Yesterday we made an offer on house in Laveen on 48th St and today the offer was accepted. Previously we had been frustrated on how difficult it was to buy a house in the HOT Phoenix market. Here’s just one local example from the “Gilbert Sun News’ on records being set in May 2019 for home sales; units and dollar volume:
Our offer was accepted due to our change in strategy and close communication between the real estate agents.
Jim and Jeff did a preliminary walkthrough on 2 May. Remember that we made our offer sight unseen. This is the first time we saw the neighborhood and walked through the house.
After the initial walkthrough, Michelle joined us, and we had a general discussion of the property. Michelle had spoken to one of the neighbors and we got some information on the neighborhood and general area.
Later, 6 May 2019 we had our home inspector look at the property.
Kevin performs a thorough inspection (29 page report with color photos), methodically (ground, foundation, exterior, roofing, electrical, plumbing, heating-air, garage-laundry, interior, kitchen, bedroom, bath) going through each room and the outside noting what is ‘satisfactory’ or flagging items are an immediate issue or might be an issue in the future.
Kevin provides a useful summary at the front of the report:
We strongly recommend using a home inspector for first time buyers; infrequent buyers, or even experienced buyers. The home inspection report can be used to negotiate fixes and repairs to the house by the seller or a credit from the seller. As an example, from the previous apartment deal we had discussed, we were able to negotiate a $90,000 credit at close of escrow:
“Blue Shield Home Inspection” provided one of the best (thorough, concise, specific) home inspection reports we have seen. We strongly recommend their services.
We also performed a termite inspection which is often a requirement from the mortgage holder. The termite inspection came back negative which is good. The inspection was performed by Mike Paschke of PMPestControl:
The seven page report documented all of the areas searched and results.
And the inspection goes beyond just “termites”:
We strongly recommend a termite inspection and Mike and PMPestControl were great.
Overall, the house looks great. The seller has done an OUTSTANDING job on fixing the place up.
We’ll talk about our concerns for this property and also our reasons for going ahead in a later post
Walkthrough and Inspection of the Laveen House