News for Raleigh, NC Home Buyers - Proposed Home Inspection Rule Change is blocked - Home Inspectors can still recommend repairs

A rule change that would no longer allow home inspectors to recommend repairs was blocked by State regulators on Friday of last week. Those in the real estate industry who were in favor of the change, felt that "the change would benefit consumers by standardizing all reports and making information uniform and readable throughout."

See the News and Observer article on this topic here: Home inspection limits scuttled

Contrary to some other realtors in the real estate industry, the Poling Team believes this is good news for Raleigh, North Carolina home buyers and sellers. I am a proponent of full disclosure for buyers and I believe residential real estate in NC should follow the lead of commercial real estate.

In fact, with the current Offer to Purchase and Contract form it is possible to submit an offer with an option to purchase under section 16 Home Inspections. A buyer can select Alternative 2 and pay an option fee to have the home taken off the market to allow time for inspections to be done and time to negotiate the repairs with the seller.

Should the seller choose not to make the repairs, the buyer can walk away from the contract with his earnest money (but not the option fee).

This is a much better solution to the repair request challenges that can be faced under Alternative 1.