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I have hired an inspector, very nice. He is going to do pre-drywall inspection on this home for free no obligation. In hopes I use him for final (around $400). Basically he is hoping we are impressed with his pre-drywall enough to hire him. To me it's a good deal. Also going to consult with me on my current home to make sure I am not missing anything important before putting it on the market.
This sounds like either a new Inspector or a part time Inspector (doing it as a hobby or has another job somewhere). We have a lot of the latter running around here. Make sure that you protect yourself. Just because the Inspector is giving you free services does not mean they can not be held accountable if they do a less than proper job. The Texas Real Estate Commission (TREC) has declared they do regulate any inspection/consultation relating to the purchase, sale (seller side), or anticipated sale (seller side) of a property. Of course they do not control licensed Professional Engineers and as such these rules do not necessarily apply to them. This also does not apply to a single system inspection by persons such as licensed electricians, plumbers, etc.
To protect yourself make sure that you do, and receive, the following if an Inspector is offering you a "Free" inspection service.
Ensure you are signing an inspection agreement that outlines the service provided. Do not sign an agreement for any "Free" service that attempts to limit the Inspectors liability or remove any avenues of redress in the event they do not perform a proper job. If you are paying nothing for a major service then in theory there is nothing to be expected from it. This can be a major winning point for the Inspector if the issue ever progresses to a complaint or lawsuit.
Always require a full report for the inspection/consultation service received. The report is really the only thing you have to hold an Inspector to what they claim during an Inspection/consultation. TREC does require the licensed Inspector to generate a report for every inspection/consultation they perform.
For the phase inspection (pre-drywall and final) you should make sure that the Inspector will be providing the building code, manufacturer's requirements, and other relevant standards citations for what they find. These will be needed to approach the builder and display why the issue was noted in the report. Also if you have these and the builder balks at repairing or explaining issues you can provide this to the City Building Inspections Department and have them review the issue noted.
There's always a catch to "Free" and you need to make sure that on the largest purchase you would ever make that "Free" doesn't come back to haunt you!
I had the inspector drop by my current home yesterday to give me a free consult on what I should resolve before an "official" inspection. Once you have an official inspection it must be disclosed to any potential buyer.
He was very nice and very helpful. He showed up with another person and they went over the house and showed me what to resolve and what to not bother with. Both of these were helpful. For example I was going to repaint a few rooms, fix a few things that he said I should really leave alone. I had 2 small cracks in the ceiling. One he said I should fix, the other he said was a standard stress crack and patching that, if not done perfect, would look like I was covering up a much worse issue when it was to be expected in this area.
He also let me know whether I appeared to have a foundation issue or not, thankfully it looks good in that aspect. In the end he gave me a checklist of things he would have written as deficient if he was doing an official inspection. Some examples of things to fix (several I was going to anyway)
Cracked Window: I had no idea I had a cracked window, it wasn't very noticeable until he showed me.
Chimney Top: The wood at the very top has rotted and it definitely needs replaced. I had debated on this already.
Raise Dirt: One corner of my house is showing more foundation (about 3 inches) than it really should. Just adding some dirt.
Sprinkler System: It isn't working at all right now, have to get it repaired.
Toilet: One of my toilets was loose at the floor. I knew this but wasn't too worried, he said definitely fix it.
Sliding Door screen: Is ripped, said to replace as any screen/door damage is considered deficient. Wouldn't have fixed this.
Most of the rest was minor cosmetic things I was going to do anyway. Overall, he has my vote so far. He spent about 2 hours and I felt was quite thorough for a freebie.
Home Update
Electrical is about 80% complete. I did not expect to see electrical for a couple weeks. One issue is they were installing Low voltage in the master closet like normal but I had requested it to be placed upstairs in the media room closet. I spoke to the builder and they said they would resolve it no problem.
I had the inspector drop by my current home yesterday to give me a free consult on what I should resolve before an "official" inspection. Once you have an official inspection it must be disclosed to any potential buyer.
He was very nice and very helpful. He showed up with another person and they went over the house and showed me what to resolve and what to not bother with. Both of these were helpful. For example I was going to repaint a few rooms, fix a few things that he said I should really leave alone. I had 2 small cracks in the ceiling. One he said I should fix, the other he said was a standard stress crack and patching that, if not done perfect, would look like I was covering up a much worse issue when it was to be expected in this area.
He also let me know whether I appeared to have a foundation issue or not, thankfully it looks good in that aspect. In the end he gave me a checklist of things he would have written as deficient if he was doing an official inspection. Some examples of things to fix (several I was going to anyway)
Cracked Window: I had no idea I had a cracked window, it wasn't very noticeable until he showed me.
Chimney Top: The wood at the very top has rotted and it definitely needs replaced. I had debated on this already.
Raise Dirt: One corner of my house is showing more foundation (about 3 inches) than it really should. Just adding some dirt.
Sprinkler System: It isn't working at all right now, have to get it repaired.
Toilet: One of my toilets was loose at the floor. I knew this but wasn't too worried, he said definitely fix it.
Sliding Door screen: Is ripped, said to replace as any screen/door damage is considered deficient. Wouldn't have fixed this.
Most of the rest was minor cosmetic things I was going to do anyway. Overall, he has my vote so far. He spent about 2 hours and I felt was quite thorough for a freebie.
Home Update
Electrical is about 80% complete. I did not expect to see electrical for a couple weeks. One issue is they were installing Low voltage in the master closet like normal but I had requested it to be placed upstairs in the media room closet. I spoke to the builder and they said they would resolve it no problem.
I'm not sure if you were left with the impression or told that this was not an "official" inspection? From what you have described this Inspector did perform an "official" inspection. The Texas Real Estate Commission (TREC) does not concern itself with whether an Inspector works for a fee or for free. Inspectors are required to follow all laws and rules regarding inspection activities performed under their license. This particular Inspector has obviously performed what can be considered as a "Full Inspection" of your home in anticipation of a sale.
Since you are planning on selling your current home TREC considers this an "anticipation of a sale". Some homeowners have what are commonly called "Pre-listing Inspections" performed on their home before they list it for sale. TREC does consider these pre-listing inspections under their jurisdiction/control when the inspection is in "anticipation of a sale" of the home. There was a Request For Interpretation (RFI) sent to TREC by an Inspector that resulted in it being added to the TREC Inspector FAQ page located here TREC - Enforcement Questions & Answers . The particular question is as follows from that FAQ. Some Inspectors do attempt to call a "Pre-listing Inspection" a "Maintenance Consultation" thinking they are skirting the laws and rules.
Quote:
Q: What requirements does TREC impose on inspectors/consultants who perform maintenance consultations? For example, if a homeowner wanted to hire a consultant to perform a cursory, major defect visual inspection, including the foundation, roof, plumbing, electrical, and major appliances, would TREC require any written report?
A: TREC's jurisdiction over real estate inspections is limited to inspections performed for a buyer or seller of real property in connection with a transaction. If the inspection you are proposing relates to a purchase or sale transaction, then TREC's Standards of Practice would apply, and a written report would be required. If the inspection you are proposing is not in anticipation of a purchase or sale, then TREC's requirements would not apply, and the parameters of the inspection would be governed by the agreement between the inspector and his or her client. For further information, please see §§1102.001 and 1102.002 of the Texas Occupations Code and Rule 535.223. You may find these laws and the rule on our web site here: TREC - Forms, Laws, Contracts Main Page.
The Texas Occupational Code (TOC) reference above basically states that TREC will set rules for what the Inspector must do. The specific TREC rule regarding the requirement to issue you a proper report is in Rule 535.222 and 535.223 shown here.
Quote:
§535.222. Inspection Reports.
(a) For each inspection, the inspector shall:
(1) prepare a written inspection report noting observed deficiencies and other items required to be reported; and
(2) deliver the report to the person for whom the inspection was performed within three days unless otherwise agreed in writing by the client.
(b) The inspection report shall include:
(1) the name and license number of each inspector who participated in performing the inspection, as well as the name(s) and license number(s) of any supervising real estate inspector(s) and sponsoring professional inspector(s), if applicable;
(2) the address or other unique description of the property on each page of the report; and (3) the client's name.
§535.223. Standard Inspection Report Form.
(1) Except as provided by this section, inspections performed for a prospective buyer or prospective seller of substantially complete one-to-four family residential property shall be reported on FormREI 7-4 adopted by the Commission ("the standard form").
As can be seen here the Inspector was required to provide you with a proper written report.
As far as disclosure you are required to note on the seller's disclosure any applicable items the Inspector found regardless of whether the Inspector gave you a report or not. Once the Inspector advises you of the defect it is now reportable on the disclosure form if it falls under the listed categories.
The Texas Property Conveyance Law, and the TREC promulgated "Seller's Disclosure Of Property Condition" Form OP-H do not require you to disclose previous inspections. However many Brokerages do use the Texas Association Of Realtors seller's disclosure form that has the following entry.
Quote:
Section 7. Within the last 4 years, have you (Seller) received any written inspection reports from persons who regularly provide inspections and who are either licensed as inspectors or otherwise permitted by law to perform inspections?
If yes, attach copies and complete the following:
Having that report is very important for your protection later when you do have a buyer make an offer. If the "Free" inspection was properly performed you can now attach that report to the disclosure along with any additional information or annotations to it displaying that significant issues had been repaired and other issues might not have been repaired but are being fully disclosed. It's a great marketing tool for you but an even better CYA! It displays you had an inspection and if the buyer's Inspector starts finding readily apparent items you were not aware of, and should have been caught during your "Free" inspection, it would be hard to prove you were hiding significant defects.
It's unfortunate if your "Free" Inspector is not aware of the laws and rules governing their license and the disclosure laws. This type of activity only leads unsuspecting consumers down the wrong path and can cause the consumer trouble later. I would recommend that you do contact the Inspector and require that the Inspector provide you a proper report as required by law to protect yourself later whether or not your selling Brokers use the "Section 7" type language noted above.
We are not 100% on selling our home. We have been debating keeping and renting or selling for the past 6 months. My house is not on the market nor is it planned to be in the next 90+ days and I received nothing in writing. The checklist I have, I wrote. I was just given friendly advice from a friend that told me what he would do if it were his home.
Also, just fyi. IF I do sell my home I will hire 'someone' for an official inspection and I will give that info out. I will also list any repairs I do or have done because if I am going to spend the money I think it would look better to a potential buyer that I fixed things rather than not.
escanlan has given you extremely good and valuable advice. Unfortunately, I doubt that a judge nor TREC would agree with your reply of "I was just given friendly advice from a friend that told me what he would do if it were his home". Since your "friend" is also a licensed inspector then he is held to a different and higher standard than a layman friend. He has definitely violated TREC rules in my opinion and could be found negligent and incompetent (their words, not mine) by TREC investigators and levied a very substantial fine and possibly even lose his license. You may make light of this scenario, i.e. "thanks for saving me & informing me" but you and the inspector are risking more than you know or want to admit.
We are not 100% on selling our home. We have been debating keeping and renting or selling for the past 6 months. My house is not on the market nor is it planned to be in the next 90+ days and I received nothing in writing. The checklist I have, I wrote. I was just given friendly advice from a friend that told me what he would do if it were his home.
Also, just fyi. IF I do sell my home I will hire 'someone' for an official inspection and I will give that info out. I will also list any repairs I do or have done because if I am going to spend the money I think it would look better to a potential buyer that I fixed things rather than not.
But thanks for 'informing me'.
The law and TREC rules do not take into consideration a time period (i.e. 90 days) that a seller is planning to put their market on the home. Also the law/rules do not take into account that you might or might not sell your home. It is apparent from your posts that the Inspector was aware that you might sell your home and at that point any inspection the Inspector performed is controlled by the laws and TREC rules.
It is very possible that your Inspector is not aware of the laws/rules or does not understand them? If you would like to PM me the Inspector's contact information I would be more than happy to contact him/her directly and discuss this so other consumers are not potentially affected by his/her inspection approach?
As for my post it was just as much to help benefit other consumers as well as yourself so they are aware of what should occur in this type situation.
According to what you stated, If the inspection you are proposing is not in anticipation of a purchase or sale, then TREC's requirements would not apply, and the parameters of the inspection would be governed by the agreement between the inspector and his or her client It currently is not in anticipation for a sale and I never informed the friend that I was selling the home. This is what I was stating and no laws were broken.
Personally I would prefer any further communication be done in pm as you have given your information to the other consumers and I would like this topic to continue to be information concerning building a home.
Electrical plumbing is complete and they resolved the issue of low voltage being in the closet. They also wired the game room with media. That isn't something that was suppose to happen I don't think or requested. I am not complaining about it, but I can only guess I missed something. I did pay extra for the media to be upgraded to 7.1, but not for the game room.
They had stopped duct work to get the electrical in. As it stands it's probably only around 20% complete. I figure they will pick that up next week. As swiftly as it is still moving I would assume a phone call towards the end of next week for a pre-drywall inspection.
I am told after drywall everything really slows down. I am ok with that, because, in our case, we don't need it to finish early.
All Duct/Vent are done. Looks good really, though I was surprised that the living room only has one vent when it is a huge room. Our master is half of the size and has 2 vents (and return). My next post hopefully is on pre-drywall inspection.
Very interested in following your build process. I think I know your house. I was inquiring about a lot next to it but we also liked the Baypoint and couldn't build it there. A good sign in Woodbridge is that there are a lot of construction crews working which the actual problem with builders in the metro; not enough crews so build times fall behind.
We signed last week in another community. Your area has good upgrade offers, ours does not but we negotiated as best as possible for a reasonable reduction considering the keystone markup. For instance, your $10-12K hardwood upgrade prices are half of what they wanted from us! No, we didn't pay for it. Some of the "industry pitches" seem to be common in every community such as "city approval delays" and "those people before you just took that lot", yadda yadda whatever. All a bunch of bull to getcha moving in the process. Annoying but understandable in a sales environment. The sales guy out there IS very nice and helpful. Ours is too now that we are beyond the sales game.
My interest is in seeing how receptive they are to complaints and changes. Some of the numerous horror stories about Megatel Homes seem to revolve around that. We plan on having some ongoing build inspections, too. While I don't have high expectations (seen too many new home builds over the years) for my money I do expect straight walls, a solid foundation, and an intact roof at least.
Thanks for the story line. It is VERY helpful. Our negotiations were more with the owner/builder and included the salesperson versus the other way around. It is still surprising to us that the builder is still as involved in every house deal given the size of his business and recent transactions in the hundreds of millions $. A headache I wouldn't wish on anyone but to each his own.
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