Well not really owner, I'm renting with an option to buy from the person if I like the house, but this is my first house so I'm kind of newbie to a lot of stuff.

My biggest concern right now is the house was just recently leveled professionally. The owner also had all the carpeting removed and in it's place he put in that fake "wood" floor crap. When I walk around the house I am constantly getting shocked which suprises me since I figured that was more of a carpet type thing. I notice this mostly when I'm wearing my shoes and walking around on the floor.

Also the second thing is when I went to turn on the outside light above the garage I got shocked by the screw on the face plate which blew the breaker and and one of the bulbs (the garage door was also opening up at this time to). Was that just a freak of nature or could my static really have been just enough to blow that breaker? Seems odd.

Does the house need to be grounded or perhaps they messed something up when they were leveling the house? I'd hate to lose some expensive electronics and computers because there's a grounding/electrical problem.

Thanks!!

I've had that "fake "wood" floor crap" for a while (pretty much my whole house, except where there is ceramic tile) and have never had a static electricity issue. That is even when we get the real dry conditions around here that used to cause a lot of it on carpet.

You may want to consult a good electrician, sounds like you have a problem.

Red flag #1. Unless the entire home was moved from point A to point B or the home is at least 75-80 years old, there should really be no reason to "level" the house after the original foundation is poured. Trust me, if they didn't pour the foundation right, imagine what else they F'd up. If it's a newer home, they probably didn't cure the foundation correctly and/or the home was built on loose ground. Since you mentioned a garage it's likely not a home in the 75+ year age bracket. Either way, I would *never* buy a home with a bad foundation.

Red flag #2. They probably didn't ground the switch correctly and/or they left the leads too long on the switch, so the wires inside touched and you provided the "ground." Either way, even an untrained monkey wouldn't make that mistake, and a decent electrician would *never* let that kind of thing fly. Turn off the breaker, pull the switchplate off, unscrew the two mounting screws and take a look at the wiring job. Make sure the insulation on the black and white wires isn't stripped too far back, and make sure the ground is secured.

X2

1st q: static happens.
2nd q: sounds like a bad ground. If you are comfortable, turn the power off to that switch and see if the switch is grounded. Also-see if there is a grounding rod out side the house where the electrical service is located.

wow-all these responses at the same time. One other thing-is the house on a tread mill?

Yeah I feel comfortable doing anything myself as long as I have a little direction so I'm not chasing my tail.

As for the leveling the house sits about 20 yards away from train tracks and the train runs through there 4-5 times a day give or take. I was thinking that might have played a good part in the house needing to be releveled after so many years of trains passing by. Though when one does go by the only bad thing is the train horn. Once it's past you really don't feel the train which was suprising.

I don't plan to live in this house forever but I figured it would be a good starter home to fix up and resale later. It is a cute little home

And yeah I know static happens but I was always under the assumption it would generate from walking on carpet not the fake wood stuff. I guess I learn something new every day.

Thanks for the tips so far! Looking forward to anymore if anyone has em! This is why I lived in apartments for so long..... no worries

Too funny, darn near covered my monitor with coffee.

sitting that close to a train track will severely hamper its resale value. Consider that in your purchase price.

Do yourself a favor and have the entire house inspected and appraised before you even get serious with the owner. May cost some dough, but in the long run it could pay off if you find things that the seller will repair before you buy or knock off some $$$ for you to take care of it.

When you said leveled, I thought you meant completely rebuilt just like I thought the wheels had something to do with the plane flying, now I know better.

Jasunf- do what you've been told, get a good house inspector to check the whole house out. My wife works for a real estate company and the houses they sell where the buyer doesn't get it inspected first are the ones that have problems/issues later and try to go back on the seller with no grounds for a lawsuit (they could have had it inspected but chose not too. The inspection would have told them about the problem before buying the house, so it's their own fault, not the seller's. And a LOT of things are not required to be disclosed at closing either.). A good inspector will find anything/everything wrong - including bad wiring. Yes, it will cost you a couple hundred bucks to have it done. BUT, if you are seriously considering buying this house on a land contract, have it inspected first. It could save you from a serious financial error. I would be suspicious just because they are wanting to sell it this way. It avoids some of the legal issues they, as the seller are required to meet.

Having it leveled may or may not be a big deal. It depends on how much they leveled and why. For example, if it's brick, it may have developed some cracks because of one corner settling. Leveling that corner will bring it back up and make the crack easier to fix (not to mention this is the right way to fix this type of a problem). If it was the whole house, RUN! DON'T STOP TO SMELL THE ROSES! RUN! That is, don't buy it. If the whole house needed to be leveled, you have foundation problems and those can be very expensive to fix. Some can't be fixed.

As far as the electrical problem in the garage, turn off the power and check the wiring as suggested. If it looks OK (which you may not be able to tell one way or the other unless you're an electrician, and it doesn't sound like you are), put the switch back in and turn the power back on. At this point you should have the faceplate off. Then get a multimeter and check for power between the screw where you got shocked (or where it would have been) and the metal box the switch is mounted in. (If it's in a plastic box, check against the ground instead.) If there's power going to the ground from the switch, you definitely have a problem. It may be as simple as a bad switch (it's just worn out and shorting out), or you could have grounding/wiring problems elsewhere in the house. Again, the inspector can tell you for sure.

You may want to also invest in one of those outlet testers. It looks like a grounded plug but has 3 lights on the back end of it. They are generally yellow too. Then use that on some of the outlets in the house. It will tell you if the outlets are wired correctly. That may tell you a lot about the wiring in the house as well.

Good luck. Home owning can be laden with "issues". Some serious, some not so serious.

-Gonzo

Unless you get it for a "steal" I'd find some where else to live.

See if you can't get a recommendation from someone you trust. There are a lot of worthless inspectors that will just take a few pictures and print out a nearly useless report.

Not that I'm bitter about the inspector on my first house

I lucked out on my second inspector. I was searching around on the Internet and noticed he had some sample reports up. He was the only one that quoted building code in the violations in his report - turned out to be as good an indicator as any. He actually was quite good.

AMEN!

I would even go as far as finding a Realtor to help you through all the paperwork and make sure you don't make a/any huge mistake(s). (Paying over mkt price, buying a money-pit, etc.).

If it were me I'd run far away from those train tracks, but it's all personal preference if you did decide you wanted to buy it.

At the very least, pay for a professional inspection before doing any negotiating. Shouldn't be more than $350-$400 for a good one. If you don't like what you see, you may have saved yourself tens of thousands of dollars.

...and for disclosure purposes, yes, I'm a Realtor with RE/MAX. (and I've helped XOC members buy and sell in the Phoenix area recently, too)

Unless you are in LOVE with the sound of trains going by at 3 am, etc...a house by tracks is murder....especially if the weather was nice and you want to leave the windows open.

Its WAY more disruptive than you might think...and if they hit the train horns, forget it...you are awake for the rest of the night just on adrenaline, etc.

I had a condo maybe 300 yards from tracks, sheilded by woods, and a bunch of OTHER buildings...damned if that train didn't wake us regularly.

Food for thought.

heh again thanks for all the great tips. So far this might just be a rental then for us for a little while.

As for the train noises I'm quite used to them. I lived in an apt for 3 years that was 50 yards away from train tracks you really do get used to it after a while. You start not to even notice it and you definately don't get woken up at night once you are used to it.

I'll make sure to do all the things above. But it seems like everyones pretty solid about an inspector so when the time comes if the wife really wants the place I'll pull the inspector card and see if I can talk her out of it.

Thanks gang!!

As far as generating static walking across a floor in your house, some flooring products will produce some static. Carpet is the worse, but vinyl floors can produce some static. Some types of wax on a floor can generate static. The flooring in the house was probably manufactured with some type of coating that does generate a little static.

The grounding for most home electrical systems is usually to the home's cold water pipe coming in from the city water supply. That is how it is done here. I don't know about where you live.

Your biggest concern with this house is the reason why it had to be leveled. What year was the home built? What type of foundation does the home have... a poured foundation with basement? A slab? Footers? Other?

Those train tracks may not bother you, but you can be sure they'll make the place harder to re-sell later. You'll have a much smaller pool of potential buyers, and given the current trend in real estate, that may not be a good position to be in.

Obviously none of us know much about the place or the details of the transaction, but, considering that in most of the country this is pretty much a "buyer's market", I would hope that this is a damn good price. If not, you may want to keep looking.

Oh I am all for keeping looking Like I said before we are just renting the house for now from the guy because he offered to us. I think he was about to sell it on the market (the guy works for century 21 as an agent). I believe after a while he might want to sell to us but not sure. My uncle works for Keller Williams and I'd use him as my realtor before I would anyone else.

I don't particularly care for the neighborhood much but the house is kinda nice and the wife likes it. Though when we are ready to shop around I don't think it will be for this one based on the feedback so far from everyone

II grew up in what is now a high bid hood (house is basically my parents 401k now - immigrants from Ireland) 2 blocks from the train tracks which ran commuter and a few freight lines, (Metra for the locals), a mile from the EL (CTA) which ran down the middle of the Kennedy X-way which was about a mile away. The cherry on top was the noise from airplanes going to and from O’Hare airport 5 miles away. Believe it or not, nothing bothered me a bit since it’s what I grew up with. I now live about 100 yards from the same Metra line...

Bottom line, not an issue once you get used to it.

5 trucks to the first person to figure out which hood I grew up in.

Dunham Park?

Park Ridge or Rosemont?

My uncle is a house inspector and he belongs to wazoo's of building inspection associations, I'd find one of those groups to recommend one in your area.

bpc said:
My guess is Harwood Heights, somewhere around Nagle and Northwest Highway?

-Gonzo

Not Harwood Heights but about a half a mile from the instersection you mentioned. I grew up in Old Norwood Park

5 trucks for ya

2 other guesses were pretty close to.

4 trucks for great pyr-hauler
Madman must have his trucks hidden so for you