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Old 01-08-2010, 10:19 PM
 
146 posts, read 882,180 times
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The good news is, we finally are under contract to purchase our first home! I am just nervous because our inspection is on Monday. I am trying to not let myself plan for moving, etc. until after the inspection in case there is something wrong with the property. It is an REO and is being sold as-is (although they did agree to do the termite work, even though we are not an FHA loan).

We are prepared for there to be lots of small things to be repaired. However, we are just hoping that there is nothing major that will force us to walk away from the sale. The house looks to be in excellent shape from what we have seen.

I am trying to find out how frequently major problems are found during an inspection. The house is in California (no severe weather), built in 1988, stucco exterior, slab foundation, brand new roof. What are the possible large/expensive things that could be wrong, and how frequently do those things pop up in an inspection for a simialr home?

Thanks.
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Old 01-09-2010, 03:53 AM
 
Location: Pomona
1,955 posts, read 10,964,593 times
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There's no hard set rule here ... you can have 50+ year old houses with nothing wrong, and you can have 5 year houses which will need $$$ just to get up to snuff.
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Old 01-09-2010, 07:24 AM
 
Location: Hermoso y tranquilo Panamá
11,874 posts, read 11,030,589 times
Reputation: 47194
Good news there's a new roof and appears to have been relatively well maintained. Though since it's 22 years old now and in CA possibly have the foundation/structural integrity checked? Since CA is in a seismic area I'd want to make sure the structural integrity is sound. I'm sure other agents will have additional comments, but that's the one thing I'd want to make sure is okay.
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Old 01-09-2010, 07:34 AM
 
Location: Marion, IN
8,189 posts, read 31,192,435 times
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I have purchased a couple of REO properties. What I have noticed is that they had been vacant for extended periods of time. They all had plumbing problems to one degree or another. The last house had to be completely re-plumbed.

If the inspector gives you BS statements telling you to have a plumber/electrician/engineer/etc check something make sure you do it before your inspection period is over.
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Old 01-09-2010, 07:51 AM
 
Location: Central Texas
20,958 posts, read 45,298,124 times
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Why you would call the recommendations to have a professional look at something that appears to have a problem "BS statements" is puzzling. A licensed inspector is not a licensed professional in many of the areas you mention, usually - he is licensed to detect a problem and notify you that it exists, not to diagnose it and give an estimate as to what it would take to fix it and how much that would cost. If all licensed inspectors were experts to that degree in all of the fields mentioned, trust me, your inspection cost would be, justifiably, many times higher.

One can usually get an inspection/estimate on AC/plumbing/electrical for no or a nominal fee (in hopes of getting the repair work later, if such is necessary) for those areas where the inspector has determined that, for whatever reason, it's not performing properly, to determine if it's a huge problem or a 50 cent Home Depot fix and exactly what needs to be done, for how much, to fix the problem. The inspector's recommendation to get such an evaluation is not a "BS statement".
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Old 01-09-2010, 08:07 AM
 
Location: Marion, IN
8,189 posts, read 31,192,435 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TexasHorseLady View Post
Why you would call the recommendations to have a professional look at something that appears to have a problem "BS statements" is puzzling. A licensed inspector is not a licensed professional in many of the areas you mention, usually - he is licensed to detect a problem and notify you that it exists, not to diagnose it and give an estimate as to what it would take to fix it and how much that would cost. If all licensed inspectors were experts to that degree in all of the fields mentioned, trust me, your inspection cost would be, justifiably, many times higher.

One can usually get an inspection/estimate on AC/plumbing/electrical for no or a nominal fee (in hopes of getting the repair work later, if such is necessary) for those areas where the inspector has determined that, for whatever reason, it's not performing properly, to determine if it's a huge problem or a 50 cent Home Depot fix and exactly what needs to be done, for how much, to fix the problem. The inspector's recommendation to get such an evaluation is not a "BS statement".

Forgive me, but as a home buyer when I pay $400 for someone to inspect a house I expect more from the inspector than "call someone else to look at everything you have paid me to look at". Maybe I have unrealistic expectations. I don't expect instructions or estimates for repairs from the inspector, but I do expect to be told more than "call somebody else".

Personally, my experiences with home inspectors have left me feeling like I wasted my money by calling them at all.
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Old 01-09-2010, 08:12 AM
 
Location: Central Texas
20,958 posts, read 45,298,124 times
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In my experience with more than a few inspections, the inspector only recommends that if a problem is detected that is beyond their expertise to diagnose completely. They let you know that there is a problem with that system, and how they determined that (the AC is not cooling to specs, for example), and recommend that, if you are seriously concerned, you get a professional in the field to look at it. (Sometimes "looking at it" involves tearing into the system itself, which an inspector is not licensed, or competent in most cases, to do without risking causing further damage.) That is reasonable advice. The alternative is, "Well, this isn't working right," period. Would that truly be preferable to you, since you say that you do not expect the inspector to be an expert in all systems in a house to the extent that he can diagnose the exact problem in every system and tell you how much it would cost to repair it? If not, what WOULD you consider to be appropriate? How much "more" than "I've tested it, it's not working, and until a licensed professional looks at it we won't know why" do you want.
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Old 01-09-2010, 08:22 AM
 
Location: Great State of Texas
86,052 posts, read 84,321,515 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Racelady88 View Post
Forgive me, but as a home buyer when I pay $400 for someone to inspect a house I expect more from the inspector than "call someone else to look at everything you have paid me to look at". Maybe I have unrealistic expectations. I don't expect instructions or estimates for repairs from the inspector, but I do expect to be told more than "call somebody else".

Personally, my experiences with home inspectors have left me feeling like I wasted my money by calling them at all.
An inspector is not a general contractor, plumber, electrician, foundation specialist. He just notes potential problems.

I just bought some property myself. The home is over 40 years old.
The inspection uncovered many little things and one potential big thing.
I did not expect the inspector to tell me how much it would cost to fix.
I had a general contractor come out after that to look over the one big potential deal breaker and give me a ballpark number for fixing it.
This would have been the deal breaker for me. If the amount was in the $10K range or more I was walking but it turned out to be in the $3-5K range and wasn't what I thought at all. I had the contractor look over the other items on the inspection report and he told me nothing on there was major that he saw (major in my book being over $10K to fix).

He didn't charge me anything to come out and give the estimate.
As THL posted, many do it in hopes of getting the job later.

I did go ahead with the purchase and this very same contractor is now going ahead with the work. He's been out since closing and is doing a more detailed formal estimate on the work and we went through the inspection report and he suggested the priority order to get stuff fixed.

Buying a home is a major purchase and any nominal money you spend beforehand is well worth it to know and understand what you are buying.
I also paid $100 extra on my contract which gave me 15 days to back out for any reason whatsoever and used that 15 days for inspection, estimates and had an RE attorney review and give me advice.
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Old 01-09-2010, 09:30 AM
 
Location: Hermoso y tranquilo Panamá
11,874 posts, read 11,030,589 times
Reputation: 47194
Quote:
Originally Posted by HappyTexan View Post
An inspector is not a general contractor, plumber, electrician, foundation specialist. He just notes potential problems.

I just bought some property myself. The home is over 40 years old.
The inspection uncovered many little things and one potential big thing.
I did not expect the inspector to tell me how much it would cost to fix.
I had a general contractor come out after that to look over the one big potential deal breaker and give me a ballpark number for fixing it.
This would have been the deal breaker for me. If the amount was in the $10K range or more I was walking but it turned out to be in the $3-5K range and wasn't what I thought at all. I had the contractor look over the other items on the inspection report and he told me nothing on there was major that he saw (major in my book being over $10K to fix).

He didn't charge me anything to come out and give the estimate.
As THL posted, many do it in hopes of getting the job later.

I did go ahead with the purchase and this very same contractor is now going ahead with the work. He's been out since closing and is doing a more detailed formal estimate on the work and we went through the inspection report and he suggested the priority order to get stuff fixed.

Buying a home is a major purchase and any nominal money you spend beforehand is well worth it to know and understand what you are buying.
I also paid $100 extra on my contract which gave me 15 days to back out for any reason whatsoever and used that 15 days for inspection, estimates and had an RE attorney review and give me advice.
Great post from a 'buyer perspective' reiterating what a licensed agent stated.
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Old 01-09-2010, 10:22 AM
 
Location: Marion, IN
8,189 posts, read 31,192,435 times
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Not looking for a debate here.

The last inspector I had told me that I needed a new faucet in the bath tub. The reality was that I needed new plumbing from the basement to the second story. The inspector did not even hint that there was a plumbing problem, simply a fixture that needed to be replaced. Had the inspector told me that he even suspected the plumbing I would have called a plumber.

The same inspector declined to inspect the roof from the roof, but instead stood on the ground with a pair of binoculars. He stuck his head into the attic but did not actually get in there and look at anything. What he missed was a major leak at the chimney, quite a bit of mold, and an infestation of Asian Lady Beetles. I would have like to have been informed of those things.

I could go on, but you get the point. If I had known about these issues I would have never bought that house.

I think it is not unreasonable to expect a home inspector to be able to tell the difference between a bad fixture and bad plumbing and I certainly expect that an existing leak in the roof is something he might notice. My personal experience with home inspectors leaves me with little respect for them.

I am sure there are good inspectors out there. I have never had much luck finding one when I needed one.
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