The Building Code Inspector was at my house today...

[zanne]

My mouth was still open about an hour after he left. He touched and visually inspected practically every inch of the house. We just got a fax with all the violations on it. Most of them are tiny little pain-in-the-ass type things. There are two pages of those! My favorite is "install magnets on kitchen cupboards so they'll close properly". The biggest thing is we have to replace the bathroom floor. He was the third inspector to come in here in the past month. (I've never cleaned so much in my life). This was my mother's house, and now that she's passed on, we have to either buy it or move. Please wish us luck and send some good thoughts this way; we're gonna need it.

[Gormy Cuss]

1. That's actually good news.

A thorough inspection saves you from hassles at closing. When we bought this house we were fortunate to get the best inspector in our area and we were able to negotiate far more of the price at closing than was common.

Best of luck with buying it.

[bridgit]

2. were you going for foster child, or assisted living certification...

of some kind :shrug: or did the city just come in as part of the title transfer, cause if they did, that will bring the dwelling up to code which will be better for you in the long run :thumbsup:

[greatauntoftriplets]

3. The best of luck to you....

We sold my mother's house a few months ago and did not have to endure anything as grueling as you did. Just the seller's inspector, and they just used that to make a somewhat lower offer...which we expected.

Good luck with the sale. My mother died last December and I had to leave the house to other people. It's still difficult.

[zanne]

4. I've lived in this house most of my life.

We're actually just buying the debt on the house. The family decided that since we took care of my mother for ten years, we should have the house. She had a reverse mortgage, which we have to pay back. We took out a mortgage, so it's a transfer/sale. The whole family is happy about the fact that the house won't be going to strangers. It's just one of those houses...people keep coming back. My brother and his wife stay here five months out of the year. Thing is, it was built in the late 40's when the building codes were a lot more lenient, and now we have some major renovations to do.

[greatauntoftriplets]

5. Good for you....

I had lived in the house for ages too, and took care of both my parents there. Nevertheless, it had to be sold...my sister wanted her money out of it. And really, I could not afford the upkeep and the taxes, given the appreciated value. It is in an extremely desirable Chicago neighborhood.

This house was built in 1912, building codes were a lot more lenient back then. My parents actually had the gas going into gaslight fixtures turned off at some point. I vaguely remember a light fixture in the basement that had originally been a gaslight and had some kind of weird electrical connection and that was taken out maybe when I was in my teens. The house was built with electricity, and gaslight as a backup.