Home > Blogs > John Villella > John Villella's (allpro18) Blog

Buffalo, NY Home Inspector states some Appraisers are walking down that Slippery Slope - Part 1 of 3

By John Villella

Home Inspector with All Pro Home Inspection & Household Environmental Services, Ltd. NYS Lic# 16000006356

January 25, 2010 10:19 AM

Buffalo, NY Home Inspector John Villella, owner of All Pro Home Inspection talks about some appraisers walking down a slippery slope.

Recently, I have noticed some appraisers in Western New York that refuse to make a decision or are not competent enough to make an educated decision. For example - not knowing if a basement stairway is stable, not understanding a moisture penetration issue in a basement of a 148 year old home, and the most alarming issue recently is the lack of the necessary tools to complete the appraisal process. These examples are just a few issues that I have had to deal with over the past few months to assist my clients in keeping deals moving forward.

Let's take a quick look at each issue -

The inability of this appraiser to determine the condition of the basement stairway resulted in a delay of closing and the waste of others time and money. He actually made the proper call in his original appraisal of the home, but in my opinion "blew it" when writing about the issue. It was reported during the home inspection of this home that the step treads were loose at the basement stairway and needed to be secured. It was actually a repair recommendation in the home inspection report, but the buyer decided this was not an issue that needed to be included in the home inspection contingency release. At the time of the inspection we talked about securing the step treads with multi-purpose screws and the buyer was very happy and willing to take care of this issue after closing. The appraisal process flagged this as a required repair condition and eventually the seller completed the repairs using multi-purpose screws and even added additional blocks under each step for additional support which was not needed, but just wanted to get to the closing table and move on.

On the re-inspection of this repair by the original appraiser the following statement was made "I am not qualified to make a determination of the repair, but there are still gaps present at the edge of the steps and it's my opinion that this is still a safety issue." And, yes he collected $75.00 for his re-inspection.

Let look at this again - he was not qualified to make a determination of the repairs, but felt compelled to state that in his opinion it was still a safety issue. Come on - it's either secured or its not and it certainly doesn't require an engineer to determine this, but here's my invoice for doing and saying nothing.

I received a call from my client - the buyer, the buyer's agent and even the listing agent who happens to refer my company and all enlightened we that the appraiser was having a difficult time (yes, I cleaned that last statement up for your reading - lol) and asked if I could review the repair and provide a letter for the bank if the repair was corrected properly. I scheduled a time to meet both agents at the home the next day and was able to provide a letter stating that the repairs completed have satisfied the repair issue and did so in all of 10 minutes of writing a letter with no fee to my client. The home closed the following day.

This was Part 1 of 3 regarding appraisers operating and walking down that slippery slope. Is it that they don't wish to assume liabilty, are not qualified to do "inspections", or are just looking to get that extra money for return visits to the home? I believe at the end of all 3 segments you'll agree with my slippery slope assessment. In Part 2, I'll cover an appraiser's inability of not understanding a moisture penetration issue in a basement of a 148 year old home.

Buffalo, NY Home Inspector John Villella, owner of All Pro Home Inspection, has been providing both residential and commercial property inspection services. Remember, All Pro Home Inspection is WNY's Home of the Original 200% Home Inspection Satisfaction Guarantee.... call John with any questions at 716-772-2548 or email at john@allprohomeinspection.com.

All Pro Home Inspection is dedicated to providing you "peace of mind" by educating you to understand the condition of your home. All Pro Home Inspection offers Niagara County home inspection services to not only Niagara County, but to all of Western New York's communities. We understand the stress that is involved in the Buying, Selling, and the Moving process...That is why when your All Pro Home Inspection is complete, you will have...