Home inspections

[Reit38]

We recently sold our house pending an home inspection on Wednesday. the inspection has me a little worried. What do they typically look for

I am also on the fence on hiring an inspection on the house we purchased. Is it worth the money? Looks like prices in our area are around $600

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[PCustoms]

I just had one done, as it was an "out" to give some additional time to review the house.

90% of the report reads "building standards have changed, current code is xyz. I recommend a licensed contractor make a repair."

Breakers, afci, window sizes (for egress) deck railings, ****** wiring. Only thing he found that I didn't was the positivity of an old oIL tank.

Sort of a scam, but protection for the average joe homeowners that don't have a clue. They also have a standard disclosure that anything not on the surface or readily exposed is not their problem.

 

[vmusch]

Wouldn't pay for one on a house you are purchasing if you are capable of inspecting yourself. With a little research you can do a good job.

Last two houses I sold I had one completed before I put the house on the market. My thoughts were the inspections are standard and they will find things that I can address before it is found by the buyer. Little confusing I realize but when you live in a house it is easy to overlook little things. It also gave me something to challenge the buyers inspectors findings. An example is my house was built with the receptacles wired wrong, I changed them all, so I thought when the house was empty a couple that had been hiding behind furniture were located by the inspector. I fixed them and avoided a headache from the buyers inspector. Broken window seals is a another one inspectors find them, which they did I listed them on the seller disclosure. I also provide a copy of my inspection. When the buyer said they must be fixed I said no, end of story.

The most important thing is you do not have to fix anything found in the inspection, you do not have to give a credit for it too be repaired. You will need to fix anything that is required for the buyer to obtain an occupancy permit, which varies from area to area. Last house I sold the Fire Department did an inspection and found several minor problems that had to be repaired before the sale.

 

[tadams72]

We recently sold our house pending an home inspection on Wednesday. I haven't lost sleep over any of sale with all the showings and offers but now the inspection has me worried. What do they typically look for

I am also on the fence on hiring an inspection on the house we purchased. Is it worth the money? Looks like prices in our area are around $600

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Just went through this on our house we sold and the new one we bought. Somewhat of a racket but some not. They check for things to be up to code, general problem ares, etc. I think the inspection really depends on the inspector. On the house we sold I got pinged for no carbon monoxide detectors, a loose sink mount, an interior door that was not latching, and hot water heater approaching end of expected service life. A lot of the report stated area not inspected due to access limitations.

As for having one done on the new home, I had a really good experience with Pillar to Post. Detailed report provided with a really thorough inspection.



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[Backpack Hunter]

Personally, I dont think I will have an inspection done when purchasing a house again. I had it done in the past, but the inspector didn't find anything I didn't.....so to me it seems a little redundant.
Having said that, wouldn't care at all if someone purchasing my place wanted an inspection.

 

[Reit38]

I'm leaning towards not having it done on the one we are purchasing but my wife thinks it would be a good idea. I feel pretty confident walking through and noticing things

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[pmiranda]

IMO it doesn't hurt. If they're good the know the latest code better than the average contractor around here. It can be a way to beat up the seller for a little price break on things that don't really matter.
On the last house we sold the buyer's inspector complained about a couple outlets that should be GFI under current code but weren't when it was built. I swapped them to give the first-time homebuyers peace of mind.

 

[James-W]

If you can find someone to do the inspection that knows what they are doing and are willing to spend the time and the effort to do a really thorough job, then it is well worth the cost. But it has been my experience that a lot of the "Inspectors" (I use that term loosely) are not very good and they miss a lot of things that they really shouldn't miss.

 

[Showkey]

Health and Safety and code violations are really the only things that kill the contract........BUT..........many try to use the inspection to reopen the sale price negotiation using maintenance items like paint or "near the end of life" or gutters need cleaning.

The third party inspections vs purchasers inspection carry different weight as far as the contract goes. I hired an inspector and looked over his shoulder and did my own inspection at the same time. Several $100 is cheap insurance and he had all the equipment ( ladders, CO detector, moisure meters, tools to pull the panel cover, he crawled up in the attic, I looked through the hole.etc).

If I am selling there is No way would I let the purchaser do any more than a visual inspection.......no tools, no disassembly, no crawling up in the attic ..........inspector has insurance if there's a stink or problem. Like stepping through the ceiling.

If I am the buyer ............more eyes the better, especially true if the sellers is hiding past problems like flooding, mold, bugs, bats, rodents, radon, illegal additions, etcetc

Septic and well inspections are differernt.

 

[Zeke]

Being a contractor I always think I know enough to do a home inspection. I miss things that they see. The reason is they follow a form and a procedure. They start by running the dishwasher so that it can finish before they do. They check every faucet and outlet. They are supposed to be objective and whenever I'm involved I'm probably involved with the property as well. So I don't see it with quite as much pure objectiveness.

For instance, I'm in the garage thinking about what I can do with it while they are in there just to see what works and what doesn't. I might be worried that a floor mounted electrical outlet is in the wrong place for me while they just see that it works.

 

[usa#1]

I'm leaning towards not having it done on the one we are purchasing but my wife thinks it would be a good idea. I feel pretty confident walking through and noticing things

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Most of the things they find you could most likely find yourself depending on your knowledge level. For instance if you felt good about looking at everything but electrical, you could just hire an electrican to check the electrical for you. Also most inspectors check for radon, which may be more difficult for you to do in a short time period.

 

[langss]

We had one done on the house we bought last year. IMHO it was worth every penny. He found things that were not major issues, but things I will want to have taken care of before I either can't do it myself or afford to have it done.

 

[Reit38]

do you typically walk through with the inspector on either end?

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[btdobie]

Like others have said they will mostly just give you a laundry list of little issues such as missing gfci, railing on deck to low for code, ect. For the $300 I paid including a radon test I, was happy to have a second person look at the house to find something I may have missed. In my state (not sure about others) there is no licensing or certification requirements for home inspectors, so you need to do good research on whoever you choose.

As for OP, I wouldn't worry. If the buyers are interested enough to hire an inspector, then they probably won't be driven away by any minor issues he finds or they may ask you to fix a couple of concerns before closing.

 

[btdobie]

do you typically walk through with the inspector on either end?

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Mine did do a 30min walkthrough with me.

 

[langss]

The inspector I used not only took me around and pointed out everything, but I have a PDF complete with pictures and recommendations for future reference.

 

[brewchief]

Some inspectors are pretty decent and some are worthless lazy bastards, try to get a decent one.

I work for a HVAC contractor and we do real estate inspections on occasion, having a pro in one particular field inspect just that part of the house can pay off as we have tools that the average home inspector wouldn't and often have experience with certain brands as far as where the normal problems are and what the life expectancy should be.

If you suspect a problem with any part of the house don't hesitate to call someone that will know it well, a 100$ spent on a service call can save you 10 times that amount if there turns out to be a major problem that's missed.

 

[Thumper68]

I have done several inspections for myself and for a ton of friends. I downloaded a form many years ago and added my own stuff to it as well.

You can do a very good inspection yourself if you are willing to spend 3 to 6 hours actually doing it.

A few tools that not everyone has but are well worth renting or buying.

Bore scope for checking where your head won't fit, around plumbing penetrations, in inspection covers like the tub/shower, under stoves and dish washers, checking burner tubes in the furnace.

FLIR attachment for your smart phone or a FLIR camera, for checking for hot spots in appliances and wiring along with checking insulation in walls and ceilings.

Take pictures of everything making sure to catch model and serial numbers so you can do research on appliances etc.

Like some one else said turn on the dish washer right away to the heavy cycle and make sure it runs through the whole thing. I also do the same with the stove/oven set it for 500* and use a temp gun to check the temp.

Measure the depth of insulation in the attic in several spots, you need to get up there and really check for bugs and rodents anyway.

If there is a fridge plug it in and check that with the temp gun as well.

A cheap outlet checker is a great tool, check all outlets, I use a little sticker after they pass green for good and red for bad, switches too.

The heat gun is good for checking for hot breakers as well.

You need to check the roof in several spots as well, so bring a good ladder, if there is a masonry chimney you will need to get up on the roof to check that too.

I bring several spare light bulbs to make sure all fixtures work, a book of matches will work to check exhaust flow for bath and kitchen fans, light a few matches and then blow them out and make sure that the smoke is being drawn in.

A long stick is nice to have for testing smoke CO2 alarms.

Of course your 2 best tools are your eyes and sense of smell, use a strong flash light to see into corners and cupboards and under things.

Get down and sniff test through out the house.

When I inspected our current house it had been winterized so I brought along a compressor and a test gage set up to connect to the outside spigot, and the drain on the boiler, sure enough I discovered several leaks where pipes had not been completely cleared of water and had burst, the seller paid for the plumber of my choice to fix them and retest. At least they were all in the basement so no plaster or drywall had to be redone.

If I couldn't inspect myself I would gladly pay to have it done, but you can do it yourself, just take your time and do it right.

 

[Slednut]

I sold my parents’ house last year, the inspector found, the Sash Window Channel Balances had seized up, a couple outlets in the garage were not GFCI protected, one of the arc fault breakers wouldn’t trip, and some peeling paint. I fixed them but I had to get the buyers signature on a form so I could do the work. The inspector recommended that all the work be done by a licensed professional.


It was inspected when I wasn’t there but I made sure I was there when he check the work. He was a nice guy doing his job.

When you are buying, check the disclosure list, if there are a lot of “not aware of any defects” I would have the house inspected.

 

[straightcut]

I'm a residential real estate appraiser, so I come in contact with inspectors from time to time. I agree with most comments already listed above. If the property is complex and you're not versed in working on homes, an inspection would be more useful. If the property is basic and you have a pretty good idea what you're looking at, it's probably not necessary. I've never hired a home inspector for any property I've purchased, but the properties I've bought either needed some repairs or were pretty basic, so I had a decent idea of what I was getting into.

One option would that may be better than an inspector would be to hire a contractor who specializes in a system, eg. hire an electrician to inspect if that's an area where your expertise is lacking, or HVAC, plumber, roofer, etc. You may well do best by hiring a specialist for each system, especially if you know good guys in each field.

 

[tdkkart]

As far as I'm concerned they're a racket built around the average potential homeowners lack of intelligence/knowledge. Any one that has an inkling of knowledge in the basics of carpentry, plumbing, HVAC and electrical can do a decent home inspection.
Google "home inspection checklist" print it off and go to it. If there's anything you feel uncomfortable with, bring in an expert to look it over.

The buyers did one on the house we were selling 8-ish years ago, they got screwed, he came up with a few of piddly things, a bunch of "limited access" exclusions, several "nearing end of life", and several electrical issues that were just flat wrong. He also missed several fairly important items, including a pretty bad roof that would have been evident if he'd actually gone up on the roof.

 

[Reit38]

Someone mentioned that once the agreement papers have been signed even tho they have 10 days for an inspection a buyer is still held to the agreed price?

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[upndown]

I've had many HO's tell me the first thing they checked was the garage door and opener. They would write it up even if it wasn't necessary. I guess it make them look good to find something right away.

Not complaining, made a lot of money off them guys over the years.

 

[Cyberbear]

In my state a home inspection is often at the request of the mortgage company to protect their loan for the new buyers. New buyers will also sometimes request an inspection, but it is standard for the seller here to pay for a one year insurance guarantee to cover any problems with the house for the first year. Here all homes are sold "as is" with all faults known or unknown.

 

[tadams72]

Someone mentioned that once the agreement papers have been signed even tho they have 10 days for an inspection a buyer is still held to the agreed price?

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I think it varies from state to state but my understanding in WA and Ca where we bought and sold homes, the buyer can walk away for any reason during that ten days. Thus, they can use the home inspection as a way to bring the price down. That being said what I've seen is most times they ask for repairs of items or further inspection. The seller can agree to all, some, or none and the buyer can choose whether to keep the deal or walk. Our buyer had agreed with the home inspection and required no fixes but left the decision to correct deficiencies up to us. In good faith we fixed several little things as it was the right thing to do and didn't really cost us much since we did the work.


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[laurie71]

When I bought my first home a couple of years ago I had it inspected. As a result of that inspection, we had the sellers pay for a structural engineer to certify the floor joist support system in the cellar that wasn't to current code, replace all the roof flashing, and pay for replacement of the chimney liner for the wood stove.

I wouldn't have known that the structural support of the floor was suspect, couldn't have gotten on the roof to find the bad flashing, and wouldn't have caught the bad chimney liner. The inspection saved me thousands of dollars in repairs the sellers paid for, and potentially thousands more for the damage that could have occurred as a result of those issues. We provided a copy of the inspection report to the sellers and they took it upon themselves to take care of a number of smaller items we didn't even care about and didn't request they address.

Even if I'd had the skill and knowledge to find all those issues myself, having an independent third party find and document them gave me more credibility with the seller when saying this or that was an issue.

For me, it was worth every penny and I wouldn't buy a house without getting an inspection.

I don't think I'd pay to have my house inspected before listing it, though.

L.

 

[bwringer]

As noted above, in many states there are no particular requirements for any doofus to call himself a home inspector.

The senile assclown we ended up with refused to use a ladder, so he wouldn't go on the roof and wouldn't look in the attic. Well, what the hell good are you, then? I spotted roof and fungus damage that he didn't, because he didn't even bother to look at the roof from the ground in the back of the house. He was "done" in 30 minutes of wandering aimlessly through the house flipping switches. The report was the bare minimum checklist, but he still screwed it up. We sat there at the kitchen table and I made him do it over three times until it was done somewhat correctly. He bitched and moaned constantly that he was missing his next appointment, and I had to get quite nasty with him in order to make him to at least fill out the paperwork correctly so we wouldn't be homeless.

I made sure to let both realtors, the lender, and the title company know the guy was a complete fraud, but I have no idea whether it did any good or not.

However, the one that inspected the house we sold was one picky sumbitch. The report was about an inch thick and featured clear color digital photos of every last ding and chip. He crawled every inch of the crawl space, inspected the brand-new roof with a microscope, took about four hours, and actually found several things I had no idea were wrong. Fortunately, the buyer was pretty reasonable and only wanted a few of the most egregious problems fixed -- nothing that was even all that expensive or difficult.

 

[CJ7VFR]

However, the one that inspected the house we sold was one picky sumbitch. The report was about an inch thick and featured clear color digital photos of every last ding and chip. He crawled every inch of the crawl space, inspected the brand-new roof with a microscope, took about four hours, and actually found several things I had no idea were wrong. Fortunately, the buyer was pretty reasonable and only wanted a few of the most egregious problems fixed -- nothing that was even all that expensive or difficult.

This was the inspector I used to buy my current home. He came highly recommended, and he did exactly what you just said.

His report was so thorough it was like a book. The last page of his report consisted of three categories which were line items back into the report of things that had to be repaired/replaced to gain a COO, things that were still good but would need to be replaced at some point in the future (end of life stuff) and things that were not violations of any sort, but that should be done to keep the home in good repair.

He was at the house for about 3-4 hours. He was great.

We used the report to get the sellers to fix a few things, like some missing ground wires in a few receptacles in the house, and some blocking in the basement that had been removed and not replaced when the sellers had the kitchen modified and added sistered joists.

But we let a lot of things pass that I bet most other people would want fixed or they would walk. These were small easy things that I have fixed myself over the last 6 years.

And in New Jersey, the buyer has the right to walk away from the contract if the inspection finds things that will prevent a COO from being issued, and the seller refuses to fix them. I think the wording is contingent on inspection or something like that.

Overall, I would recommend using an inspector. If you don't, and you do the inspection yourself, you may not have any recourse to tell the seller to fix things you found, because they may come back and say that you are not a licensed inspector, and what you found is not a problem.

Jim

 

[Reit38]

What does COO stand for?

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[Falcon67]

We had our old house inspected before we sold it, and we paid for it. We used a guy that was a former contractor and who was up on all the current issues and kept up his license training. Good guy. We had him look over one house we were considering for purchase and he did very well, so I paid him to attack our house. I fixed everything he pointed out, so when the buyers came in they had two reports - original and all corrective actions. Nobody does that and it helped sell the house quickly.

As a follow up, when we bought our repo house I did the "inspection". It was sold as-is, where-is so it would not matter if the chimney was laying in the back yard or what. You want it, here it is, we're not fixing squat.

What does COO stand for?

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Certificate of Occupancy. Required for all new commercial construction here. Meaning, you don't/can't move in until the COO is signed off by the AHJ. Can cause quite a cuss fight between owners/builders and the inspection department.

 

[alex3610]

I would highly recommend getting an inspection done. In VA as it was explained to me, you could use virtually anything that shows up on the inspection to walk away from the deal without penalty. So if for nothing else, it buys you some more time to think over the purchase. As one poster stated, even as a contractor he is making an emotional decision and is thinking about living in the house and already thinks of it as his. You will subconsciously reason with yourself that XYZ isn't that big of a deal. The inspector gets paid regardless of what happens to the house so they are completely objective. Like anything else, some of them are great and some of them are terrible. I'm a little weary of using one that my realtor recommends, as the last thing the agent wants is the worlds most **** inspector to show up and write a book of problems threatening the closure of the deal. Ask around and find a good one, I think it is well worth the cost if done correctly.

 

[CJ7VFR]

What does COO stand for?

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Certificate Of Occupancy.

You need one to be able to move into the house you want to buy.

Edit: Sorry, Falcon already answered you! I am slow to the draw...

Jim

 

[reader2580]

My aunt lost a sale of her house due to the inspection. The inspection found serious mold issues in the attic and other issues with the house that were over $10,000 to repair. She refused to fix anything except the mold issues in the attic. I'm sure she gave up a lot of money when she did eventually sell the house due to all the issues,

 

[R6 Racer]

IMO it's a **** shoot at best.
Like anything there are good & bad (inspectors that is). What will you get?

If your buyer has gotten a referral from their real estate agent you as a seller have nothing to worry about. Unless there is something really obvious that the inspector cant ignore, that inspector will not point out anything that might jeprodise(sp?) the sale. Pointing out stuff is a good way for them to never get another referral from that agent ever again.

I dont know but I dont think that the inspection carries no legal weight at all. As in no matter what goes wrong in the future, the inspector/company is not responsible for anything they missed no matter the reason, no matter the severity.

Other than pleasing paper pushers, inspections have no legal weight, no guarantees, & as far as I know no standards they are required to follow. Meaning, that the public using those services are just taking some random persons say so that the home is ok & or safe.

IMO.
Don't waste your money on a "pro"(that you do not personally know). Get someone you know or know of (that has the knowledge) & can trust to be honest with you do do an inspection. Inspector or not.

My apologies to the inspectors out there that are honest, hard working conscientious people that put effort & pride into your work. Unfortunately your industry has no enforceable standards (that I know of) & definitely offers no guarantees, warranties or even a statement that indicates an inspection company or an inspector themselves will stand behind their work in any way shape or form.

Best of luck to you!!

Steve

 

[03fan]

Do not use an inspector that your realtor recommends. Find one on your own to make sure they are looking out for your best interests and not the realtor's pocket book.

 

[James-W]

Maybe you could get Mike Holmes to do an inspection.

 

[bwringer]

Do not use an inspector that your realtor recommends. Find one on your own to make sure they are looking out for your best interests and not the realtor's pocket book.

Agreed. The ones on the realtor's list are there to sign a piece of paper and move the transaction along; they're not there to look out for you.

If you're buying, ask around ahead of time and find the picky ******* everyone cusses about. Ask questions -- a good inspection will take 2-4 hours. Make sure they will physically go onto the roof, into crawl spaces, and up into attics. Don't get in a time crunch. Be there during the inspection if at all possible.

For those on both sides of the transaction, relax a little. Don't panic -- every house, even a brand-new house from a reputable builder, has a long list of defects. Houses are large, complex devices hand built out of crappy materials with imprecise tools to contradictory code requirements by dozens of workers in a hurry, many of whom probably don't even speak the local language. And as soon as the first shovel of dirt is moved, Mother Nature is trying to tear the house down.

There's simply no such thing as a perfect house, so look at the big picture and focus on the important things.

 

[Social_Joe]

You're spending the kind of money it takes to buy a home, don't let the inspector be the be all / end all, but $250-$600 for a third party's objective review of the property is worth the investment on the chance they catch only one issue you missed. This is coming from a guy who is an architect and works with engineers daily.

What a good inspector really brings to the table is a working knowledge of local and National building codes.

 

[woodzy]

Well, it all depends on what your take on things are. If you are some what knowledgeable in everything, and don't mind taking risks, then I say skip the inspection but have in your contract that your offer is pending a full review of the house. Most contracts have this pending an inspection from a third party so if something is found out, you can get out of the deal.

Lets say this house is $300K and the inspection costs $600. Not sure how often you spend $300K but I think it is good financial decision to have someone else check this in the event you missed something for that small costs.

Now, if you are not very handy (probably would not be on this forum), then I would recommend everyone pay for a inspection.

I think I'm extremely handy, and on my last house I have a full report with issues and after closing (none of them were worth not closing) I just worked through the list to make it better.

 

[Rod N]

I did the inspection of my house myself during a visit.
This gave us the opportunity to make an offer without conditions.
People like that and take your offer very seriously.