Unfortunately in our beautiful state of Alaska, Building Requirements are somewhat lax, especially in the Mat-Su Borough. That's not to say you can't find QUALITY construction here, but buyer beware!

In the last two weeks alone I have come across multiple homes that had no inspections done throughout construction, no history of the homes construction in title records and some without well and septic inspection/installation reports.

One such home literally sits in a pit. This home is REO, NO disclosures, NO inspections and appears to be in great condition! Especially for the asking price of $169,000 when it is assessed at $259,000.

On homes like this, it is hard to educate your buyers when they are blinded by the equity that is in the house, if they choose purchase it.

Today was my 5th trip to the home with the excited buyers. We have a home inspection scheduled a few days from now, but I FINALLY convinced them to crawl around in the crawl space, pull the insulation away from the foundation and do a little discovery of their own.

What the buyer discovered (though they new there was a little moisture down there) is that there are MAJOR issues... no vents, the entire ground is wet, a huge percentage of concrete blocks are moist, the wood above the concrete block is wet enough that water is dripping from the floor boards... NO Mold yet, but it's a perfect environment for growth.

They were aware of a possible drainage issue, but without talking to neighbors next door, they never would have known until next spring that the drainage issue is that the yard and neighboring yards actually become more of a lake.

One of the most frustating things to hear is that a licensed builder and construction company actually built these homes this way and now homeowners are suffering the consequences of cutting corners and ignoring code requirements.

I realize this sounds more like a rant than a blog, but the point is encourage, stronglyencourage your buyers to GET A HOME INSPECTION!

So many people decided to try their hand at home building over the last few years, unfortunately many of them cut corners and have left many unsuspecting buyers and home sellers in a pickle...

I'd love to hear your experiences in regards to selling less than adequate homes... and how do you proceed with your buyers when you give them sound advice but you aren't sure they are hearing all you say?