Would you stay away from a house with ceilings like this?

[Melissa Richard]

Hello everyone, 

Happy summer.  

TDLR:  Would you stay away from a house with ceilings like this?  

There is not much to choose from where I live. (NH taxes are hefty, making even "cheap" houses have expensive payments.)

I have been looking into real estate investing for some time and have been looking into both 2-units and lower-cost single families for myself to start out with.  One of the lower-cost single family houses near me now has some oddly-textured and peeling ceilings like this.  

Even the seller agent said the house is overpriced and the buyer is moving to another state and doesn't want to fix anything due to the market. (The seller agent even mowed the lawn here if that paints a picture.)

Anyway, do ceilings like this almost certainly mean there was water damage and that I should stay away in case of structural issues in the ceiling, mold, etc?

The house is from 1950 or so. This the the bottom floor but there were imperfections in other rooms and upstairs as well.  This is the worst of it, I believe.

I am aware that an inspector can only check out what they can see on the surface.

Thanks.

[Matthew Dennehy]

Melissa that is a very common ceiling imperfection in NH. New England I general has a lot of old housing, so it’s nothing out of the ordinary. Most people maintain them in place, or cover with ceiling tiles, until the point where it makes sense to replace with drywall, if ever. 

As far as leaks, a moisture meter will tell you if it’s an active leak. Alternatively, my go to home inspector uses a FLIR thermal camera on every inspection and can tell a lot about what’s happening in the walls. 

Hopefully that helps.