mold and outlets, whee

So, we had a home inspection done on the house we've offered for, and the inspector found that the basement is loaded with mold. There are also lesser, but still in need of repair, problems with several parts of the electrical system, the drains, and the back yard - letting water into the basement, frost damage to the outside stairwell to the basement, etc. But the mold is the serious part. To remove it requires removing the wall panelling and the ceiling tiles, and a bit of the floor; one floor joist needs replacement. We don't know if it's toxic mold or not- it's been sent off for tests, but they won't be ready for 7-12 days. So we invoked the home inspection addendum to the contract, and asked for a $12,000 allowance for repairs. The seller could cancel the contract instead of agreeing to that, but there are risks for her in cancelling our contract - if she puts the house back on the market, she can no longer claim, as she had been before, that she has no knowledge of any problems. One option on disclosure statements is to just say "I don't know anything about anything" and allow the buyer to decide on the risks of that, and that's what she had done. But now, if she were to put it back on the market with that same disclaimer, and then a buyer found out that she had been informed of the mold, she and her real estate agent would be subject to quite the lawsuit. So chances are, at this point, that she wouldn't be able to get full price she's been asking if she waits for other offers. Now that the mold's been disclosed, ours may be the best offer she'll get. We'll see.

We can deal with it - it would require doing the mold remediation before we move in, not a problem, and then installing better ventilation and a dehumidifier down there as well as replacing the panelling and ceiling. And while we're down there we'd improve the sump pump for the basement bathroom and laundry.

I did indeed go around on the bike and find that Indian restaurant I mentioned in my previous post. We ate lunch there today. Not bad at all. Yesterday we had lunch in a Chinese place that was pretty good (I had complained about the quality of the Chinese restaurants we had tried so far a few posts back) and had reasonable prices to boot. One reason is that their lunch specials don't come with soup-and-eggroll-and-wonton-and-fried-rice, just with steamed rice, period. Which is fine. Especially since it apparently keeps prices down.

We ate supper last night at a Mexican place. Um, not gonna get a lot of repeat business from us. They have a limited selection of enchiladas, and the only choices for sauces on them are Ranchero and what they call "enchilada sauce" which is a gloppy brown stuff. No tomatillo/green sauce. And only refried pintos - no black beans, charro beans, borracho beans, or any other tasty options. And high prices - $9.50 for a plate of spinach enchiladas with refried and rice, nothing special, and ranchero sauce tastes really awful on spinach enchiladas.

We'll eat at home tonight, after I get back from knitting.