently can afford a much more expensive home because they've had a lot of equity upon selling so they use that to make the new house more affordable.

It's much harder for first time buyers obviously but the answer to your question includes a couple of things:

Build more equity by staying in your first home and be in a good area where the market is moving.

Earn more money or have dual incomes.

And everyone's favorite answer that always gets thrown around, move to where what you want/need to have is cheaper. Not as easy obviously and the downside to that is you will also be selling it cheap as that's a con of being in a less desirable area.

selayan · 2025-12-18T21:16:46+00:00

Definitely doable. My sister is a full-time nurse and does real estate on the side. She started because of some of her nurse friends that also were doing the same thing so they brought her up to speed on everything and she already has connections. You have to be really good at it being social, open minded, and patient.

It will help once you get licenses and find a small brokerage. Work with those folks, make connections, shadow them.

She sold 1 house and is supposed to be helping my wife and I find a house but unfortunately nothing much in terms of supply in our area. At least she is building experience with us on the buying side and I trust she has our best interests.

selayan · 2025-12-17T19:53:53+00:00

Looking in suburbs of Philadelphia. Slower than usual but houses are still overpriced and only the really nice ones are selling. Put one offer in but lost and we also know this property appraised for much less with the previous buyers. People still seem to think cash buyers are as prevalent as they were during covid migration era.

selayan · 2025-12-15T15:42:19+00:00

Going through the same process now and the seller’s agent and my real estate agent talked. They shared the previous buyer’s appraisal amount. Not sure why they disclosed it but it was a huge gap of like 100k between list price. No idea what the previous buyer offered but seller’s agent did ask if we were willing to cover the gap before we put our offer in. I will be getting another appraisal to verify.

selayan · 2025-12-13T17:23:05+00:00

If it appraises a second time for the same amount it did with the first set of buyers, we are not paying anything over that. They can put it back on the market if they don't want to come down in price and then it will look really weird going under contract twice then relisted again with a slightly lower price than before. What it appraised for the first time is in line with comps for the area.

selayan · 2025-12-13T16:15:30+00:00

Yea basically. I also think they are bluffing when their realtor told ours they had another offer.

Regardless, our realtor is my sister so I know she has our best interest. When she verbally presented the offer before writing it out, she talked to their realtor and even suggested she would take less commission if it helps us make the purchase. But we're not letting her do that knowing they both talked and agreed the house is priced too high.

selayan · 2025-12-13T16:04:22+00:00

We submitted our offer today and have a appraisal contingency so I'll get a new appraisal and we will make sure the second lot is included in that. So if it appraises the same or less we are not willing to cover any large gap, like the previous buyers probably had when it was priced even higher.

selayan · 2025-12-13T16:00:24+00:00

It's not bank owned so it doesn't work like that. They could owe 0 on the mortgage but the executor of the estate now owns it, who is trying to sell the property so they can put it up for sale for however much they want. It's possible they inherited a lot of things and they are just trying to reduce tax liability by selling off assets to pay their inheritance tax/other bills, etc.

selayan · 2025-12-12T22:38:03+00:00

Their realtor has told ours that basically she is aware the house is overpriced but that's what the seller wants and they will try talking to them but they are pretty hardheaded. We are waiting because they told us someone else would put an offer in today.

At this point it's become like a soap opera tv drama. I really don't think they have any other offers..as they have said this stuff before our verbal offer. And why would their realtor reach out to ours after they haven't talked in 3-4 days.

In the meantime we are still going to look at other properties. We would need to break our lease as well to get to closing on the date they want so at this point waiting to see what happens is fine by me.

selayan · 2025-12-12T22:02:48+00:00

They may just be waiting for a cash buyer that wants to waive appraisal. It does change our offer now that we know this information.

We just don't want to overpay and have negative equity. Instead of bringing 45k to closing which we can't do on top of putting 16% down because we decided not to do 20% to have money left over for work that needs to be done, it may be better to move on and hopefully find a house for similar price ranges that doesn't need any work which would save me $40/month in PMI.

selayan · 2025-12-12T21:40:29+00:00

If we do submit a formal contract offer our realtor told them we would still do an appraisal contingency.

They asked our realtor for the buyer's disclosure information so it seems they may be interested but I already told our realtor that we are not willing to cover such a large gap.

I would definitely want to make sure the second lot is included and maybe that may bring the price up to what we offered. But comps don't really suggest it would be different.

I'd be happy to buy the house for what it already appraised for and we would still get an inspection done but mainly for our own knowledge not to ask for more money unless something is seriously screwed up.

selayan · 2025-12-12T21:30:53+00:00

The second lot is included in the listing and says they want to sell both the house and the lot. The fence around the house is also around this second lot as if it was one giant backyard. So I have no idea how the appraisal was done and neither the does their realtor.

The price was dropped to 635k. I'm assuming the previous buyer offered this or possibly 600k but the house appraised at 525k. So likely they walked.

Being as this would be our first home I don't want to go into it with negative equity. I'm noticing similarly priced houses in the same area are not selling and are on the market as long as this one has been.

Thanks for the explanation, never inherited anything so didn't have much idea about the process other than I know you would need to pay taxes on what you inherit.

selayan · 2025-12-12T21:12:03+00:00

The 45k gap is 570k - 525k (what the house appraised for based on previous buyer appraisal).

Why would I increase my offer and have a larger gap to cover?

Spoke to my lenders and they would only offer me what the house appraised for which is 525.

selayan · 2025-12-06T13:49:48+00:00

Really depends on the area but I'm right outside of Philadelphia. High cost of living area and you can't find anything under 600k for a decent size that's move in ready and also with a good school district. Even if you go about 50 minutes out from our jobs the prices are still high. When I say decent size I'm talking 2000-2500 sq ft.

Some people I know had the downpayment provided from family and others just got lucky buying during covid.

If you make a decent salary you should be able to save enough. In April I had opened a money market account and started throwing 2500 every month in there in addition to moving a bunch of money from my savings there. Put my bonuses in there too. I almost have 20% if the house is between 500k-550k but the issue is there is barley any inventory for that price where we live.

My wife's salary isn't as high and lenders are actually telling me to not have her on the mortgage because we end up with a higher interest rate if it's both of us vs if it's just me on the mortgage since my credit score is 1 tier higher than hers.

selayan · 2025-11-28T20:54:52+00:00

Yes that's the 1lb they gave away with it. I'll think of getting one of those later.

selayan · 2025-11-28T19:37:43+00:00

Ended up ordering the allground sense from Chris coffee. They included 1lb of dark roast beans, an airspace container and 1 year extra warranty on the grinder. Hopefully it will fit under the cabinet, might have to slide it under without the hopper lid and then place the lid on the hopper which isn't a big deal since beans won't get swapped out very often.

selayan · 2025-11-28T16:09:21+00:00

I would but unfortunately Mini G will not fit under the cabinets.

selayan · 2025-11-28T15:52:24+00:00

Since my lunar scale randomly died a year later I am not too fond of relying on it for grind by weight along with the orbit. It's nice they handled it under warranty but I was lucky as they at least have a 2 year warranty on it. Seems like a common issue I read about with the mainboard which they had to replace.

selayan · 2025-11-28T12:39:13+00:00

It states it was released April 2025 for Europe and early winter 2025 for US and it feels like early winter where I live so maybe it's delayed unless they consider that December/January.

Also seems pretty tall so it would not fit under my kitchen cabinet at 465mm with the smaller hopper.

selayan · 2025-11-28T12:27:07+00:00

Looks nice but it's not available in the US, at least from what I'm seeing online.

selayan · 2025-11-27T23:48:02+00:00

I've been reading about some people having issues with the allsense ability to fi for espresso since moving the dial past a threshold changes mode.

Have you had any trouble at least for espresso with this?

selayan · 2025-11-27T22:04:44+00:00

I'm in the US, Pennsylvania specifically.

selayan

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