We are selling a house to a buyer using an FHA mortgage. There is a rule, because of lead paint, that any house built before 1978 cannot have any "peeling, checking or flaking paint". The property has no lead paint....all buildings have been repainted since the late 80's. An inspector came out, rejected it for that reason. My son and I scraped, power washed, scraped again, and painted. They guy has come back two more times and still rejected it. All he does is walk around, take pictures and make a recommendation. He doesn't touch the paint, scrape it or anything. All of the paint is tight. The worst is, the buyers don't want us to do the painting...they want to repaint it a different color. Any ideas....we are at the ends of our wits.
You dont know if lead was in the first coats. If he rejected it it must be peeling so Id say you didnt scrape well enough, have a pro painter look at it and show you how to do it right.
Since you already agreed to sell it FHA to a buyer, I hate to tell ya, you're at their mercy.
I had a property sold FHA, because I thought it would be best being a lower value house. It was in the area of a military base. Huge mistake on my part. When I first signed the contract, I attempted to have a dollar amount affixed of $4,500 for repairs. FHA won't play games, you do what they say.
The guy told us nothing. He just took pictures and put them in a report. He didn't even show us where the problem areas were located. It is typical wood siding where the sun hits it all the time. In fact, on his last inspection after doing everything we could see, he specified he wanted nobody at the premises when he was there. At $75 a pop, he must need some money on his boat payment of something.
The recommendation I refered to was his recommendation to delay the mortgage at the buyers bank. He hasn't recommended anything concerning the house. In fact, in his last inspection, he admitted to the bank that he wasn't an expert on house paint.
I'd assume "the guy" has a supervisor and start appealing up the line. Years ago, I had a problem with a county building inspector and this is what I did and got it resolved.
You're never "at the mercy" of a buyer unless you are desperate. Every buyer has a laundry list of things they want. Usually you agree to fix some and the lets the others slide. House is sold everyone is happy. I would have my lawyer contact the buyers with an official letter demanding they secure a ortgage and set a closing date or the deal is over. Add the fact that there was no specific repair list and "inspector"s admissission of lack of expertise. The buyer will get another mortgage if they really want the house. or they will put pressure on the lender to get to the bottom of it.
You're absolutely wrong when talking about FHA. The homeowner signs a contract, to sell FHA/VA. Obviously you've never been there. A lawyer can't modify a contract already entered into, good luck with that one. Been there, done that.
The more I read your response, the more you show you have no clue. On FHA there can not be a specific list for repairs. Been there, done that. Do you not realize the Homeowner already entered into the contract?
Put pressure on the lender? Do you even know what a FHA/VA loan is? Again, good luck with that one.
There are a lot of builders who simply will not sign a FHA/VA contract. I still think the seller can get out of the contract by refunding the deposit. The just have to say they are not capable of making the house FHA compliant.
You really don't have a clue. When you enter into a contract to sell FHA/VA, your laywer can't make exceptions. You either sell FHA/VA, or you don't, it's that simple.
I suggest you don't reply to threads, to which you have no knowledge. The more you reply, the bigger idiot you become.
Fundamentally all the FHA is is an insurer policy to the lender--there are certain requirements from FHA but the inspection is actually _not_ specifically theirs. From the FHA.gov site in advice to the potential buyer--
"The FHA does not guarantee the value or condition of your future home, and the FHA does not perform home inspections. If you find problems with your new home after closing, FHA cannot give or lend you money for repairs, nor can it buy the home back from you. FHA cannot help you in discussions you may have with the builder or seller.
When you make a written offer on a home, you should insist that the contract states that the offer is contingent (dependent) on a satisfactory (to the buyer) home inspection conducted by a qualified inspector. If you are satisfied with the results of the inspection, then you can proceed with your offer or make a counter offer if the results are not satisfactory."
So, as far as the FHA is concerned, its up to the buyer to accept/reject the results of the inspection and it is normally the buyer's nickel to pay for same. It sounds as if in this instance the lender the potential buyer is using is taking over the prerogatives of the buyer buy refusing to approve the deal even if the potential buyer is satisfied.
Probably not too much the seller can do there unless the buyer is willing to push as he doesn't have a lot of clout; the lender probably isn't really concerned about the deal closing. If this is a represented sale, one would think the realty agent should be earning their keep in expediting this; if it's a private sale then the lawyer route may be best alternative--of course, in that case it's probably unwise to not proceed w/o at least a token, cursory representation even as seller. Of course, there's also the potential conflict of interest issue w/ realty agents depending on which State has jurisdiction; some have much more stringent guidelines than others for disclosure of their potential/real conflicts of interest.
And, of course, the other sticky wicket has to do w/ the particular state requirements for inspection/condition; some of them are quite onerous in my view but certainly shouldn't be this difficult to meet for a house in reasonable condition. Finding out just what are the actual requirements is another piece of information the seller needs to find out and see what, if anything, is actually not fulfilled that is a requirement other than just taking the inspector's word for it.
I'd also suggest a call to the FHA for straight skinny from them
1-800-CALL-FHA (225-5342).
There certainly is also a cottage industry of inspectors many of whom are nothing more than barely over scams; sounds like there may be a problem there. There are State oversight and registrations for these folks; should check up on this person/company and also there may be an illegal sweetheart deal w/ the appraiser/inspector/lender.
All in all, it really sounds as though the OP simply hasn't done much actual research on the actual requirements to be met nor used many (any?) of the resources available to him to find out what has to be done, who says so, and how--seemingly simply relying on the buyers agents to do so who aren't actually in his employ and therefore serving his interest. Altho it begs the question of why, if he is paying for these inspections, the information seems to be being taken solely for the benefit of the purchaser--altho this is the normal role, it isn't a COI because the buyer normally is the purchaser of the service and so the inspector is in his employ. If that isn't the case here, that is definitely a COI and is probably at least against a State code of ethics if not actually a violation of statute.
All as a long-winded way of say the OP needs to get somebody on his nickel and if the inspector is, slap him up the side 'o the head w/ the fact he's getting paid by one side and seemingly working for the other in the deal.
Actually, Big Jim reminds me of myself, back when I didn't have a clue about FHA. People tried to give me advice _not_ to sell FHA. I was one of these, yeah I'll get my lawyer. Well, lawyer's don't give advice for free, if you have one on a retainer, it's still not free. Bottom line, you're not gonna break a contract, without paying through the nose.
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