Not clickbait. I walked away from the cabin. I’m okay with the decision but I am sad and annoyed by it. But this is part of the journey and sometimes things don’t quite work out the way we want them to.

The inspection was okay. It wasn’t perfect. Inspections never are and no building ever is. The cabin is 125 years old, it has some issues.

I divided the issues into two groups:

• Building Things
  • Cleaning and sealing the exterior logs,
  • replacing the chinking,
  • reinforcing foundational logs
  • fastening down a couple of sections of the roof,
  • replacing a rotten log on the front entry,
  • fire extinguisher,
  • porch stairs
• Water Things
  • Eavestroughs. I think US people call these gutters?
  • Water tank,
  • Air Pressure tank,
  • Sump pump,
  • basement leakage

Each of these groups cost about $20,000+ to repair. So I was okay with all of the building things because it is an older house. I know some builders and I also want to learn how to build. And all of those things (except the fire extinguisher) can be done over time. The water things is a different story. I don’t know anything about water things. I also don’t know any plumbers or well people. And, some of the rot in the logs was caused by seepage in the basement.

During the inspection, we saw signs of previous leaking but nothing recent. And something I had missed in the inspection the first time was that the inspector said that the aluminum skirting was probably part of the fix to try to seal the basement but it was not done professionally. Then, their realtor shared with my realtor that there had been some springs where the basement got wet and that they had been open about that in the listing.

It wasn’t in the listing. So when I heard that, I remembered that it had been a very dry spring and summer in this area. I even googled to see the rainfall and it was low this year. So the basement didn’t leak this year. But that made me know that the logs in the basement were going to be a bigger problem because the basement wasn’t sealed properly.

So I had to tell my realtor that due to the inspection, I’d need them to pay for the repairs to the water things and add basement sealing by a professional who offers a lifetime warranty. And then I said that if they didn’t agree to meet me on that, that I’d need to walk away. I simply can’t afford to take that risk. If we have a wet winter and a wet spring, I could be in a world of hurt within the first 6 months of living there. I can’t risk that. But the basement sealing boosted the water things up to the same amount as the building things which is hefty.

Unfortunately, they weren’t able to meet me on that so I had to walk away. They might not have the funds available. It’s part of why I want them to pay for the water things. I don’t have that money to spend immediately and these are pretty immediate repairs.

I did ask my realtor to tell them that my offer will still stand unless I find another place because sometimes they don’t get a better offer.

So for now, that cabin is not moving forward and the search continues!