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Inspectors are hired by buyers to 'find problems or potential problems' before the buyer moves ahead with the purchase. Contractually, it is also about the last opportunity a potential buyer has to 'bail out'/change their mind' ... or to 'further negotiate the price with the seller.' An Inspector is going to find something wrong in even a 'perfect house' (that's his job!). On the other hand, sellers often over-estimate the condition of their house -- and under-estimate the cost of repairs, which is where the negotiation comes-in.
Yes, like this particular one "pulled the drawer out, didn't know how to slide back in, it broke". Then stepped out of his area of expertise "I used to see graffiti, it's not safe neighborhood"...especially when both parents accompanied the buyer. The parent were probably thinking "Hmmmm graffiti...it must have gang activities."
I think that the inspector clearly overstepped his parameters with the subjective statements. He is there to document actual repair issues, not judge the safety of a neighborhood.
Definitely paint your kitchen ceiling!
Yes, that is what I thought an inspector supposed to do, document actual repairs. Not the things that he broke and then documenting it. About the judgment of the neighborhood's safety, that one scratches my head and made my listing agent's blood boiled.
Hmm...how do you know it's the kitchen ceiling? I never said that. Well...of course it's the kitchen ceiling.
I painted the ceiling over the weekend. I actually painted all room ceilings. Painting just the kitchen's ceiling might provoke home buyers or inspector "hmmm it must be something wrong for this room's ceiling to be painted!?!?"
Truth be told, home inspectors are hired to find anything that may be wrong or could go wrong with the home but not as much what is right. The buyer hires the inspector and the seller has no say about who they hire (at least in my market). My advice is that I would suggest that you are there for the inspection as well as the buyer. You have every right to dispute anything reported by the inspector.
Nop. I'm pro like you, carpenter contractor. That guy have something against OP. Shelves fixing is a 1 hour job maximum, with new hardware.
Or the buyer had an agenda and hired an inspector who would help achieve that. I had a similar experience with a Home Inspector because the buyer wanted to negotiate an agreed upon price even lower. The first inspection went well and the Home Inspector found no glaring deficiencies. Unsatisfied with that the buyer wanted another inspection. It's his money so I told them to go ahead. This inspector worked off a boilerplate checklist and came up with a ridiculous list of repairs (non-matching faceplates on electric outlets, etc). So armed with this report this buyer had the nerve to come back with a $20K price reduction without an itemized list of requested repairs. I told him to get lost. Another buyer, another passed inspection and we are in contract.
My opinion is that if the buyer is going to do stuff like this then let them go...they only have the potential to irritate you all through the closing and possibly after as well...best to apply the 80/20 principle here.
In areas I know of a buyer can back out for any reason during the inspection period without an explanation.
Buyers are notoriously concerned about wet spots. Do paint yours. Start with Kilz and then paint. And take precautions if your ceiling is popcorn and not flat.
It can happen that an inspector who is not efficient is little by little not used by realtors. Your realtor may have a buyer one day and recall how this inspector damaged your kichen and could not be blamed for leaving him of the list of inspectors, alphabetically arranged.
I was not aware home inspectors commented on the neighborhood. I guess they could. I've only experienced those who were engineers, class a contractors or such and worked regarding the house, the yard (sinkholes, etc) but not the neighborhood.
This is just me but I'd send the inspector's company a bill and picture for the damage to your drawer if there is any...maybe a copy to the buyer's agent. People like this annoy me. I've solved so many issues doing a little house detective work when the inspector said it needed a new roof and it was just clogged gutters of a sill not sloped properly or a brick protruding too much or missing so that water went where it wasn't supposed to go.
Nop. I'm pro like you, carpenter contractor. That guy have something against OP. Shelves fixing is a 1 hour job maximum, with new hardware.
The thing is though, the drawer wasn't broken. I think the home inspector pulled out the drawer from cabinet and he didn't know how to put it back into the railing. He was basically forcefully pushed the drawer back in and called it "broken."
Or the buyer had an agenda and hired an inspector who would help achieve that. I had a similar experience with a Home Inspector because the buyer wanted to negotiate an agreed upon price even lower. The first inspection went well and the Home Inspector found no glaring deficiencies. Unsatisfied with that the buyer wanted another inspection. It's his money so I told them to go ahead. This inspector worked off a boilerplate checklist and came up with a ridiculous list of repairs (non-matching faceplates on electric outlets, etc). So armed with this report this buyer had the nerve to come back with a $20K price reduction without an itemized list of requested repairs. I told him to get lost. Another buyer, another passed inspection and we are in contract.
I think this buyer had an agenda. Here's the story. The buyer submitted an offer on 06/28/13 and I accepted on 06/29/13. The buyer scheduled for home inspection on 07/09/13. Between this timeframe, another condo unit in the same building showed up on the market on 07/02/13 and stated "Showing will start on 07/08/13."
I was like "Holy****" this is bad timing. Something is up. So, the inspection was done. I received the bad news from my agent around 10 AM on 07/10/13 (less than 24-hrs after inspection) that the buyer decided to pull the offer based on these 3 reasons: 1. cabinet drawer broken, cost expensive to repair. 2. Water stain on the on kitchen ceiling, cost expensive to repair. 2. home inspector told him it's not a safe neighborhood, the buyer went online and found two police reports in the neighborhood.
At around 4 PM on 07/10/13, the other condo unit was taken off the market. I was like it can't be that fast. So, I thought this buyer had an agenda to bring this home inspector to come up with "bull****" to back out so he could go for that other unit. I'll confirm that eventually when he moved in...I know his name. If it wasn't him, maybe it's just my imagination.
**Granted, that unit is 100 sq.ft. larger than mine but it has $125/yr higher property tax and $50/month higher condo fee. However, my unit offers brand new heating and ac system, new water heater, new flooring while the other unit has everything original since the building was built around 1987.
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