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Are home inspections required? I've had a couple done so far (because I was told it "needs" to be done) and for what I see them do seems to be waste of money. The houses I'm looking at are not bombs and the market is so tight that using the reports as a negotiation leverage seems to result in little or no money off the price of the house.
Only termite inspections are required and that is only if you are obtaining a mortgage.
Your attorney may require you to sign a paper acknowledging he advised you to get an inspection but you declined.
Inspections are not for negotiations, although they are often used as a tool to renegotiate. Inspections are to inform you what you are buying, its condition and to find any latent defects.
On the flip side, think of it as inexpensive insurance against buying hidden defect that will cost you after purchase. It really is very little money when compared with all the costs of purchasing a home as well as the price of the home itself.
There is typically enough minor issues in every home that would warrant to lower the price of the house by at least the cost of the inspection.
Unless you personally know how to inspect a home, why would you not want an inspection of the biggest purchase in your life?
My house inspector saved me from buying a potential disaster house that looked great on the surface (leaking main wasteline, termites, etc). And crawling around the the basement, attic with the inspector taught me alot about houses (previously lived in a condo in the city, so I knew nothing about houses). Since moving to my house in 2015, I've become a total DIY junky since the inspector imparted so much house knowledge on me. This weekend I power augured some roots out of my main wasteline just for the hell of it. I'm a gastroenterologist, so roto rootering the main waste line was like doing a colonoscopy.
If you are going to hire anyone, hire a PE (a professional engineer).
Better yet, become self reliant; there are things of the past called "books" which you then "read" to gain "knowledge."
When you own the house there are things called "hand tools" and there are other things called "power tools." Use all the tools!
Develop sKilZ
When I sold my house, I had two buyers that did home inspection, First buyers backed off based on results of inspection. Ex Inspector said garage was about to fall down. Two months previously I had four roofers on garage roof, roof was solid. as was walls and frame. Inspection showed what was wrong with the house as I explained to buyers when I showed them the house. They then tried to use the inspection report to bring down price including the things that I told them was wrong. I held on Price and they walked away. Second buyers inspector was more through and pointed out defects that I told them about and caught one where the electrical mast was to close to a window and some old asbestos that wrapped the steam pipes. We negotiated down on those findings. Inspectors are a requirement for buying a house in my opinion, but you also have to look at what they are finding and have some knowledge about it.
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If your willing to invest what could be hundreds of thousands of dollars into a property and not have it inspected then that is your choice. Personally I have found the professional inspections we had on homes well worth the investment.
I've had four done so far. I'm fairly handy and I find the service they provide to be overrated. I can definitely understand using them if your buying an investment property that needs major work and are using the report to negotiate money off. In this market, 2 of the 4 inspections, the homeowner didn't care of the deficiencies found in the report. The others ones, they gave a couple of thousand off but when amortorized over 30 years, its like $5/month. The inspector can't move anything (e.g. finished basement). Not to mention, the inspector gives no guarantee/warrantees! Buy the house, falls down the next day; NO recourse.
Summary of what they do
-Take lots of pictures
-Look at roof (e.g. # of layers, age/quality of shingles)
-Turn on/off everything (spinklers, faucets, flush toilets), check for leaks, gurgling, drain issues.
-Poke around basement to check for soft wood
-Look for evidence of termites (mud tunnels, woodpecker holes, etc)
-Look for mold (not always black, use bright flashlight, be more skeptic of finished basement, more air tight a house is, more likely there could be mold, musty smell indicates mold)
-turn burner on, check pressure on burner (if baseboard)
-Inspect windows
-Inspect electric (100,200Amp, copper vs aluminum, outlets grounded)
-Note CO detectors, smoke detectors.
-condition of driveway.
-Inspect chimney, Check in attic, check no water is getting behind chimney (e.g. flashing, pointing, etc)
-Check attic (water stains, critters (tunnels in insulation, critter ****, etc))
-etc
Here is more unsolicited advice. Since you are trying to skup this step I would assume you will also go with a Jack of all trades attorney. Please if you learn nothing here at all, get a Real Estate attorney especially in your case. If you needed knee surgery you would not go to an eye surgeon, don't go to a generalist especially in case there are unforeseen problems.
Are home inspections required? I've had a couple done so far (because I was told it "needs" to be done) and for what I see them do seems to be waste of money. The houses I'm looking at are not bombs and the market is so tight that using the reports as a negotiation leverage seems to result in little or no money off the price of the house.
I've had an inspector for every home I've purchased or almost purchased. Used it as leverage and made repairs myself or had the seller fix things I couldn't handle. $500 for a 400k (+?) investment? No brainer.
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