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| Inspection Report provides no cost or cause details of siding defect |
Whether it's new construction, a recent rehab, or the most likely Delaware Valley scenario of a 50 to 100 year-old house in average condition that's been discounted to reflect the maintenance a new owner will have to perform, most every homebuyer will want and need to have a home inspection performed prior to finalizing purchase of a home.
But despite the ample price tag of about $600 for a combined home, termite and radon inspection, most home inspections are regrettably not an end unto themselves. For a variety of reasons which fall under the catch-all phrase "Standard Practices," most home inspections will contain multiple recommendations for the buyer to contact a qualified contractor to examine any areas identified as either major concerns or even potential major concerns.
One problem with this is that a typical home inspection review period is only 10 days. In peak home-buying season, it may take nearly a week to schedule busy home inspectors, so by the time buyers get their report, the sellers are getting impatient for a final say-so and little time remains to arrange for specialist contractors to come out and provide qualified opinions related to your home inspectors Red Flag areas.
To boot, contractors have the same right and need as home inspectors to be compensated for providing their time and expertise. A recent home inspection contained vague and therefore discomforting references to termite damage and called for the expertise of a qualified structural engineer to provide any meaningful analysis. This scenario represents home inspector protocol and is pretty universal, but it is also universally vexing for buyers who are confronted with having to pay up to $400 to have an expert confirm or deny the unresolved suspicions which a home inspector is required to share for reasons: ethical, professional, and practical, so as to retain protection from future litigation.
The upshot is that your home inspection is Not Llikely to be the one-and-done, caveat emptor, buyer beware document which many buyers expect when investing about $600. Whether I am representing sellers or buyers, my main goal in every transaction is to remove mystery so value can be clearly assessed and negotiated. Unfortunately, many, if not most home inspections, wind up injecting more confusion than clarity into the decision whether to buy or not to buy - or what dollar credits are needed to compensate for flaws discovered during the inspection period.
In some best case scenarios, home inspectors will paint an overall picture of either health or general decrepitude, which will give a buyer the confidence to either make a final decision to accept or reject a house. But in the many cases where home inspections raise red flags and offer no clear determinations, home buyers must decide whether to take a leap of faith, or invest possibly hundreds of more dollars to have a qualified expert drop everything and come out stat to provide analysis. Sometimes a buyer can get expert opinions gratis, or with promises of the opinion fee counting towards any future services provided, but ultimately everything costs money, and budgeting an additional $500 toward post home inspection follow-ups is a prudent idea that more inspectors and agents should espouse.
Even if your home inspection is generally good and you know you'll still want to buy the house, in order to negotiate any credits for defects discovered post agreement of sale, a buyer is going to need written estimates from licensed contractors. Once again, home inspectors - even when they can point out an obvious defect - are loathe (or unable due to their guild's guidelines) to offer essential cost estimates. Depending on the complexity of an obvious repair, contractors may well have to be paid to come out stat and write up the bids that sellers will demand to see before considering credits. Again, time and money work against the buyer here.
The bottom line is that buyers' due diligence can be significantly more expensive and exhausting than the rote booking, attendance and review of a home inspection. To help take out some of the sting, we recommend the following steps:
1- Negotiate your best deal in the initial agreement of sale and expect the home inspection will turn up concerns, either real or ambiguous,that will consume hundreds if not thousands of dollars in repairs and/or expert opinions that may not meet with compensation from an unwilling seller.
2- Post agreement and prior to the home inspection, carefully review the sellers and disclosure and consider returning for a pre-home inspection visit. You will very likely notice potential concerns about the house that you did not see when you were a potential buyer and not an active one. Review these concerns with your realtor and proactively identify contractors you might want to call in quickly following the primary home inspectors' visit. Also, ask your home inspector, point-blank about any concerns you have. Home Inspectors have to review alot of house in limited time and its amazing what can get overlooked in the process.
3- Stay close to your home inspector during the inspection and listen to what he or she has to say. Focus on the big picture and items that will cost into the thousands and not necessarily the hundreds to repair. Home inspectors have a lot of mandatory ground to cover and very busy schedules. There's only so much time available for information and discussion during the home inspection so use the time wisely. Judiciously, and with respect only to big-ticket items, press for information regarding costs and best worst/case scenarios that your inspector might part with verbally, but which won't make the written report for concern over potential litigation
Ultimately, your Home Inspection report is essentially an Owners Manual for understanding and maintaining the home you hope to buy. It is not - as is commonly misconstrued - a menu of repairs which you can present to a seller and it is not a thorough diagnostic document. Most of our homestock, which is in that 50-100 year old range, will continue to perform and will require each new owner to invest in some selected maintenance related to his/her link in the chain of ownership and stewardship. Eventually, when you sell the home in 15 years, you will utter the words, "It was that way when we bought it and we've never had a problem..."
