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First, thank you for all your advice on my other thread. With your comments and the advice from my buyer's agent, I calmed down, agreed to the seller's request, and am now under contract to buy. Yay!
I am buying a property in Colorado from out of state and likely will not be there for the inspection. My agent will be, and I trust her to honestly relay any issues that crop up. Does anyone have any advice on questions I should ask, either before or after the inspection, if I can't be there?
It's a townhouse in decent condition, and the HOA maintains the exterior, including roof, so I'm not expecting any major issues. Unless something terrible pops up, I don't expect to use the inspection to renegotiate the deal; instead I expect it to be a guide on what I should expect as the new owner.
I'm looking for an experienced, certified inspector and plan to have a (possibly separate) HVAC and chimney inspection. Anything I'm missing?
... and I trust her to honestly relay any issues that crop up.
This really isn't for your agent to do as she could misinterpret something or explain it to you wrong. You need information relayed directly from the inspectors you're going to use. The inspector will give you a report to review, and they should be able to go over the entire thing with you over the phone. If an inspector won't take the time to do that with you, you need to pick another inspector.
This really isn't for your agent to do as she could misinterpret something or explain it to you wrong. You need information relayed directly from the inspectors you're going to use. The inspector will give you a report to review, and they should be able to go over the entire thing with you over the phone. If an inspector won't take the time to do that with you, you need to pick another inspector.
I misspoke in my original post. I will be using an inspector who will discuss the findings with me over the phone. My agent will be there as a backup.
You are absolutely correct that an inspector who won't take the time to go over everything with me is worthless.
The inspector will provide a detailed written report, with photos. Maybe ask if they can provide a file with all the photos they take, not just the ones that make it into the report - with my inspector, she said the template for the report had some size restrictions so she couldn't included every photo, but I was there in person as she pointed things out so I snapped a quick photo of my own as needed. Since you won't have the chance to do that, I'd ask to get those photos in a separate digital file.
I was very pleased with my inspector, so feel free to message me if you need a recommendation in the Denver metro area.
FalconheadWest is correct. Your inspector will send you the report and will, with your permission, provide a copy of the report to your agent. If your agent is attending the inspection, they may have a bit more information from the inspector showing them something he finds and explaining it to them. That they can convey to you if it occurs. Their job, however, is to advise you from a real estate negotiation perspective when you are deciding what repairs to ask for that might show up in the inspection report. With a good inspector, just about everything will show up, from a $5 fix from Home Depot to things that are structural or code related. (Remember, if the home isn't brand new, something that is not to code could very well have been to code at the time the house was built and the code might have changed last month or last week, so if you're concerned about something that is said to be "not to current code", ask the inspector what that REALLY means in that particular case.)
If the home inspector doesn't use video ask the agent to take video for you. What I do for buyers in your situation is take video of the issues that the inspector talks about with him explaining it. Sometimes that is easier for a buyer than reading it.
I've also taken video of how to reset pilot lights, maintenance items, etc for buyers since the inspector I recommend is really educationally oriented.
I've been in the same situation as a buyer myself and had many clients do it too. It is of course helpful to get the guided tour of your home's major systems but you won't be missing too terribly much by not being there in person assuming you have hired a fantastic inspector. The inspectors reports are very, very thorough. In addition, ask your realtor if they can take video/pictures of any issues the home inspector points out. And once you have the written report from the inspector, don't hesitate to call him afterwards to get clarification and just have a conversation about his overall opinion of the property "off the record". Once you move in, you could always ask him to come back out for a small fee if you'd like the "how to maintain the systems" tutorial live.
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