So the bid my BF and I put into the house came back with a counter offer that we accepted and on Sunday we had the inspection. It took 2.5 hours and a lot of things were found. According to the inspector, this is about average for homes in the area and of the inspections he's done. He states there have been several that are much worse, and several that were a breeze, this one was average.

My BF and I, however, think that at least five things (if not more) should be taken care of by the current owner:

First off there -just- started a leak on the main water pipe before the shut off valve. The inspecter stated it's recent as there are no stains and the puddle is tiney (think the size of a ring from a coffee mug). He states this is definately something the current owners will have to fix right now, reguardless of if they will sell to us or anyone (or sell at all).

Second is the furnace. The owners had estimated the furnace at 25 years old, however the inspecter found it to be exactly 40 years old (1971). Let alone the furnace was twice the expected age for any furnace, they current owners had -not- taken care of it. I don't think anyone knew how to change a filter. Ever. To my BF and I this seems like extreme negligence on their part. (Which also explains why they've stocked up on wood pellets so much for their alternative pellet stove).

Third is the windows. They have the nice, two pane with nitrogen sealed inside type windows. These are excellent for insulation, however several were found to be leaking (as pointed out by the inspecter you could see fog in the windows). Neither my BF nor I have the money to replace about 6 windows. We might be able to deal with it if the owners lower the price.

Fourth is the floor joists. There are about three or four of them that need supports put in either because someone cut into them (and didn't support them) or they're cracking. They're not immediately sagging or breaking, but still need the support.

Fifth is the garage. The garage was clearly added ontot he home as there are shingles still inside the garage. However this is a hazard as there is no drywall between them and thus no firewall. This can get rather unsafe should anything set on fire in the garage.

Other than those top five things, there were still some piddly stuff such as:

The electrical (a few sockets with no covering or the wrong covering, one with reveresed polarity, some lacking ground, a few fuses at the wrong ampage or two cords comming out of one breaker, etc etc) seems like a lot of crazy stuff but were rather minor as the changes should be fairly simple to make and most could be done by ourselves if we don't feel like paying an electrician for all of it.

There was also a problem with the third bedroom being "unconventional". Since it was the attic (and fully finished now) it looks great but lacks the ladder for the windowand lacks any sort of heating (though, it's the attic so who knows how warm it gets up there when heat rises?).

There were two railings missing, which are considered code vialations, but really, a pole mounted on the wall isn't going to break our bank if we decide to cover it durring negotiations.

There were also a few of the siding shingles missing, again not that big of a deal, as well as some mortar patchwork on the stone ont he outside of the house. There's nothing leaking, and nothing that isn't easilly fixed with reguards to all that.

The garage door's rail is a bit bent and makes it rather stiff to pull open and shut, but we were thinking of getting an opener anyway so we're okay with that.

Overall, we're still thinking positive. We'll still toss everything at the owner to show that we -could- nitpick down to the last dollar about things, but more than likely we'd be willing to cover the piddly stuff as long as they fix or compensate (like an escaroaccount? I can't tell if I spelld that right.)us for the five big things.

I'm crossing my figners!!