This is how we analyze inspection reports on rental property

The inspection contingency period is a crucial step in buying a new property. Doing your homework here can make or break a deal. Overlooking issues in the inspection report can potentially leave you with thousands of dollars of repairs in the near future and eat up that precious cash flow.  In this episode, we pull up inspection reports on homes that we have either bought or are currently looking at purchasing. We walk through the reports, point out the most concerning issues, and discuss how to go about addressing them to best position ourselves in these deals.  --- Transcript Before we jump into the episode, here's a quick disclaimer about our content. The Remote Real Estate Investor podcast is for informational purposes only, and is not intended as investment advice. The views, opinions and strategies of both the hosts and the guests are their own and should not be considered as guidance from Roofstock. Make sure to always run your own numbers, make your own independent decisions and seek investment advice from licensed professionals. Hey, everyone,   Emil: Welcome back for another episode of The Remote Real Estate Investor. My name is Emil Shour. And today I'm joined by   Michael: Michael Albaum   Pierre: And Pierre Carrillo   Emil: And in today's episode, we're gonna be talking about inspection reports. And instead of giving you guys kind of just high level overviews and hypotheticals, we're actually each going to pull out a recent inspection report on a property that we've either looked at or purchased and walk you through our thought process as we were looking at the different items and how we approached each one. And so hopefully that can help you feel more confident when you're looking at your next inspection report. So let's get into this episode.   All right, so I'm going to kick this one off, and I'm going to cover the inspection report from the triplex that I bought back in November of 2020. So let's pull it up. And I'll walk everyone through all the different things that we saw come up, and my thought process as we were going through each item.   Alright, so this is the inspection for for the triplex that I recently bought back in November. And what I'm going to do is I'm gonna walk you through some of the things that are common in in an inspection report, and the things that I find that I think are worth exploring more versus things that I think aren't a super big deal. And obviously, these are just relevant for me, but walking you through my thought process.   Alright, so the first thing I want to point out again, is is the inspectors job is to literally point out any potential oddity or you know, thing that doesn't look exactly 100%. Right. So here you can see that looks like the lock isn't lining up correctly. And there seems to be something with this top lock as well, maybe it's not like fully fastened, I think is what he wrote. So these things, these are minor, these are all things that we can, you know, probably take care of when we have a turn come to or if the tenant complains about it, we can just get it taken care of. These are minor, not a big deal. For me.   This was the first thing that really stood out to me when I was a valuing this property. So the ceiling at the first floor bathroom of one side of the property has an active wet stain. And so it looks like there was a toilet issue that they referenced here later. It was actually the toilet on the second floor wasn't secured properly. And there was a small leak from the top floor of the second.   So the first thing I did actually, when I saw this, you know leaks are are never something to be taken lightly. So the first thing I did is I contacted the inspector, you know, I had his number and I just asked him like, you know, how, how bad is it? What do you think, in terms of damage and potential here, he didn't sound super concerned about this, when I spoke to him, he made it sound like you know, you just got to get that that toilet fix, it's not super bad, you just have to, you're gonna have to patch the wall, repaint it, and you should be okay.   And this was something I was comfortable with proceeding. You know, this could spook a lot of people away. But for me, you know, water leaks, especially on a property this property is 100 years old, not uncommon. So we ended up just to kind of bring the story full circle on this one, we ended up replacing the toilet day one after we took over and got the ceiling patch repaired and haven't heard of any leaks since. So it looks like this has been taken care of.   Michael: Emil, you did something here that I really want to draw attention to and applaud you for not that you need any ego boost, but you picked up the phone, and you call the inspector. And I think too many people don't do that. And there's a reason the inspector provides their contact information. It's so you can call them and ask these types of follow up questions. Because if someone just sees a leak, or a wet spot in the ceiling, their mind can run. And they can tell you know, the inspector can tell you what they think the other report but actually hearing the intonation in their voice hearing. Like you said he didn't sound super concerned, that's different, conveyed via speech than via text that you're reading on a page. So I love that you did something that I also do, because a picture is worth 1000 words, hearing it from the horse's mouth so to speak, can be worth 10,000 words.   Emil: Right? And you know, especially as us investing remotely like we're relying on our people, locally, our inspectors all these people to really give us a full picture since you know we may or may not be there to view it ourselves. So this is something I just you know, want to talk to About it's also this guy's putting a full report together, he's not going to write me, you know, four paragraphs on how he actually feels. But if I call him, he'll give me that info if I asked for it. So always helpful to pick up the phone. Okay, so here are a couple things that I mentioned earlier, this was the toilet that was leaking, we replace it with a low flow toilet, so that he would save on the water bill and be obviously we needed to fix the toilet because it was an active leak.   So the inspector also mentioned here a kitchen faucet that was kind of loose, we actually just did a turn on this, this unit and we replaced the entire cabinetry and secured the faucet. So we're good to go. These are all again minor things that I knew we could get taken care of. Once we do a property turn, I bought this property knowing a couple of the units were under market rent. So I figured we were going to have a couple turns coming soon anyway. So all these small things didn't seem like a big deal to me, because we were going to have to make a bunch of repairs to clean the unit up before releasing it.   Okay, another big one in the inspection report this furnace. So this furnace got called out I believe, they said that it will, the unit did fire up and respond as expected when the thermostat called for heat. But budgeting for replacement in the very near term would be prudent. So I think they they mentioned this was like when I when I talked to the inspector I asked him about this as well. And he said it was 15-20 years old. So he said it's working. But this thing is on its last leg. So this was one thing that I went back to the seller and asked for a credit on and there's one more thing I'm going to mention later as well. And how I went about this and what the result was but for now I'll just leave it at this was one thing that was big enough where I went back to the seller and asked for a credit or reduced price.   So for me, I don't like to add up all the little little things and bring it to the seller. That's just not my style. I know some people do it. For me, I'm just looking at big things that cost 1000s of dollars potentially. And those are things that I'm going to bring up with the seller, if you know especially if they were marketing the property a certain way like fully turnkey or ready to go whatever, I'm going to bring these things up with the seller.   Michael: That's such a good point and the old because there's it's definitely a double edged sword in that all the little things like you mentioned, the $50 repair $100 repairs on their own, typically are not a big deal. But if you get enough of them, I mean that could be several $1,000 worth of repair items and so it could be death by 1000 cuts type of situation. So I think me personally I'm similar to you I don't nickel, I try not to nickel and dime people and get really nitpicky, if it's little, I'll take care of it myself. But if there are enough of them, that can also be indicative of some of the other deferred maintenance issues or how the property was managed for the life of that owner. So definitely let this kind of be a red herring if pay there are a lot of little things be on the lookout for maybe some bigger things as well.   Emil: And I you know, I think it depends on the kind of property you're buying right if you're buying a property that's marketed as turnkey and it's obviously very not then maybe you can pick those things apart. This is a property where I knew you know, tenants had been there for a while under market rent we're gonna have to do some some work and the price probably reflected that so i didn't, i didn't nickel and dime a bunch of the smaller deferred maintenance things   Michael: Yeah, yeah, so important to keep in mind.   Emil: So this was this is it in terms of the big things that were called down the spectrum for a couple other small things but nothing that was you know, a red flag for me. So you know, the other thing we always do any property we buy is we have the sewer line scoped. So have a plumber or you know, sewer line Inspector, your agent or whoever a property manager, somebody can can get you in contact with somebody. So we have the sewer line scoped and we found that there was a crack in one of the sewer laterals and so we got a quote for that the quote came back at $4,000 so this is again this is one of those things that a lot of people could see and immediately find as a red flag. For me I know it's not a huge deal we're going to break up the concrete replace it, which is actually not a bad thing right like now I know we have brand new sewer lateral at least six feet.   So but what I wanted to do was make sure that I could get credit from the seller so I brought the furnace and the sewer lateral to the seller told him what was going on asked him for I believe it was a combination of credit at close and a reduced price. And seller agreed on the full amount for the sewer lateral and then half for the furnace. They weren't willing to do full because they said it was still working but because it was all they were willing to do half. So we agreed on that. And those were the two big things in my inspection report that I brought back to the seller.   So these these are all i think that's that's a key thing to remember is that you know, maybe if I had foundation issues are something that was really big and the expense, you know, range could have been 5000 to 25,000. Maybe that's something I'm I'm not going forward with. But if I have, you know, pretty confident estimates, I can bring those to the seller and get the price reduced or get credits back so I can take care of those things. For me, those aren't going to be deal breakers.   Michael: So Emil, you did something that I don't know if you you mentioned, but in between the time where you got the inspection report back, and your due diligence window closed? Did you get bids for that, for this work?   Emil: The inspector gave me an idea of furnace replacement. I also asked the property manager, you know, their property managers, they deal with this stuff all the time, they can give you a good estimate, these sewer lateral, the, the person who sculpt the line was actually a plumber as well. So they were the one who gave me a bid and ended up fixing the sewer lateral. So that that was the nice part is that the inspector, the sewer line guy was also a plumber. So he could give me an estimate.   Michael: Perfect. And so was the estimate pretty spot on for what the actual cost was?   Emil: He ended up going in, and I think it ended up being around $6,000. Because the way the sewer lateral was cracked, they couldn't take the scope as far as they wanted to, because it could potentially I guess, fall in the cracks and cause more damage. So they ended up having to replace I think an extra two or four feet more than they had originally anticipated. So it came out to $6,000. Obviously, that's the risk you take when doing these things is these are estimates they're not 100%. Mine went up 50%. So you always have to kind of think about those things and determine if you're willing to take that risk.   Michael: Yeah, something something that I do is I'll try to go get bids, exactly like you did. And then I'll add a buffer on top of that, because there's the you know, you're you're paying for this repair, but there's also time, energy effort and risk, like you mentioned, involved with doing that kind of repair. And so in my opinion, depending on the scope of that, you should be compensated for that as well. But you should be building in some some buffer as well, because I've seen projects like that blow up. And that can be really, really scary.   Emil: Yep. Yeah, this was a sewer lateral is definitely not for the faint of heart. I mean, they could break it up and see so much other stuff, you know what I mean? Like, it was definitely a risk that I, I don't know, I bought a lot of turnkey properties. And I was like, ready for something that I don't want to say it was going to be more of a challenge. But yeah, it was going to be more work involved more of a challenge. More like getting to know the nitty gritties of a property. So it was a risk, you know, this was the fifth property I've bought, so I was ready to kind of just take a little bit more risk.   Michael: Yeah, and that's, you know, more risk more reward you got this property for probably under market value because of some of these issues. Now, like you mentioned, you've got brand new sewer lateral in place, you're never gonna have to worry about that again for the lifetime, but you own the building.   Emil: Right, Yep, and not gonna use it. Yeah, they used to use cast iron. So you know, they rot after a very long time and break now is replaced by PVC, which I believe has a much longer life.   Pierre: No, it's cool to it's cool to see your report after you've already closed on the property and get the the aftermath scoop as well. So mine is going to be from the other end of the transaction. This is active right now this is a property that we're working on. So we're still in the contingency period now.   Michael: Ooo a fresh one.   Pierre: This is first time. Yeah, since fresh, and this one's off of Roofstock as well. This is a roof stock select property. So yeah, this is my first time seeing an inspection report. So this is, you know, a learning experience and everything I know I've learned from this podcast here so listening off in the sidelines producing the shows,   Michael: We always joke about how they're so self serving. I mean, you're This is the epitome of the self service.   Pierre: I've been self serving from the beginning here, dudes.   Michael: You're like guys, we got to start a podcast, I want you to talk about remote real estate investing. I want you to view inspection reports.   Emil: Tell me everything you've learned.   Pierre: That's how I avoid my enrollment fee for Roofstock Academy.   Michael: That's the real long con, I'm going to get hired at Roofstock…   Pierre: Yeah, so this is the inspection report provided from Roofstock buy with the roof stock select property. So they give you two files. One of them is kind of an estimate summary which we'll look at real quick before and then we'll jump into the inspection report. I found it interesting to look at what they highlighted as needed to be done as opposed to going through all of the pictures individually and seeing other things that weren't mentioned.   So this is what they said the estimated total was, and here, here are some of the issues that they pointed out. So some, you know, shrub trimming near the walls of the outside, like the little line item total there, this house was built in 66. So this is kind of the old window structure, all of the windows were painted shut. So that is a hazard, especially for section eight. That's actually not up to the code of section eight. This was I'm working on this with my brother. And we're thinking we want to replace the windows, but not just yet. I don't think it's that big of a deal. We're just going to cut the windows open. They might, I don't know, I'm worried about the ropes on the inside of them being kind of rotten and not functioning properly.   Michael: Yeah, windows are expensive. Yeah, very expensive to replace.   Pierre: I got a quote on Windows and I think I can't remember I don't have the numbers in front of me, but I think it was like $7,000 per, wait.   Emil: Yeah, for all the windows. That'd be crazy.   Michael: That was probably for all the windows.   Pierre Yeah, yeah, it was it was seven or $8,000, something like that. So definitely not what we above and beyond what we had set aside for capex on this property, so we're thinking, let's just cut these open, make them up to code and then replace them later on.   Emil: That was a smart thing you did though, is going to get that quote right when you saw Okay, we think we're just gonna have to cut the paint so that they can you know, they're not painted shut, but what happens if we have to replace the windows? What does that cost look like? So that you can like you can pricing that risk for yourself, okay, if we had to replace all these Is it still worth it to us?   Michael: And something else that you'd sounds like you've thought about is like, what's the ROI on that replacement on those windows, if you're not paying for utilities, there might not be actual any ROI until you go sell the property and who knows when that's going to be so it's really that $7,000 I mean that could just be the cost of doing business that they get so bad that it's non tenable and you just have to replace them okay, so I mean that's that's property ownership but until you run that calculation and really understood what the risk is like you're mentioning Emil that's so important to put a number to it.   Pierre: The other thing to pointed out here was some roofing issues here I found all of these estimates to be like incredibly low.   Emil: Did you talk to someone else and get a maybe shingle repair estimate? Well,   Pierre: I did not speak to someone who's specifically working on shingles I got kind of just a contractor to look at the entire report here and see what they could do like as a lump package windows being separate Of course another little thing around the window around the does that like a little chimney some exhaust vent. Then cracking in the driveway and then this is the garage you know this isn't a livable unit so what do you do about that?   And then this this was the thing The only thing that really worried me about the garage was this little door here there are more pictures of it in the inspection report but there's like this is a metal door and there's like sharp pointy edges and I don't know if someone were to get scratched on that that seems more like it's not making the place less livable it but it is maybe a liability if someone gets hurt on it.   Then on the interior here we have this outlet, 38 bucks you know is that?   Michael: That just now yeah that seems pretty low for some electricians and electricity like trade fee just to show up to the house like 100 bucks so.   Emil: Yeah, that's gonna be 100 120 bucks for sure right?   Pierre: Yeah. Right and then there's some cracks here which I spoke to the agent down this is an Alabama so I spoke to the agent down in Alabama and he said there's any house that is of a certain age even five years old, you're gonna start seeing these cracks because the ground is soft and it is moving and so that you know that worried me like what's going on here is the is it's not stable was there like massive shifts in the structure but apparently that's pretty common on houses of age in that area.   Emil: Random aside here my house is fully renovated my personal residence before we bought it two years ago, and you know living in Southern California we fault lines and stuff but even after two years if you walk through the house you'll notice a bunch of little cracks throughout the drywall as well. Even though it's all new drywall and new, sheetrock everything, before we bought it.   Pierre: Okay, here was another thing. Recently, we had a couple of videos, we posted a couple of videos from our certified agents in different markets. And one of the things he brought up in from Memphis was the circuit breaker. So you can check that video up here, just look at the specifics around circuit breakers and fuses in Memphis. But this one looks like it's pretty overloaded. And so we're thinking, my brother, and I were thinking maybe if we could replace, because there is room you can see you can fit some more in there. But these are all the fat breakers, or how to I don't know, forgive my terminology here. I'm not an electrician. But I know that there are thinner attachments here. And if we were to replace these fat ones with thinner ones, we could fit a lot more. So we're not doubling up, you can see a lot of doubling up happening there.   Michael: Yeah.   Pierre: So instead of replacing the entire service panel, going in there and replacing some of the connectors with the thin connectors so that we can single up on them.   Michael: Pierre, did you get input on the aluminum wiring being present at the breaker because that definitely gives me the heebie jeebies.   Pierre: Yeah, so that is a concern. And we have a meeting today to speak about that. Can you tell me about what the issue with the aluminum wiring is, and because I believe that aluminum wiring does affect our, you know, the status as Rootstock certified.   Michael: Right. So aluminum wiring is just an older school style of wiring and prior to that, they use what's called knob and tube. And so it's just it has a tendency to, I'm not even gonna say tendency, it has been associated with overheating and causing fires. And it's just, I don't think it's as good of a conductor as copper, and so that there's more resistance in the wire. And that's why you get the overheating. And you'll see copper is is kind of the norm in newer properties. So there are different ways that aluminum wiring can be present in a property, it can be physically, the entire length of the wire, could be could be aluminum, it could be also what's called a pigtail, which is they have copper in the in the wire, and then at the very end at the breaker, they convert from copper to aluminum, and then you have aluminum going into the breaker.   So I would see if I couldn't get a little bit more clarity around. Okay, is this aluminum wiring just the breaker or is it pervasive throughout? Because a lot of insurance companies actually won't insure properties that have aluminum wiring, or knob and tube wiring. So that might be a question on your insurance intake form is Hey, is there what's the wiring material? And if you say copper, and the house burns down, and then they find out what's aluminum, they could then deny your claim because they said, Well, this is not, you know, you lied to us kind of a thing. So I would definitely look to go get some clarity around that.   Pierre: Okay, that's really good to know. And so if the house is wired through and through with aluminum what's what are your thoughts on that?   Michael: I would definitely say chat with the local agent and find out what's common for the area. Because this is just one of those things, all the houses that were built in the 40s 50s 60s, I think they used it up through the 60s even, had aluminum. And that was par for the course. And that was not a big deal at the time of construction. So unless someone's done a total rehab job on the house, it's going to have aluminum, so it's definitely something that you can find an insurance company that'll do it, I've done it in the past, but it's just gonna be more specific to that market.   So you might need to go with a local carrier or a local office, because there are tons of people that have this in their home. So it's not like it can't be done. It's just it's not as good as copper, though, if you if you can have the better one, choose that one, you know, right. But again, if this is the only option, that's just a risk that you're going to take in any insurance company that that insures it with knowing it has aluminum wiring, okay, then you're kind of covered, but it's just a risk that you want to be aware of that. That is present at the property.   Pierre: That's really good to know, that's something I haven't considered yet looking at this, I was just kind of concerned. I did see the note there about aluminum wiring, and I did see that that affected the status with the Roofstock certification. But I didn't quite know why. So thanks for that. The main concern I was looking at was like these double tapping here.   Michael: The double tapping Yeah.   Pierre: But it looks like there's room so I think that we won't need to play replace the service panel if we can, you know, get that addressed. So apparently the water heater is passed it’s expected lifespan but it is still functioning. It's an electrical water heater. So Michael: That's 28 years. Wait, that's incredible. It's still going after 28 years? Yeah, it was manufactured 29 years is manufactured in 92. Yeah, little things still cooking away. They don't make them like they used to man.   Pierre: Yeah, that's true. So this should this be something that we start factoring in as a potential repair in the next year or two?   Michael: I would I mean, I would kind of like a meal situation with his furnace. It was assays but like yet, it still works. But you're on borrowed time at this point.   Pierre: Okay?   Michael: You were on borrowed time a decade ago, this thing?   Pierre: Okay.   Michael: So I would definitely say that's that's gonna go and the way that Murphy's law works is you're going to close and the things get a blow on day one I would definitely,   Pierre: Don’t say that man.   Michael: You know, plan for this is this is coming up. Now something to think about is just getting a home warranty, whether that's provided by the seller or you get it, but I would say hey look, you go to the seller and say, what I would do is say, hey, look, this thing is well past usable life, I'm gonna have to get this thing year one, I need a credit for it. And you can decide on what that cost looks like. But that's how I would definitely play this. And then you can turn around and go get a home warranty. And the home warranty is hopefully going to cover this, the devils in the details, always. So make sure to talk to your local property manager around any good Home Warranty companies in the area. But it's kind of a nice insurance against it.   Emil: One thing about home warranties that I've seen personally and maybe it's just the warranty provider, I used, a lot of things that maybe pass their serviceable life and then you get a warranty on them. They're going to they're not going to cover that like we had my personal residence a, the condenser was way past service will live like a dog had peed on it or something before we bought it, but it still works fine. And then six months down the road. like Michael mentions Murphy's Law thing gets busted. And we went back to the the warranty company and they said no, it was it was faulty. So we're not going to cover that. So just a random thing they keep in mind as well, with warranties.   Michael: Yeah, you hear the good and the bad, because that's mine blew too and they totally replaced it.   Emil: Maybe it's just the provider I used. We won’t name names.   Michael: I think part of it is the provider.   Pierre: That's cool. So looking at this, I want to show you a couple of other things just to show like what the inspector highlighted as things that we need to really take care of, and things that I found in the inspection report proper. That concern me.   So this is what the inspection report looks like. It gives you a summary of things that need to be repaired based on the different areas of the house. So I'm going to just a lot of these things that are yellow are what were addressed inside of the kind of capex summary at the beginning. But there's some other things in here that they didn't point out. So one of the things we saw was there was popcorn ceiling. That you know, it's kind of concerning, but not unless we really want to do a major rehab. So I don't think we're going to be doing a major rehab on this property anytime soon.   Michael: And Pierre, why is it concerning?   Pierre: Asbestos, it's like an older construction where they're using asbestos so a little dust isn't going to be a bad thing. But if you're going to be cutting major things open when the property is tenanted, you could be exposing them to carcinogens.   Michael: And just so everybody knows I'm not a doctor, I'm not a medical expert, asbestos expert, but from what was has been told to me is that asbestos is really only a problem when it's airborne, or it's in some form that is not solid. So you encounter asbestos in a lot of different places. And I know for me, I like I was super gun shy. I saw asbestos in a report, I was trying to run the other direction. But what I was made to understand is that if you There are many different ways to encapsulate asbestos to prevent it from becoming airborne, that are perfectly acceptable and safe. And so if you see asbestos on your inspection report, just go look to understand where is it? how pervasive is it? What remedies are available, that are perfectly acceptable, legal and safe, that you can that you can go through to make that no longer an issue?   Pierre: Cool. Yeah, the first time I saw that I was like, Oh, no, but then just kind of digging deeper into it, you realize it's not going to be a problem for us.   So this here, this is on the underside of the roof. It's a little bulging thing. They didn't point that out in the in the summary the repair summary,   Michael: It looks like they just did a cheap replacement on the roof deck when they replaced the decking so they use plywood everywhere else. And here they use this cheap Yeah, this is called particle board.   Pierre: I think it'd be pretty easy just to support that with a couple of two by fours and a piece of plywood and a pin nailer but just getting up in there is going to be a pain but that's something that I want taken care of.   I think that that was pretty much it the aluminum wire and and this that that are my big concerns that weren't pointed out so much on the repair estimates.   We asked the seller to repair all of this stuff, and he agreed to to to repair all of these things. Before the sale   Michael: That's fantastic.   Pierre: But now I have a couple more details now that I didn't have after walking through this with you guys. It's like you know what to wear. what extent is the house wired with aluminum wire? And yeah, so that's that's a big concern now that I'm going to need to bring that up and see if we can. And then also, can you put it in new water heater? Is that part of   Michael: Right? Yeah, that it's not called out as broken or needing repair. So is that included in the scope or not?   Pierre: Right? And is that a reasonable thing to ask? Or am I starting to nitpick?   Michael: Is that it's not a hypothetical. You're genuinely asking?   Pierre: I'm asking the wise words of the sage Michael Albaum.   Michael: If I am the wise sage then we're, we're all in a lot of trouble, guys, believe me? No, I mean, I don't think it's, it's nit picky, the water heater, that's honestly one of your biggest ticket items on this report. And so it's, it's not called out as a expense, or the cost associated because it's still working. So truth be told, it's not something that I would actually have the seller replace, I would much rather get dollars for it, because it's still working. And the thing might go another five years, who knows, and so why replacement isn't broken. And other people might have different opinions on that. But that's, that's my personal belief. And now you're empowered to have the dollars in your pocket to take care of it, when it does become an issue. And then you can decide what am I going to go the Home Warranty route and save some money? Or am I just going to keep these dollars set aside to actually replace the thing when it when it needs to be replaced?   Pierre: So what you're saying is to ask for a credit for that?   Michael: That's how I would play it, I would either ask for a credit. And I like a credit better than a reduction in purchase price. If you're using a loan, is the credit is truly dollars in your pocket, that reduction in purchase price. Well, if you reduce it by 1000 bucks, your savings is only the 200 bucks, if you're using alone is 20%, or whatever your down payment is.   Pierre: Tight? Yeah, that's that's what we're going through right now. We have a meeting today, we're in the inspection contingency period now. So we need to, we're coming up on the end of it. So we really need to figure out the rest of this and make our call.   Michael: And, Emil, how would you play that?   Emil: Exactly. Like you said, I think having the money in your pocket is better, because then you can just put it aside or whatever, maybe the thing lasts another two years, right. So you don't have to replace it right now. The other thing that the other reason I would I would take the money or ask for money is, you don't know how poor of a job they're gonna do, they may replace it, but do the minimum amount possible getting like the cheapest person, you know what I mean? versus you like really thinking about how you want to get it done and find someone you trust or whatever. So wherever you can, I would ask for credits and reduction to make the repairs yourself, versus having them kind of make as cheap as possible to get this thing sold.   Pierre: Okay, so you're talking about the all of the repairs, not just the water heater?   Emil: I think the other ones are small. I mean, if you can, yes, I would ask for credits, and whatever. I think at this point, you've already asked them to make those fixes, and it's fine. I don't think any of them are major enough where it's gonna be a huge issue. But that's kind of how I play it. Now, knowing what I know.   Pierre: Do you know if there are any protections, if they do do a crappy job, and we go back in and look, and they just just did some stupid work, and we got duped into buying the property?   Emil: I think of that point? It's on you. But you'd have to ask a lawyer probably.   Michael: My guess is there's going to be language in the PSA, or the addendum around acceptability? Because like, like if they're just phoning it in, you know, and not really doing the work to an acceptable degree. I think that there's got to be some out for you. But I think the language is going to be specified in the contract.   Emil: Pierre, what would you have done, had they said no?   Pierre: Well, I'd already started getting quotes from contractors, although those are tough to get if they because the property is not under our ownership yet. The property is tenanted, and so a lot of them were like, well, when can I get in there? And do it or get in there and take a look, I don't want to look at these pages, you know. So, I did get a couple of estimates. We were ready, we were ready to take on the repairs ourselves, if we would get a reduction in purchase price. Well, I mean, the numbers still work for us. I mean, all of these repairs, were still under the capex that I'd set aside for the pro forma so the numbers still worked, although I'm not about to just you know, give people money they don't deserve so I would have asked for the repairs or now i don't know i wouldn't I didn't know about asking for a credit. That's cool. Like give me money.   Michael: Most lenders have a cap around how much and this is again, using a mortgage hub will have a cap around how much you can get back and credit versus production and sale price. So just something to be aware of. It's like one or 2% I think is really common. Every lender might be a little bit different, but that's kind of what I've heard and seen. So if you're buying $100,000 house, they're gonna win. get you to a grand or two in terms of credit, but the less you reduce the purchase price, because that's an agreement to you and the seller as much as you want. But I'm curious, what was the bid, that there are bids that you've gotten thus far? And what were you prepared to ask the seller for?   Pierre: The bids I got were between like five and 6000 total for like all of the stuff and not not including the water heater, and not replacing windows, of course.   Michael: And so were you going to ask the seller for all six of that, or was it some a different number,   Pierre: We were going to also consider the findings of the appraisal. So we also have an appraisal contingency. So I wanted to just bring it all together. So we're not just like nickel and diming. But just kind of big, big picture. And I don't know, this is my first time. Like trying to, I don't know, I'm not like so bullish and confident going in and be like, Yo, I need this fool, I'm trying to be I don't know. polite. I don't know, dude. First one.   Emil: I think you're doing just to set you're doing a good job on your first one. I probably wouldn't have even asked for anything because I had no idea. I was just like, up it is what it is like, I got to deal with it. For what it's worth, I think you're doing a better job than I did on my first one. So don't beat yourself up.   Michael: No, I mean, you're definitely you're going through all the steps. Yeah, like Emil said, hats off to you man. I was very in a very similar boat to a meal just like stumbling through like I guess this is how this works now.   Pierre: You guys are really just giving yourself a round about compliment to yourselves because everything I'm doing is what I hear you guys say all the time. So…   Michael: You'll have to keep us posted on how it all goes and how the quality of repairs come out and how the deals have a deal shakes out.   Pierre: Cool, thanks, guys.   Emil: Alright, so we are actually going to cover Michael’s inspection report in a part two episodes since this one's running a little bit long. So make sure you're on the lookout for that one. Michael always has tons of good advice, so it's gonna be a good one. We'll check you out in that episode. And happy investing.   Michael: No pressure, no pressure,   Emil: No pressure, Michael.   Michael: Happy investing