Home Inspection[s] pros & cons

I may be buying a home in the near future; it would be less than 10 years old.

Is it a reasonable thing to do, on a somewhat newer home, or should I save the hundreds of dollars?

On it's surface, it seems a prudent thing to do, being that you "might" stumble upon a problem, but I wondered if there were any arguments against...

marc

Reply to
21blackswan
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One factor is how experienced you are yourself. If you know a lot about houses, construction, typical problems, etc, then you're in a better position to be able to figure out what may be wrong by yourself. Even new homes can have problems either of their own creation, eg foundation problems, or of the owner's making, eg DIY basement finishing done wrong....

But the way I look at it, in many cases the home inspection winds up being free. The inspector is likely to find enough things wrong that the seller will discount the price a few hundred bucks. And it's more likely the seller will accept the opinion of the inspector vs just the buyer.

The problem of course is finding an inspector that's competent. There are a lot of bad ones out there.

Reply to
trader4

That is the way I see it too. Try to find a competent inspector.

I bought a house about 9 years ago. I also had a house inspector to look at it. I was there and followed him around to see what he looked at and he mentioned some things while we were walking around. Also got a report after the inspection.

He did a few things I would not have thought of. He put a gallon jug and cought a minuit of water from the bath tub. Then he let it run for a while as we walked around. Still had flow after a while so he said the well should be good enough at a flow of so many gallons per hour.

He found a few minor things, but nothing big enough to bring down the price of the house. He did run the dish washer and it sounded like it was on its way out. That was ok with me as the wife wanted a new stove and frig so we got a new dish washer to match.

When making a major investment, a few hundred may just be good insurance unless you are very familiar with homes and their construction.

Reply to
Ralph Mowery

I've bought two houses in my lifetime and back then, home inspection was not a career that existed. Younger people had dad or a trusted uncle look at the house. Today, inspection is very common and may even be required by the mortgage holder.

If you can find a good inspector, it may be worth the money to find out about the mechanical systems. At 18 years, potential problems may just be showing up as is normal. Three tab shingles that many builders use are good for about 20 years. The inspector can maybe give you a good assessment of the condition so you can plan for it when a roof will be needed. Have the built in appliances been changed out? Good quality appliances last a long time, but builder's special may have been replaced after 10 to 15 years.

Wear on these things is normal but an inspector may find lurking problems that you may not even know to look for.

Reply to
Ed Pawlowski

Most home inspectors are idiots and hiring them would be a waste of money.

I'd rather have real inspections performed by a licensed electrician, plumber, roofer, HVAC pro, general contractor, termite company etc.

Reply to
Ed

*IF* new construction and the seller is selling distressed, forget it, look yourself. *IF* 'normal' pricing, do it! then use as leverage to chew the price down.
Reply to
RobertMacy

It's a very prudent thing to do. Just because the house is newer, doesn't mean there aren't issues (either as built or since) that need to be identified.

Three comments - First is do not use an inspector hired by or recommended by the seller or either real estate agent. You want the inspector to be working for your interests, not the seller or their agents. (BTW: You do understand that when you purchase a house, "your" agent is still working for the seller, right? Google 'agent fiduciary responsibility' if you are confused about that.)

Second is to use a qualified inspector. Your brother-in-law's best mate who use to frame or some person who builds houses is not a qualified inspector.

Third, many inspectors will give you a canned report with a million things noted, just to prove they did something. There will be lots of cosmetic issues listed that don't impact the value of the house or can be easily addressed after you've moved in. Buyers who use an inspection report as a punch list for the seller frequently lose the house.

Your task is to understand what things are critical - look for structural flaws and major systems that need repair. Also look for major systems not tested - ie. a/c in the winter, heating in the summer.

Reply to
Arthur Conan Doyle

You might multiply your chances of hiring an idiot :o) Best to be up on basic construction knowledge yourself (which, hopefully, remains as long as you OWN a home). Our inspector found a number of minor electrical issues (easy fixes) and checked things that would never have occured to me. Our home is modular, which neither of us knew until the inspections ;o)

Reply to
Norminn

The age of the house doesn't matter (much). I's very hard to be unbiased when looking at a house that you're emotionally attached to (you probably wouldn't consider buying it if you weren't). An inspector is an uninterested observer. It's worth the couple of hundred bucks for that.

You're only talking a few hundred bucks on a few hundred thousand dollar investment. It's cheap money. The inspector will always find something to justify his fee but you can decide for yourself if it's important. Unless it's a foreclosure, the seller will usually pay for any repairs.

It can be difficult choosing an inspector but depending on your relationship with your real estate agent, this can be a good source of information.

It's only a tenth of a percent of the purchase price, so don't screw around. Would you skip a lawyer to save a couple of bucks?

Reply to
krw

if your a buyer getting a home inspection makes tons of sense. its almost always the most expensive purchase of your entire life, costs probably under 500 bucks and results can be used to negoiate the home purchase price lower.

Reply to
bob haller

I would say it ain't all roses...

A home inspector that is not knowledgeable of electrical codes, nor difference in exterior vs interior grade wiring... A home inspector that does not understand the necessity of Gutters.... A Home inspector that does not know his ass from a hole in the ground... choose wisely...

Reply to
Digger

its best to get a acredited and insured home inspector in cae they miss something, but the low cost of 500 bucks makes it a no brainer.......

Reply to
bob haller

No, that's not true. As a landlord I can buy both GE and Frigidaire builder brand appliances any day of the week. I have the GE and Frigidaire builder appliance sales rep's names and phone numbers in my Windows Cardfile, and I buy 12 cu. ft. builder brand fridges from GE and

24 inch wide ranges from Frigidaire every time I need a new appliance. I find the only difference between the appliances that GE markets under it's own name or under it's Concept II builder's brand name is the finish and the warranty. GE namebrand appliances will have black fridge door handles instead of white ones that don't show the dirt as much. GE namebrand appliances will have a plastic cover over the top freezer door hinge whereas their Concept II models won't have anything. GE namebrand appliances will have a longer warranty on the freon system than Concept II fridges, but they both just have a 1 year warranty on everything else. But, both lines of fridges are put together by the very same people at the very same factory with the very same parts. Really, the only difference is that the builder brand models are meant to be straight forward with only the most popular features, whereas GE markets a dozen or more models of stoves to the general public so that you can get a lot more features by buying a more expensive stove. But, there's much less difference in the name brand and builder brand fridges. The builder brands cost about $150 less for a 12 cubic foot fridge; $475 versus $625 only because GE knows that I buy a fridge or two every year or two. Stoves much less often.

What I would do as a house buyer is visit your city's property tax office. You should find computers there whereby you can type in an address and see a copy of the property tax bill for that address for the past 20 years or so. They do that so that people that are unhappy about their property tax assessments can find out what comparable houses in their neighborhood were assessed at. If you can show that similar or comparable houses in your area have lower property tax bills, they'll lower your property tax bill to the same level.

Look at the bottom of the tax bill. Those things are generated by computers, and they always put the owner's name and mailing address near the bottom so that it will show through the envelope's transparent window so that the City doesn't have to spend money addressing those bills.

I would look at the ownership history of the house, and find out who owned it prior to the previous owner. Then, look in the phone book for his/her name, or people with the same last name that could be relatives, and make contact with him/her. Find out what the previous owner has to say about the house and why he sold it. He no longer owns it, so he has no vested interest in influencing your decision to buy, so you should get reliable information.

Certainly, things deteriorate with time, but if there were any problems with the way the house was built, whether it encroaches on anyone else's land, any problems with water leakage into the basement or sewer back ups, etc. the previous owner should be aware of them.

I'd also take pictures of the house interior and exterior and show them to the previous owner. Any renovations done since the previous owner sold the house could very well have been done by the current owner, and there's a good chance that's where you're going to find problems, especially code violations. The current owner is going to want you to pay top dollar for his renovations, but you might just be paying extra for his learning experience. I renovated an apartment block, and I found that every time I did a particular kind of renovation in a suite, I did it better than the last time. I ended up doing some of the original ceramic tiling I did in bathrooms over again just because the way I was doing them to begin with couldn't compare to the way I ended up doing them, and I was doing it for my own benefit so I didn't mind re-doing them. So, don't pay extra for someone else's learning experience.

Reply to
nestork

Thanks for proving my point. GE and Frigidaire appliances are mediocre quality and may have needed replacement already. I'm very familiar with the fact that different band names are identical as I used to be a supplier to Frigidaire and have been in a couple of their plants. We did make one part with a minor difference for when they ran Sears brand.

They gave us millions of dollars in business, but I'd not buy their appliances for my house. Maybe for a rental though. In the past month I bought a KitchenAid dishwasher and Maytag washer.

Reply to
Ed Pawlowski

You would think in the vast majority of cases, if you're about to buy a house, you already know who the current owner is.

I'm not so sure about that. If a person sold a piece of crap house with problems, to someone and didn't tell them about what they really knew and some stranger calls up years later and starts asking. "Were there any problems with the house?", I would doubt you're going to get reliable information. There is also the problem of figuring out where the previous owner now lives years later.

Reply to
trader4

I suggest you google it. Who the agent is working for depends who hires them and on what basis. If you hire an agent to work for you as a buyer's agent, then their fiduciary responsiblity is to you, the buyer.

Someone who used to frame, I agree is probably not qualified, if that's his sole basis of experience. But someone who is a general contractor and has 20 years of experience is probably more qualified than 95% of the home inspectors out there. If I had a choice of someone who's been building houses for 20

Reply to
trader4

Don?t get a home inspector but instead call several contractors like plum bing, hvac, electrical etc. and ask them to give you a free verbal estimate on anything they might find. They are sure to find something just to make money

Reply to
recyclebinned

Your chances of collecting anything against a home inspector if they miss something is slim. The typical home inspector contract has standard clauses with all kind of disclaimers to protect them. And even worse, typically even if they miss something, it limits your damages to the lesser of the cost of repairs of the cost of the inspection.

Reply to
trader4

The worst dishwasher I ever had was a Maytag, worse Frig was a Maytag also. Never had a problem with Frididare stuff nor Whirlpool. DId have a GE Dishwasher that was terrible though. And the "builder quality" Whirlpool SC Oven in my house is going is almost 30 years old and still works and looks like new. All my Kenmore stuff has been good, AFAIK it's usually made by Whirlpool.

Reply to
Ashton Crusher

Can't speak for all states but the trend for the past 15 or so years has been away from the "we all really work for the seller" agency model to a seller's agent and buyer's agent model. That said, BOTH agents MAIN interest is to SELL a house with the least time investment and earn a commission and to do so in a fashion that won't get them sued. For the most part agents have been schooled to answer almost all questions with "You should hire someone qualified in the field to answer your question on that" once you go beyond the stuff written on the standard Contract to Purchase Form. If you ask "Is this a good neighborhood" they've been told they can't really answer that for fear of violating some law on racial discrimination. If you ask "Are the schools good" they will tell you there is a web site that rates schools and you might want to look at that. If you ask to see houses that which have a lot of professionals or what's teh crime like in this area they will probably refer you to a census web site, again for fear of being sued for "steering" you to or away from some area and violating some discrimination law. If you ask "Are there a lot of homes here with Children" they will tell you they don't really know but perhaps you might come back and drive around to see for yourself. There have been so many lawsuits over all the anti-discrimination laws, undisclosed defects, and on and on, most agents won't really tell you much of anything anymore other then giving you the public copy of the Listing Report. Most agent will say "Isn't this a beautiful home?"

Reply to
Ashton Crusher

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