I would certainly be careful, obviously. I know someone who looked at this house, and the owner had yet to do anything, but told him he was going to make some repairs. He went back a few months later and he had done basically cosmetic work. Painting, cheap sticky-linoleum floor, etc. Said guy might as well have not done anything, because it will all have to be changed/redone.

If you have any questions about the wiring/pipes, obviously your inspector should go over with a fine toothed comb. You are going to need to negotiate any work that needs to be ripped out/redone as far as wiring/pipes.

Watch yourself on this one. Good luck.

If you suspect the wiring is questionable you should make your inspector aware of your concern right away. The inspector's report can go a long way toward leveraging your buy in the case he finds that the wiring is bad. He should be able to tell you right away if you have enough service coming in from the pole. He should be very detailed in the problems and he should take pictures where appropriate.

If he finds problems in the wiring then you need to have your lawyer get you more time so that you can get an electrician in there to check it out and give you an estimate for what it will take to fix.

I bought a row house a few years ago where the owner was a self-styled contractor and did his own wiring (badly). I threatened to walk away unless he gave back the $13,000 that my electrician estimated it would take to fix the electric issues detailed in the inspector's report and the buyer and the agents together rebated us the money at closing.

One more thing. I eventually had almost the whole house rewired and the service upgraded and not just the problems fixed. Final cost almost twice what the problems were estimated to be. Don't mess around with electric issues. If the inspector finds problems doing a surface inspection imagine what an electrician will find once they open up the walls. Good luck!

I posted a question about the Zillow valuation and the house I am in contract to buy (329 Pacific). I got one response that indicated the person had seen the house and that the renovations the current owner had done are not only substandard but are "scary" or words to that effect. Anyone else take a look at this house which is being sold by owner and have any rebuttal to this or echo to it? The house is a mess but in negotiating the price the sufficiency of the new wiring and plumbing was key to me. Thanks for any input.