Unfortunately, we had to back out. There were a lot of things done in construction as well as a lot of bubbafied mods that were gonna cost a lot more on top of the purchase price. Owner wouldn't budge on price, so we let him keep it. I spent about $1K on inspections from two different companies, and they still missed most of the things I saw. Apparently, they seem to think if a structure is standing after 20 years, it's built right. Not so, and that house has a lot of examples of how NOT to do things, some of which are just plain dangerous. I'm quite surprised it hasn't burned down yet.
It's still on the market, because there were a lot of problems, some of which the seller's agent now has to disclose to potential buyers. I was willing to go about half the costs of the repairs with him, but he got greedy. The owners refinanced the home two years ago, and again last year, for a total of nearly $150K, which had they spent on the house, it probably would have been worth the asking price. Basically, they used the house as an ATM after real estate prices went stupid during a seller's market. Dunno what they did with the money, and it's none of my business, but I know what they didn't do with it.
I'm too old to be doing that much work, so the missus and I hashed it out, and decided it would be a bad idea. Told the seller's agent that our final offer was as high as we would go, and let us know if he changed his mind. Not likely, but there are things happening that might still land the property for us.
