looking to possibly buy a friend's home in private sale. we had an inspection done that showed lots of issues. any reason i should not share the inspection report with them?

friend of ours is going through a divorce and need to sell their home. we offered to buy the house as-is to allow them to stay in the house until they can get back on their feet, then use the home as a rental or for family. their asking price seems unreasonably high given the poor condition the home is in. we had an inspection done just to see if it was worth our while and they asked to see a copy of it. any reason we shouldn't share the report?

edit: thanks for the input, everyone. I'm gonna go with my gut feeling on this one and offer a price that makes sense to me and walk away if they push for more. at least I've done them a solid by showing them all the work that needs to be done on the house before sale.

in homeownersby Real_Pin_2426

152

90%

shtinkypuppie

333

This is such an awful, awful idea for so many reasons.

You're buying a house as-is that apparently has some pretty serious problems, and possibly overpaying for it. Even if this were a stranger, you're making a risky investment.
You're buying a friend's house, then apparently renting it back to them "until they get back on their feet"? How long is that? Are you prepared to be a landlord? Do you have rent-back terms agreed to? Are you willing to chase your friend for rent? What happens when you want to use/rent this house and they're still "getting back on their feet"?
You're buying private sale. Are you getting title insurance? Are you doing any of the due diligence on the house to make sure it doesn't have any liens or encroachment? Real estate agents are scum, but buying a house is not like buying furniture on Craigslist.

Whether or not you show them the inspection report is the absolute least of your problems.

AreWeCowabunga

Yeah, business dealings with friends often end not being a favor for either side, and can sour or end your friendship.

Real_Pin_2426

thanks for your input. while we've already addressed the issues you've highlighted, your concerns are on par with ours. we're at a point where getting both pros and cons of this deal would help us make a more informed decision on whether to move forward with an offer.

MeinScheduinFroiline

As someone who did this, fucking run man. It completely destroyed the relationship and left my partner and I holding a very expensive bag. It took SEVEN YEARS to get out of the hole we dug ourselves. You would be better off to go bitch slap your friend, piss in his mother, and burn $20,000 in a fire. Don’t walk away from this, fucking run!

Hot-Win2571

Does $20,000 burn long enough to toast marshmallows? Been a while since I made S'mores.

discosoc

There are no "pros" to this deal.

ekimguy

Run

thatgreenmaid

143

If they're a friend, I'd share the report just so they know what all is wrong with their house and how overpriced it is.

And then walk away from the entire mess.

PDXwhine

Exactly this. Give them the report as a FRIEND, then simply don't buy the house. You can change your mind, and tell the friend "hey, based on the report, this would not be good for us. Use the report to fix any issues you can afford! "

Then walk away.

Real_Pin_2426

I'm really on the fence with this house. I'm not super excited to buy it, so i feel OK giving a number that makes sense for me and walking away if they refuse.

sacca7

"I'm not super excited to buy it."

Trust your gut on this. Our instincts can be very real.

Take a piece of paper, fold it down the middle. On one column write the Pros of buying their house, and on the other, the cons. This method is usually a pretty good way to see clearly what you want to do.

Pro: Help a friend to the tune of $$,$$$ of dollars, or even $$$,$$$ dollars. Make his/her life easier. Be a good friend.

Cons: Lose $$,$$$ dollars, or even $$$,$$$ dollars. Make your life harder. Lose a friend. Have to play landlord. Frustration that they aren't "getting back on their feet" because divorce changes people's habits and whatever good habits they have now may not last.

I think that if you even list the number of pro comments vs con comments on this post you made, you'll see what's best to do.

JupiterSkyFalls

Don't do it. Especially if these are highly valued friends. You will end up losing money AND friends by the end of things.

Dependent_Disaster40

If anything, just to show them that you’re not just low balling them to be an asshole and rip them off.

Teripid

Yeah. What is the "good" outcome here?

You rip off your friend and they're resentful instead of...

You get a squatter/money pit and a house that's in need of a ton of work?

AshingiiAshuaa

If you want to keep your friends then steer clear of getting into a messy, complicated, high-dollar transaction set against the emotional dissolution of their marriage.

windowschick

As someone who bought a house from a divorcing couple, don't do it. ESPECIALLY don't do it if this is a friend. Unless you'd like them to be a former friend.

Our seller didn't even have enough to get any money back on the sale of the house, she owed the bank at closing. The house needed a new tear off roof (first of many costly repairs. We should have run, not walked, but run, away at that point.) we paid for it.

And boy did we pay for it. We've now sunk the purchase price of our house into it in repairs and updates. That's over a decade of homeownership, but it is still redonk.

dunncrew

Show the report and decide not to buy the house.

GoombahJudd

Don’t mix friends and money. You’ll likely lose both. Help them financially only by gifting funds you can afford to lose and with the understanding that any return will be unnecessary.

4r3014_51

DO NOT DO THIS. I had a family member do that and the tenant refused to pay the rent and then sued her for being evicted lol. She had to pay this lady 30,000 to get out of her own house

Im_Just_Sayin___

I would share it for a friend. Not everything an inspector finds is necessarily serious, but beware him attempting to downplay some of the issues found.

Jd5s

Maybe your friends truly were unaware of the issues the inspection revealed. If you decide not to purchase the house, but share the inspection with your friends, they will have to disclose these issues to potential buyers.

fac3

you would have to be a god damn idiot to buy that house

bitcoinnillionaire

I was going to buy a co-worker/sort of friends house on the market. It had some foundation issues which may have been trivial but we backed out, and it was still a very nice house for the price. Didn't want to haggle with someone I knew personally and possibly be left unhappy on either side.

Quake_Guy

I've shown it to complete strangers who were the sellers so I'm baffled by the question.

If you are paying a premium price get quotes to fix and share them with your friend.

00Lisa00

This whole thing sounds like a bad idea

1spring

Why on earth are you even considering this horrible, horrible idea?

Embarrassed_Safe500

The open and honest truth is your best choice here. Full disclosure lessens the risk of a misunderstanding and/or losing a friend.

Dazzling-Rule-9740

Huge mistake. Remember as a landlord you are legally responsible for all maintenance ,repairs and upkeep of the premises. Insurance?? If there are any injuries you can be sued even if the hazards were pre-existing.

Siltyn

Did your friend disclose any of this stuff the inspection found? If not, I'd think again about them actually being friend enough to do a favor like this for.

Miss3elegant

An inspection is fine but did you get an appraisal ? Lots of houses will have a list of issues but still appraise pretty high particularly in today’s market without an appraisal I feel like we are missing too much information.

knoxvilleNellie

I would absolutely share the report with them. I can tell you from 30 years of inspecting, most people have no idea of the condition of the house they are living in. I once inspected a house and when testing the water flow by running the shower and flushing a toilet it went from full flow to about half. If I turned on a sink as well, the shower flow stopped. The seller said, “ it’s always been like that, there’s nothing wrong with my plumbing”. Share the report, but think twice about renting it back to them. What happens when he stops paying rent because something came up? We had long time renters that were having a tough time, and we let them slide a bit for a while. Then they bought a new car while owing us about two months rent total. Time for them to go.

Real_Pin_2426

thanks, this is helpful feedback. yea, i think they were taken aback at all the things that came up on the report and your anecdote tracks with their behavior. we're prorating rent in exchange for lower selling price, so that should offset that risk.

ZombieJetPilot

Mixing friends and money is never a good idea. If you move in and something drastic happens there's no way to not feel a load of annoyance or anger towards your friend.

Do not do this. Walk away and keep the friendship

zipp_perr

Sounds like you might be on the path to ruining a friendship. But you may have already missed the last exit so get the best deal you can.

TheHomersapien

we offered to buy the house as-is
had an inspection done just to see if it was worth our while

Which one is it, because almost nothing you've said makes sense.

blacklassie

If they asked to see it, I don't see why not show it to them. You already agreed to buy it as is.

Present_Amphibian832

DON'T DO IT!!!!. This WILL destroy your friendship. even though you think your helping. It WILL bite you in the ass big time.

JCandle

What are the pros to buying THIS house?

Real_Pin_2426

it abuts my current home and we're in a very hot housing market. chance to buy it lower than market price and do reno overtime. possibly rent for a while before having grandparents move in after they retire.

ekimguy

Run away. Business deals with friends no compute. Why can't they just sell it and move somewhere cheap to get back on feet. Sounds like bad deal

Late-Put8340

Yes sir, share the report and remind them that you are doing them a favor. If I was you I would clarify back on their feet also. I'm sorry man we are just living in times where people seem to be really taking advantage of every possible advantage fair or not friends or family or not.

Birkin07

Have him sell it to someone else and get an apartment. You don’t want to do this. Be cool though and give him the inspection report as a favor.

ZukowskiHardware

Don’t share the inspection. This is a business deal, not personal. Tell them what you need taken off the price for specific things. That is all.