Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I live in a sellers markets in Houston with hot houses getting multiple offers and it seems many buyers are purchasing houses as-is without an option to inspect. I have been in several situations where my offer was significantly above asking price and the Seller still accepted another offer. What am I doing wrong? Should I waive the inspection next time I place an offer?
Is it true sellers will ignore higher offers and go with offers that have no inspection contingency ?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Burnley
Yes actually I am also sending a notice that gives me the right to terminate if the lenders appraisal is below the offer price. Do you think that’s why sellers are declining my high offers?
Do you know what these houses ended up selling for? It seems likely that other byers were also making offers significantly above asking price. And aside from the inspection contingency, if they are waiving an appraisal contingency and are prepared to put more cash into the deal to make up any shortfall between appraisal value and selling price, then that becomes a more a more attractive offer, even perhaps if it's a slightly lower price
Quote:
Originally Posted by lovorlando
We never had an inspection done on the new homes we bought but we always do on the used ones.
Why not on new construction too? My new build construction found over 20 issues, all of which were turned into a punch list by the builder and fixed prior to closing.
Also, insurance companies will not insure without inspection and you cannot get a mortgage without insurance.
So you can only decline inspection if you are paying cash.
State Farm, my preferred carrier, has insured every one of my properties without an inspection. Sometimes the agent will come out after closing and take a look, sometimes not. Sometimes they will cruise the area especially on properties not in a subdivision to check for fire service and other issues. But I have never had SF decline to bind a property and I have never had them inspect prior to binding. Unless it is a one of a kind unique property, I doubt they would inspect prior to binding insurance. In any event, a home inspection is usually of little use in the context of HO insurance unless it turns up a serious safety or fire hazard which would kill the sale anyway.
Yes actually I am also sending a notice that gives me the right to terminate if the lenders appraisal is below the offer price. Do you think that’s why sellers are declining my high offers?
How many other roadblocks do you care to put in front of yourself?
Recently ran into an inspector Lake City Inspections in CDA, ID (lakecityinspections.com) that has a $25,000 warranty coverage, a roof guarantee and a 90 day buy back guarantee if they miss anything. Had a buyer use them back in June and they seemed competent. But wow, how does a warranty like that work?
Simply put they're nothing more than marketing tools for Inspectors to snag consumers. With one exception (noted below) those 90 Day Warranties are in my opinion, and others opinion, nothing but junk. Inspectors pay a small amount or use your private data to buy them. IF they pay out you'll see the maximum payouts are very small and typically not in line with what it may cost to actually fix the problem or replace the system.
As for the "$25,000.00 Guarantee" that's nothing more than another marketing ploy. The $25K is basically the max payout amount of all those wonderful 90 Day Warranties. To collect on that amount you would wind up having a really FUBAR house and at that point I would be speaking to an Attorney and not the warranty provider!
Now onto the exception I noted above. Nick Gromicko, the founder of the International Association Of Certified Home Inspectors (INACHI nachi.org), came up with a very interesting program called the "We'll Buy Your Home Guarantee". It is another warranty the Inspector pays to use and must pay for EVERY home inspection they perform whether they issue the warranty or not. It does have various caveats though. First you obviously have to decide in 90 days whether to exercise it. The biggest one is you are only paid for the purchase price of the home and DO NOT collect all of the ancillary costs you paid to buy it or any costs associated with buying another (closing costs including the inspection, moving costs, utility set-up costs, etc., etc., etc.). This program has been exercised by consumers but not a lot as you can see it is really for people who so hate the home they are willing to bite all the other costs associated with it which can run in the tens of thousands of dollars when it is all said and done.
All of those warranties are either paid for with dollars (typical $5 each warranty) or with your personal information (except the INACHI one) that is then sold, possibly resold over and over, to marketing companies drooling to grab your dollars with more junk. You can bet that either all of those $5 warranty payments are tacked onto your inspection fee or the Inspector is a total business idiot by handing them out truly for free!
None of those warranties can replace a properly performed home inspection! So keep that in mind when selecting your Inspector as many try to use it as a liability limiting tactic, especially in States that are not licensed and those that are but do not require Errors & Omissions insurance for Inspectors.
Anyway, you're in Texas - are you including an option period? Generally those are 7 to 10 days long and in that time period you can terminate the contract for any reason at all - you can say "The angel Gabriel came to me in a dream and told me not to buy this house," and you are out of the contract with your earnest money in hand.
Also, if you are financing the house, the BANK is going to insist that the house appraises for what you're buying it for. Every contract I've ever seen has given an "out" if the house doesn't appraise.
Anyway, you're in Texas - are you including an option period? Generally those are 7 to 10 days long and in that time period you can terminate the contract for any reason at all - you can say "The angel Gabriel came to me in a dream and told me not to buy this house," and you are out of the contract with your earnest money in hand.
Also, if you are financing the house, the BANK is going to insist that the house appraises for what you're buying it for. Every contract I've ever seen has given an "out" if the house doesn't appraise.
Contingency periods can bear on the attractiveness of an offer in hot markets. You should defer to your Realtor, and decide if you can live with whatever might have been discovered (if you would decide to go the route of lessening or eliminating any contingency periods).
Do you have a buyers agent? If not, get one. You need it.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
