Home Inspection Insight!
I represent a lot of buyers and I believe it's important that the home inspector work in the best interests of his customer - the buyer - and point out all of the shortcomings of the home as well as the positives.
It is important for the inspector share information on the maintenance items found as well as the material defects. There is a difference between the two. A material defect affects habitability of living in the home, like a leaking roof or faulty wiring, etc, while home maintenance items are common issues that happen all of the time and have to be taken care of periodically.
Obviously, sometimes there are gray areas and that'll be up to the buyers and sellers to decide what's to be done, but in most cases, it should be clear-cut as to if it's a maintenance item or material defect.
The inspector should give full disclosure as to the best of their ability at the time of the inspection (with the buyer present), so that the buyer can determine what, if any, issues should be addressed and corrected by the sellers.
The one thing I do think inspectors get a bad rap on is when they get a call from a buyer 3 or 6 months after the buyers move into the home and the buyer tells them that the basement is leaking or some plumbing broke, etc. It's impossible for an inspector to look into the future and know what and when something is going to break. They are only at the property for 2 - 3 hours of its lifetime. They can look for possible signs of potential problems, but don't expect them to have x-ray vision or know exactly when something is going to break or cause a problem. Things do go wrong in homes and sometimes it's days after moving in or can be months or years later. Just understand that when owning a home, items do break or need to be repaired or replaced from time to time.
The role of the home inspector should not be to 'scare' a buyer. If an inspector finds many defective items, that's good. That's the purpose of the buyer paying several hundred dollars - to see if the home is in good condition or if the seller was hiding or didn't know about various defects. The property is what it is and if it's not meant to be the home for the buyer, then it's time to move on to another home.
An agent should also not downplay a bunch of defective items just to have the buyer go ahead and close on the purchase. If the items are serious enough and the seller won't correct them (it's the seller's home and their issues), then the buyer should be able to void the agreement and move on. (The buyer should be aware that they need to understand how a purchase agreement is written to see what their options are for getting out of the agreement. They may need to seek legal advice.)
It is important for the inspector share information on the maintenance items found as well as the material defects. There is a difference between the two. A material defect affects habitability of living in the home, like a leaking roof or faulty wiring, etc, while home maintenance items are common issues that happen all of the time and have to be taken care of periodically.
Obviously, sometimes there are gray areas and that'll be up to the buyers and sellers to decide what's to be done, but in most cases, it should be clear-cut as to if it's a maintenance item or material defect.
The inspector should give full disclosure as to the best of their ability at the time of the inspection (with the buyer present), so that the buyer can determine what, if any, issues should be addressed and corrected by the sellers.
The one thing I do think inspectors get a bad rap on is when they get a call from a buyer 3 or 6 months after the buyers move into the home and the buyer tells them that the basement is leaking or some plumbing broke, etc. It's impossible for an inspector to look into the future and know what and when something is going to break. They are only at the property for 2 - 3 hours of its lifetime. They can look for possible signs of potential problems, but don't expect them to have x-ray vision or know exactly when something is going to break or cause a problem. Things do go wrong in homes and sometimes it's days after moving in or can be months or years later. Just understand that when owning a home, items do break or need to be repaired or replaced from time to time.
The role of the home inspector should not be to 'scare' a buyer. If an inspector finds many defective items, that's good. That's the purpose of the buyer paying several hundred dollars - to see if the home is in good condition or if the seller was hiding or didn't know about various defects. The property is what it is and if it's not meant to be the home for the buyer, then it's time to move on to another home.
An agent should also not downplay a bunch of defective items just to have the buyer go ahead and close on the purchase. If the items are serious enough and the seller won't correct them (it's the seller's home and their issues), then the buyer should be able to void the agreement and move on. (The buyer should be aware that they need to understand how a purchase agreement is written to see what their options are for getting out of the agreement. They may need to seek legal advice.)
I hope this sheds a little more light on home inspections.
posted by Dan Weis at
7:51 PM
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