Time for a well deserved Rant —
Are you buying a home? Here are a couple things you should know:
1) Hire your own home inspector that you trust. they ‘ have a guy’ …but ..he’s “their guy” … choose an independent like me 🙂 I’m YOUR guy – for you.
2) The inspection period and attorney review can be whatever you need it it to be ! If both parties agree Don’t believe contract boilerplate BS… . 5 days Is simply NOT enough time in most situations , and this comes from my 15 years of experience watching people being rushed on their big dollar decision …sad ..
3) realize that everything the home inspector says is going to be downplayed by everyone else on the real estate “team”, that is supposedly working in your interest but directly benefits from the sale of the property.
4) Look up the term ‘fiduciary responsibility’
The home inspector might be the only unbiased person you deal with in some situations.. beware.
5) Never allow someone directly benefiting from the sale ( agent) to try to hurry an inspection along .( Common excuse: ” I have another appointment right after this. I don’t want to be late…” etc etc). The generic arbitrary number of 3 hours is an IDEALIC time frame if Conditions are very good , A good inspector will inspect for accuracy not speed. It’s going to take as long as it takes.
6) a city code inspector will check the home for the Bare minimums to be observed when construction or a sale is taking place. It is not the same objective as a state licensed home inspector.
7) a home inspector will observe and point out safety issues, money drains, maintenance problems and overall condition woes… Whether they are acknowledged by the local Village code or not. Some towns barely even have a code Department, And it’s like the Wild West.
8) an home Appraiser’s job takes about a half-hour at most and they appraise the property for value..$$$ .. Not the condition. It is not the same as a code inspector or state license home inspector.
9) You Totally have the right to ask the seller to disclose any safety issues from past inspections, ask questions ! and don’t believe the disclosure form because it’s an acknowledgement of pretending to be ignorant 9 times out of 10. If they get offended or taken back by you inquiring about the home, that you’re about to purchase for a lot of coin?? That might tell you something.
10) Most homeowners at some point, should have had someone view the sewer pipe from house to street …this is especially important if there are big trees in the parkway. When I find out someone lived in the home for 20 + years & never even knew about that? It concerns me.
11) If your real estate agent starts giving construction advice and they are not a licensed contractor?You need to tell them to stop immediately. If you don’t know Your way around tools and they’re telling you That YOU could fix up the house yourself because it’s easy. You need to tell them to stop….
Sure … IT CAN be done sometimes with due diligence and hard work but proffesionals are out there that can yield proffesional results that will last and be safer and better.
12) unfortunately a lot of homes that have been “flipped” lately are frightening to me. Please realize that everything was done to make a profit. You will not be getting the best of everything. You’re getting the minimum. Plus they have painted it whatever neutral color and installed a really neutral carpeting. yes
Some homes are flipped really well, by real remodelers .. the problem is everyone thinks they’re a remodeler now. I’ve seen places look like they’ve took several trips a day to Home Depot to ask some uniformed & disinterested Lumber Jockey what to do next and he didn’t even know.
Just because you changed the tires on your car doesn’t mean you know how to rebuild a 57 chevy to show quality… or even make it run right. Get the pro who knows.
13) When someone tells you Hey, you should really get that looked at, It’s probably some damn good advice.
When a home inspector spells it out in the home inspection report … Plan on it. For your own good, and Financial Health.
