If there is a structural concern, you can hire a structural engineer. A general home inspector will not know as much as they do, and may over or under call the severity of the problem.

As far as not having zoned heat, that is quite common and I do not believe it is reasonable to ask the seller to switch to zoned heat.

It is nice if you are willing to accept bathrooms as is since you will be updating.

You need to decide if any of the disclosed conditions are deal breakers for you if the seller refuses to give you a credit to repair them.

Some of the brinck issues I am not sure if they need to be fixed now or if condition is simply being noted.

I would much prefer a credit since the seller would likely fix in the cheapest possible way.

If the water heater is safety issue I would fix before moving in.

No house is perfect.

On our house there were clerestory windows with broken seals and humidity within the panes. The seller did agree to credit us up to our pre agreed repair cost. It bothered me at first, but we never fixed it and I never even notice it anymore.

$19,000 is a lot in repairs. But since I am not clear what is absolutely needed vs rec to get the house as perfect as possible, i am not sure it would scare me away. And the amount I would be willing to pay for myself would depend on the market and how much I wanted the house.

Windows and doors could be as simple as painted or need a little planing the inspector would not do.

With my house, there were a number of thermostats they noted did not work, when the only problem was a dead battery inspectors were not willing to replace. The inspector noted loose toilets as well as a problem with a water heater and other plumbing issues. The plumber said the toilets were not loose and the water heater was also fine. (In other words, I trusted the licensed plumber I have used many years more than the general home inspector)

Also, a contractor's estimate is an actual estimate vs the inspector's guesstimate.

Best wishes, these are the types of things that can easily kill a sale. But, big problems can be worked through if you and the sellers can agree on a fair price adjustment.

lafdr

The general lack of care for this house as evidenced by the inspection report would make me want to walk away. Things were done in a careless manner, like venting dryer vent to attic. How many other careless things were missed? The workmanship sounds shoddy. Why move into problems?
Renais

Thank you for the helpful replies. We went through all the repairs and it seems like we will need everyone from electrician, plumber, structural engineer, stone mason, sprinkler company, carpenter, roofer, tree company (to cut tree limbs that are sitting on roof), heating/AC person, garage door company, chimney sweep, to do various repairs on the house. We are more comfortable with getting estimates from the various contractors like lafdr recommended and having the work done ourselves. It is looking a little overwhelming.

First, congratulations on finding an inspector who actually did his/her job! How many threads have we seen about shoddy inspectors?

I grew up in a house my parents bought new in 1949. So I'm familiar with them. First, bathroom ventilation? To ventilate a bathroom back then, you opened the window as no fans existed. So there's no code violation here.
Ventilations on roof? Again, when these houses were built, the attic ventilation was a vent on the gable ends of the house. Again, no code violation.
No zone for the upstairs? Common, and if you want it, it should be your responsibility.

But what's major, and what's good enough to get a credit?

The joists in the crawl space is a major item. That's something the owner should get repaired before closing.
Is the water heater in the upstairs closet illegal, or should something like a pan be installed underneath it?

Everything else from the loose brick to the tuck pointing to the vents for the dryer and stove is negotiated for a credit.

The foundation issue and the hot water heater in the second floor closet were also most concerning to us. The inspector said a vent pipe (for downdraft stove?) was put through the joist near where the crack is. He said the joist could be sistered with another piece of wood to repair it. We asked about replacing the joist and he said it couldn't be done without tearing up some of the flooring. We want to have a structural engineer check it out to see what needs to be done. There is also a place in the hallway leading to a master bedroom addition where there is at least a floor level change. It is under carpeting so is hard to tell what is going on. We want to make sure that is a floor issue not a structural issue. We are planning to add hardwood flooring to the bedroom and hallway anyway, so a floor issue would hopefully just be resolved when that is done.

The inspector said one of the gables' vents was blocked up from the inside, so there wasn't proper ventilation. He estimated $800 to repair roof venting. I don't know if that is high or not.

Thank you for clarifying that an old house does not have to be up to current code. We didn't realize that. However, we were planning to spend over $150,000 to update kitchen, three baths, install hardwood in some rooms, remove old wallpaper and paint most rooms, repair drawer and cabinet wall built-ins throughout the house, remodel laundry to make more useable, etc.. Two baths have wall to wall carpeting with just subflooring underneath, so need tile floors put in. Some of the plumbing, electric, and probably venting issues would be resolved as part of the remodel so would not be counted as needed repairs. From what we could determine, it added up to around $1,500 that we could delete.

Adding much more to the cost of the house though, is starting to make it unaffordable for us even though our realtor feels the neighborhood is such that any added improvements would be a good investment. We will hopefully talk to our realtor today to see what our options are.

This post was edited by daisy321 on Sun, Nov 30, 14 at 8:44