Buyer Due Diligence 5: Stucco
By Charles TurnerRewriting this as somehow it saved the title and nothing else.
Stucco has been around for 100s of years. It’s recent history is scared by EFIS which was a synthetic stucco which has a history of failing or being improperly installed. For us, the question is less about whether it needs work or not but how much work it does need. It has visibly failed in a couple of places but ripping of the rest for sake of ripping it off is not a good plan.
Western Architectural came out on Monday to look at it. The consensus is that we can repair the damaged area and attempt to match the existing as close as possible. It appears to be original to the 1906 house as there was no evidence of previous siding being covered up. The cost of the inspection is high: $160 per hour and takes four to five hours.
One of our clients had a stucco inspection on Monday as well. That house shows perfectly so it will be interesting to see how the stucco report comes out on that property.
http://cgi.money.cnn.com/tools/homepricedata/index.html?market=274OR
Money Magazine predicts 20%+++ price drop in PDX market over next 2 years.
Wang,
Why do you keep posting your doom and gloom?
Also please stay on topic. We are talking about STUCCO!!!?
Wang,
Why do you keep posting your doom and gloom?
Also please stay on topic. We are talking about STUCCO!!!?
Sasha Fu, its only doom and gloom if you bought in the last two years in hopes of making a quick flip. For the rest of us that just would like to be able to buy an affordable place to live, this is great news.
And the $1600 ‘stimulus’ check just stimulated my whimpy CD just so slightly but as home prices drop my CD aka down payment grows even faster than the 3.5%….come on baby, bring back affordability…oops, was I supposed to buy a big screen with that check?!?!
Why do some people wish for un-affordable housing for the average folks?
Sasha Fu, no one was talking so why not get her going! In fact, this blog has been rather quiet since the latest Case-Shiller report came out…everyone STILL in shock? It’s OK to be surprised. I will admit that I was shocked that they reported the first YOY decline in February, approximately 6 months earlier than I predicted! But I am over it and have moved on:O)
So about stucco… Our clients report said that their stucco (original to 1926) is fine and that there are just some small things that they reccommend so that the stucco stays dry and good. Their inspection cost $825 and takes 7 to 10 business days so it is certainly something that you have permission and time to do in your offer. Especially because a stucco inspection is invasive – you have to have express permission from the seller in writing to perform the test.