All Forum Posts by: Debra R.

$10,000 is not a cheap lesson learned.  You have every right to be angry and anyone in your situation would be upset about either the money or the time lost.  

Thanks @George P.!  Congratulations on #30! Very impressive and gives us a goal to match- sometime in the future.  :)

@Joshua Woolls

Very good info!  The furnace is on it's last leg, there's quite a few electrical safety issues, I don't imagine there are any vacuum breakers, and the driveway is definitely cracked.  My concern is that if the inspection doesn't happen pre-sale then we'll end up holding the bag.  It's not that we don't want to make all those corrections, it's just that doing it in 30 (or 90?) days will make us divert cash to projects that we don't want to do first thing and/or make electrical corrections in the kitchen and bathroom now and then end up changing those when we remodel the kitchen and bathrooms in the next year.  

Any suggestions for dealing with the city?

@Joe Villeneuve

north of 96 and south of the golf course? If so that's where our potential new home is!

Hi @Joe Villeneuve, 

Thanks for the info!  We don't have a property manager and plan to live in this home a couple of years while we pick up some rental properties in the area. 

I understand that there will be an inspection by Redford when/if we want to rent it out.  In your experience, what sorts of things do they look for during this inspection?  I'm asking bc we plan to do some renovations and would want to be sure we didn't miss something that would be a problem later during the rental inspection.  

Back to the question of the vacant home inspection-Is there any scenario in which there is a home sale and no vacant home inspection?  Or is it that it will always happen with a sale and is just a question of whether it happens before or after the sale?  We already had our own paid pre-sale inspection and there are some definite safety issues- mis-wired electrical, GFI's not present near sinks, non tempered glass windows near the floor and more.  These are all things that we plan to correct but not within a 30 days.  

Any info or advice is much appreciated.  

Any licensed, reputable contractor would know the code for the minimum height of windows.  Either he/she doesn't know what they're doing or is trying to get more work by having to raise all the windows.  

I love the code check books such as:

https://www.amazon.com/Code-Check-Illustrated-Guid...

They also have code check books for electrical, plumbing and others.  They will help you know the basic codes and give you an insight as to when to question whether something is to code.  Keep in mind though, these are just the codes for what builders often run in to.  When the inspector comes out expect that they will find some smaller thing not to code and require you to correct it.  

We would really like to talk to someone familiar with Redford, Michigan and it's vacant home registration.  We're buying a house in Redford and the sellers received a vacant home notice.  It's not the vacant home fee we're concerned about but any inspection that's required.  Our questions are:

1. what is the definition of a vacant home according to Redford? If someone was living there through the day of closing and then moved in there the day after closing would they still consider it in need of a vacant home permit?

2. what is the purpose of the vacant home permit? to generate revenue? to safeguard potential buyers? to eliminate liability for the city? to keep the neighborhoods from having any run down houses?

3. Is an interior inspection required? If so, how does the process work after they find something which needs correction (bc they will find something).

I'd very much appreciate info if someone has experience dealing with this.  I'll be away from the computer today, but will answer questions/return messages tomorrow.

Debra

@Kyle J. Thanks for the links.  They were very helpful.  I returned the full security deposit.  Even tho the rent is my sole income I shouldn't have worried about losing a whole months rent.  So many people are moving into Alameda that it will rent quickly.

It wasn't at home.  

My tenant (who was also my neighbor and friend) passed away very unexpectedly.  The emotional issues are hard enough, but are there any legal issues that I should be thinking about?  

One point I'm struggling with is the security deposit.  If I'm able to get a new tenant in on the first then I'll return the deposit to his parents.  But what if I go a month without a new tenant?  On the one hand his family is grieving and I don't want to add any difficulties.  One the other hand, absorbing a $2,000 loss will be difficult right now.  Please give me your insights both legal and moral.