My friends and I are looking to buy a house, and we went to a showing today with a realtor and we found that the owners of the house MAY [[we don't know for sure]] have moved the breaker box from the basement to the garage. But what they did was they pretty much took the switches off and taped the wires so they were on all the time and woudln't shut off. The realtor and my friend's dad were saying something about big bucks to possibly re-wire the entire house. Does anyone know anything about this? What could have possibly happened here? Also, this problem wasn't included in this disclosure on the house, even though it will not pass inspection and is not up to code. Is there anything we could do about that, should we decide to get the house? And lastly, if we have to rewire, can anyone tell me about how much it will cost to rewire a house approximately 15-16k sq ft?
2007-06-14 15:07:42 · 3 answers · asked by TRae 2 in Business & Finance ➔ Renting & Real Estate
Are you sure they didn't just extend the wires from the house to the garage? It is very common to extend existing circuits to a new location and protect them from the new panel. I know sometimes we remove the insides from an existing fuse panel and use it as a junction box to extend the wires to a new location. Just shut the circuit breakers off in the garage and see if all the power goes off. A quick 1/2 hour service call from a local electrical contractor can tell you exactly whats going on.
2007-06-16 19:27:15 · answer #1 · answered by lakeraker 1 · 1⤊ 0⤋
First of all if you make an offer it should be contingent on PASSING a home inspection, including that wiring meet the minimum code for when the house was built. It wouldn't be fair to make a house built in 1990 meet the codes of 2007, but it is fair that it meet the codes that existed in 1990.
If the house doesn't pass inspection you have several options.
1. If the owner is not willing to fix all defects without changing conditions/price you can walk away from the deal and get all your earnest money back.
2. You can offer a lower price ( your original minus expected repair costs).
3. You and the seller can renegotiate a new sales price that includes these defects.
4. You could foolishly pay your original price and absorb all of the repair cost yourself.
If it does fail inspection it would be worth the money to have your own contractor privide an estimate to repair. Don't use any estimate from the seller.pp
2007-06-14 15:20:26 · answer #2 · answered by ttpawpaw 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
This sounds like an electrical nightmare. If you decide to write an offer, do so with the proviso that the seller have a licensed electrician remedy this defect prior to closing at the seller's full expense. If the seller fails to perform, you have a legal right to not close the deal on the property in this fashion.
Estimates to rewire an entire house vary depending on type of house and how much wiring needs to be changed, but you can surely count on several thousand dollars, at a bare minimum.
In any event, insure that you either force the seller to make the repairs prior to closing, or have the price of the house reduced sufficiently that you can afford to have it done on your own after closing. There is nothing wrong with asking permission to have a contractor visit the property to give you a written estimate to repair. If the sellers refuse permission, then you know what you have to do.
2007-06-14 15:16:28 · answer #3 · answered by acermill 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Did you really mean the house was 15-16 thousand square feet? That is a VERY BIG HOUSE.
2007-06-14 15:31:00 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋