Should we have our house inspected?

[SmithOp]

We had a free inspection as part of our pest control service from Clark. They noted no termite activity but there was dry rot on most of the fascia boards and old evidence of mold in the crawlspace. They wanted $3000 to remediate, I had my handyman take care of everything last summer. We listed it a week ago, I'm not too concerned about what the inspection will find and how much the negotiation will knock off the price to fix.

[Bamaman]

When I recently bought my daughter a 2800 square foot house, the inspector charged $300. There were 3 electrical circuits with polarity issues, but no real surprises.

You typically would want to get an inspector in 6 months before you place the house on the market so you could have time to right the wrongs. There's nothing worse than letting the buyer's inspector come in 2 weeks before the closing and having to rush to find the proper contractors to fix needed problems.

When I left Atlanta, the home inspector missed that my house had polybutyl plastic pipe going from the house to the street. Every neighbor had leaks with that pipe and replacement was about $3500. One furnace was about 90% used up, so my timing was right to sell.

[karen1972]

It's a tough call. I had one done in Jan cost $600 for 2500 square ft house. They found my chimney was leaking which I hadn't noticed..it cost $2000 to fix..but if it had gone longer I could have ended up with mold which would have been a nightmare and since I had no idea when the house would sell..I'm glad I did it.

However the issue being of course the buyer also had an inspection and was just a bit crazy..they complained about all kinds of things that just weren't true..leaking faucet that didn't leak, issues with furnace that worked fine and had been professionally serviced less than a month before, complaint of garage door opener that worked just fine...so having my inspection in hand I was willing to fight them on their issues and tell them to take it or leave it. They finally took it but else we would not have closed and I could have spent money I didn't need to trying to fix stuff that wasn't broken...or better yet I'm sure they were angling for money off...which they didn't get.

[Lakedog]

I would not have an inspection done prior. I would certainly repair any items that I knew about prior to listing but not go looking for additional stuff to fix.

The buyer's inspection would not necessarily find the same issues as the inspector you would use (maybe more items, maybe less). Items found on the inspection are negotiable as to whether they will even be repaired and/or an allowance may be credited to the buyer for repairs (they may choose not to repair or do the work themselves).

[W2R]

Quote:

Originally Posted by W2R I think you should ask your real estate guy about it. Here, there is usually a little bit of back-and-forth negotiation after an offer is accepted, surrounding the inspections. If the inspectors find something, that could give your realtor something to bargain with. "Oh, Amethyst and DH don't want to pay for repairing the broken back stairs that you found, but the price should remain the same because look at all the repairs they are doing to upgrade the HVAC that you also found out was broken!" By repairing something at that time, it shows the buyers that you are making an effort. But then, your realtor will know what is expected in your area and what works best for him. I think it is exciting that you are thinking of moving out of state! What an adventure! Inspections on my new-to-me house are scheduled for this afternoon, and I am so excited. F and I will be there promptly, and I'll have my checkbook in hand and my clipboard for taking notes.

I was wrong in the above advice! I asked my (excellent) real estate guy a few days ago about whether I should have my present home inspected when I put it on the market, and his answer was "Yes". That surprised me!

He indicated that an inspection by me could allow us to fix surprise major problems in advance. The little stuff can be used for negotiating, I suppose, since I have seen him do that. However the house has to be habitable so any previously undetected major problems do need to be fixed.

If they aren't fixed in advance, then any lengthy resulting delays that such problems might cause could mess up a sale in the event of a less than patient buyer. Or that was the impression I got, from what he said.

[Dash man]

Quote:

Originally Posted by W2R I was wrong in the above advice! I asked my (excellent) real estate guy a few days ago about whether I should have my present home inspected when I put it on the market, and his answer was "Yes". That surprised me! He indicated that an inspection by me could allow us to fix surprise major problems in advance. The little stuff can be used for negotiating, I suppose, since I have seen him do that. However the house has to be habitable so any previously undetected major problems do need to be fixed. If they aren't fixed in advance, then any lengthy resulting delays that such problems might cause could mess up a sale in the event of a less than patient buyer. Or that was the impression I got, from what he said.

A little integrity can go a long way in a sale too. It shows you're not intentionally trying to hide something. It's sad seeing how many people don't want to inspect ahead of putting it on the market hoping it will be missed by a buyer.

[sengsational]

Would such an inspection typically uncover an addition that didn't get added under a building permit? IOW, a discrepancy between what the city had vs reality? For example, say a deck was added by the homeowner without a permit.

[photoguy]

In the bay area, it's typical (or at least common) to get an inspection done first and provide it to all potential buyers. I assume this helps when you are likely to get multiple offers. Obviously though, bay area real estate market is not like many others.

[tryan]

It depends on how "hot" your market is .... Point being, if you received multiple offers you wasted not only the inspection fee but the repair costs too.

If you are in a buyers market ... yes do the inspection and consider the repairs. I pay $350 - 400 for a inspection.

[athena53]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dash man A little integrity can go a long way in a sale too. It shows you're not intentionally trying to hide something. It's sad seeing how many people don't want to inspect ahead of putting it on the market hoping it will be missed by a buyer.

It's a tough world out there. We've kept our house in good repair and are unaware of any major problems. We were extremely unlucky to have found that a drain in the basement was running slowly due to years of mineral build-ups last week (just before house went on the market) and paid $3K to fix it even though no inspector would ever have found it and certainly no prospective buyers would known. We have contracts for regular HVAC servicing and termite protection.

Having said that- I once spent $8K to put in French drains when I could finally afford it in the basement of a house I bought. The sellers had said there might be "a little water" in the basement if you didn't keep the gutters clean. I had them cleaned religiously and still had to mop out the basement any time it rained heavily. When I looked for my next house, I had the inspector look really hard for any signs of water damage. He thought he saw mold, and a mold inspection revealed stachybotris. The sellers' "disclosure" said there were no water problems. (We passed on that one.) The house with the wet basement had the built-in microwave, the pool filter and the gas grill all die within 3 months of closing.

So, I've been on the receiving end of house problems, known and unknown to the sellers. DH and I won't hide anything we know about but if a buyer gets an incompetent inspector, that's their problem. I'm not going to pay to find problems for them.