Should we have our house inspected?

[Amethyst]

Our house turns 25 this year. We are thinking about selling it next spring. The house is fairly large (3,400 square feet for the top 2 floors; about 1,000 square feet finished in the basement). Over time, we've spent plenty on maintenance, upkeep, and repair, and we are always finding something else. Sometimes, a visitor spots an issue we didn't notice.

I am wondering if it would make sense to hire a home inspector to identify any issues with the house now, so we can deal with them at a reasonable pace instead of rushing, stressing, overpaying contractors. Without getting estimates, I don't know how much an inspection would set us back - certainly north of $1,500.00.

My two concerns are a) is it cost-effective and b) given the legal aspects of "failure to disclose defects," are there things it's better for an owner not to know in advance of a buyer's inspection?

Thanks for your thoughts.

 

[Marita40]

Not sure whether this applies in every state but here when you begin the process of listing your home you must get a Truth in Housing inspection done. Mine (smallish house) cost about $300. Any major things that would be red flags to buyers are identified, and prospective buyers have full access to the report. I did have time to correct anything on the report before the house sale went "live." If you've lived in the house for awhile I would assume you already know about any major issue that may turn a buyer off. But then again you never know. There are several big things that need doing on my just-sold house but the buyers were fine with them because the cost reflected them. A good realtor can help you sort out what to do from what not to do.

 

[Marita40]

Meant to add that my realtor stated some people do two Truth in Housing inspections (for a bit higher cost I gather). The inspector writes a report for the seller. The seller corrects items as he/she wishes. Then the inspector inspects the corrections and writes another report for the potential buyers.

 

[donheff]

The non-profit I volunteer for offers home inspection for a song. The inspector is community minded and I assume wants to build a practice for the type of self inspection you suggest. I had one done and got some peace of mind. Only a couple of things I needed to fix but solid reassurance about my roof and some other matters I wasn't sure about. I think it can be valuable for people like me who don't know squat about maintenance. A knowledgeable DYIer can keep up with this stuff on his or her own.

 

[Big_Hitter]

$1500 for a 3400 sq ft house? That sounds steep. I wouldn't do it for the reasons noted above.

 

[Ronstar]

I would fix any major items that you know of now, and wait until a prospective buyer asks for a home inspection before having one done.

I had one done on our 1300 sf condo when I bought it 13 years ago and it was in the $200 - $300 range.

 

[Big_Hitter]

paid inspector $600 for a 5350 sq ft house last yr

 

[utrecht]

Not sure whether this applies in every state but here when you begin the process of listing your home you must get a Truth in Housing inspection done. Mine (smallish house) cost about $300. Any major things that would be red flags to buyers are identified, and prospective buyers have full access to the report. I did have time to correct anything on the report before the house sale went "live." If you've lived in the house for awhile I would assume you already know about any major issue that may turn a buyer off. But then again you never know. There are several big things that need doing on my just-sold house but the buyers were fine with them because the cost reflected them. A good realtor can help you sort out what to do from what not to do.

No such thing as a mandatory Truth in Housing inspection in Texas. We are in the process of selling our house right now. It hit the MLS at noon on Tuesday. Tuesday afternoon there were 2 showings. By Tuesday evening we had 2 offers over full price.

 

[Amethyst]

"Mandatory" inspections in other states don't apply in MD...we sold a property in MD last year and while there was no "mandatory" inspection, there is mandatory "seller disclosure" if the seller knows of any defect. So that's why I wonder if it's better not to know!

The buyer pays for inspection, and these are quite detailed. Inspectors charge by the hour, and hourly charges are expensive in our neck of the woods. Buyers do it to protect themselves, obviously.

What we DON'T want is to have a potential sale on the line, with us potentially out of state by then, and racing around trying to find someone to fix stuff, or worse, finding something major like foundation cracks.

Meeting buyers' demands last year in selling a 1600-square-foot townhouse (which we had already spent much $$ fixing up, and thought was flawless) was quite stressful. For example, the inspection turned up a "foundation crack" that had obviously been there (because somebody had filled it in) when we bought the townhouse (a resale) but had not been found by our inspector. We had to pay a licensed structural engineer to certify that the crack posed no threat to the structure.

As for our house, it's not "just" 3400 sq ft; the partially finished basement also gets inspected, as does the attic. I based my "wag" on hearing from others who have sold smaller houses and paid over $1K.

Thanks,

Amethyst

 

[Lisa99]

"Mandatory" inspections in other states don't apply in MD...we sold a property in MD last year and while there was no "mandatory" inspection, there is mandatory "seller disclosure" if the seller knows of any defect. So that's why I wonder if it's better not to know!

The buyer pays for inspection, and these are quite detailed. Inspectors charge by the hour, and hourly charges are expensive in our neck of the woods. Buyers do it to protect themselves, obviously.

What we DON'T want is to have a potential sale on the line, with us potentially out of state by then, and racing around trying to find someone to fix stuff, or worse, finding something major like foundation.

Amethyst

In our state you have to sign a document that says whether or not the house has been inspected in the last 3 years. If it has you have to attach the report.

Our realtor has always advised not getting an inspection beforehand. That advice saved us thousands in repairs when we sold our last house. It had some issues that we knew about and were found on the buyer's inspection but for whatever reason the buyer didn't ask for a single repair. That was a first!

 

[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.

 

[Big_Hitter]

In our state you have to sign a document that says whether or not the house has been inspected in the last 3 years. If it has you have to attach the report.

+1


Remember you have to sign a disclosure statement when you sell the house of all known issues.

 

[brewer12345]

+1


Remember you have to sign a disclosure statement when you sell the house of all known issues.

And for this reason I would not have the house inspected first. If it isn't written down, you don't know about it.

 

[Big_Hitter]

^ well, unless you know you have a cracked slab, for example


otherwise it could be construed as fraud, I believe

 

[Tailgate]

Same situation here..hoping to downsize soon. Asked a realtor about getting an inspection and she said not to because of the disclosure. She said her team would make a list of what we need to do to prepare the house to be sold.... small fixed, paint here and there etc. More 'staging' advice rather than a serious inspection.

I do have an issue in that our pier and beam foundation suffered water damage caused by shifting soil diverting heavy rains under the house. I did have a french drain ($4,300) put in to mitigate the issue, then had the house leveled as best as could be done. It's not 100% leveled, but it's stabilized. Might scare off some buyers, but all we need is attract that 1 person who likes the house and the neighborhood.

 

[soupcxan]

I would not do it, it can only hurt your negotiating position and may scare off some buyers. Plus, the buyer should pay for it once they're serious about the house.

 

[Dash man]

I like to know how much I have to spend on a house to fix it up so I can figure that cost into the asking price. If it's found by the buyer's inspector it becomes part of the negotiation process which will likely cost you more money. Fixing things ahead of time and dealing with it also shows integrity to potential buyers, making them more comfortable with the purchase.
A few years ago I sold a rental property in Florida and mitigated a sinkhole, mold and termites prior to listing. We were up front about the issues in the listing. It sold in one day for more than asking price.

 

[pb4uski]

....Our realtor has always advised not getting an inspection beforehand. That advice saved us thousands in repairs when we sold our last house. It had some issues that we knew about and were found on the buyer's inspection but for whatever reason the buyer didn't ask for a single repair. That was a first!

We did not do an inspection because if you have an inspection done and discover a significant problem then you need to either take care of it or disclose it to potential buyers, so IMO it is better to be ignorant.

We sold our house 3 1/2 years ago and the inspection turned up a foundation issue and we then had a visit from a structural engineer who was able to make the buyer comfortable with the situation so they closed on it. I think if we had had an inspection that discovered that structural issue and had to disclose it that the house might have been a harder sell.

DD had an real through inspection done for a condo she was buying and IIRC it cost her only $400. $1,500 for a 3,400 sf house is outrageous IME.

 

[Lakewood90712]

I have a slightly different take on this issue.Even if not selling anytime soon, I think you would get better valve in having semi annual roof inspections ( $0-$100 ), and annual or semi annual hvac system service ($100-$200) , by contractors you trust. The roofer will find just about any weather related issues on the exterior, roof or not. The $50 " Furnace tune up " offers are usually just fishing / sales expeditions. A big advantage of having a ongoing customer relationship with a heating / cooling contractor is priority service if you have a failure in the worst weather.

Having a good electrical contractor tighten the connections inside your circuit breaker panel every 10 years is money well spent IMO. On the rest ,

Plumbing ? unless on septic, pay for a sewer line insp once. Sometimes it can be cheaper to pay for a drain cleaning, that includes a line camera inspection.

Appliances ? cross the bridge when they break.

 

[Walt34]

When DW handled the sale of FIL's house a year and a half ago (in MD) we did not get an inspection before listing it. While MD does have a "full disclosure" law - you had to disclose known defects - you don't have to go looking for them either.

Since it is generally well known that anyone would be a fool to buy a home without an inspection, in MD at least that is generally left to the buyer to have done.

We too, ran into the issue of having to hire a structural engineer to certify that a slightly inward-leaning foundation wall was not a threat. It had been that way for 30 years and hadn't moved any further. Settlement went through after the inspection/certification without further difficulty.

Best to check with your agent though. This was an area west of Frederick, MD so "normal practice" may be different where you are.

 

[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]

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.