Non FHA; does a fireplace count as a permenant heat source

[Will Phillips]

Working on a duplex in California. Each unit has a fireplace, but no other heat source. Should I condition this report subject to a permanent heat source, does the fireplace satisfy, or does it even matter for a non-FHA order?

 

[TC]

I can't imagine any lender taking that mortgage, FHA or not.

 

[unloadit]

In my market this is common, so I do consider them permenant.

 

[Will Phillips]

@ TC
You would think, but somehow there are prior appraisals on this property with mortgages in excess of $1,000,000! I will make this one subject to a permanent heat source, as forced heating or wall heating is typical in the market area.

 

[CANative]

Are you conditioning the appraisal based on your opinion that the property would not sell without conventional heat or that no lender would lend on it without conventional heat?

It seems to me that if similar properties have heat for the most part, then not having heat is more of an issue of curable functional obsolesence.

 

[Smokey Bear]

Where in Cali?

 

[CANative]

Where in Cali?

Tourist...
:icon_mrgreen:

 

[Terrel L. Shields]

Tourist...
:icon_mrgreen:

Heck, Smoky lived in a trailer without heat in Nevada, who needs any stinking heat source in Death Valley?

A fireplace is pretty "permanent" but in my area, FHA used to require something with a thermostat so that an unoccupied home won't freeze pipes. Would that be a problem there?

 

[CANative]

You're not even a tourist. Death Valley is in California. It's the hottest place in the US. And it's only about 30 miles from the coldest place in the US. And where Smokey was living she had to huddle under a blanket with her cats to keep warm... It's freezing in that part of the state in the dead of winter.)

FHA requires a conventional heat source (except in Hawaii and maybe parts of Florida).

 

[Will Phillips]

The property is in a coastal community called La Jolla. No chance of freezing pipes there. More likely the sea air will destroy the exterior!