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Karma Or Ignoring Your Home Inspector Can Bite You in The Ass

By
Home Inspector with JRV Home Inspection Services, LLC HOI 394

karmaThere are many sayings, adages on how life will return to you what you put into it. You reap what you sow, what goes around, comes around are a few that come quickly to mind. The same can be said about houses. By taking care of and maintaining your home, you will reap the benefits of your conscientiousness when you sell.

I think it can be said that home maintenance begins during the home inspection. Many clients have said to me the report has been a help in knowing where to begin making repairs and performing usual maintenance. The main purpose of the inspection however is to identify defects or potential hazards to the buyers before purchase.

2009 asbestos

In my years of inspecting houses, I have come to learn what troubles one person, can hardly raise an eyebrow with another. Since I have seen this reaction hundreds and hundreds of times, I now try and impress on buyers, especially first timers, that the house they are buying today will one day be sold again...by them. That at this point in time the house still belongs to the seller and any defects uncovered are in essence the sellers.

Recently I pulled up to a house and had that Deja Vu feeling. As I began working my around the outside of the small ranch house, that feeling continued to get stronger.

"Boy," I said to myself, "that addition sure looks familiar. And so does that deck".

By the time I was inside the house, I was certain I had been in this house before.

2013 asbestosWhen I had worked my way finally to the finished basement, I was remembering quite a bit about this house. I was later to learn I inspected it four years before. One of the concerns I recalled from the basement was asbestos on the ducts. And I was to find it was still there. In fact it was also exactly in the same spot on the furnace and water flue pipes.

The past and present photos are shown. They look exactly the same. I did inform my present clients of my Deja Vu. What I did not do, and gave this some thought, was use the photos or report from four years ago to the benefit of my present clients.

Interestingly, the sellers had done several recent, expensive upgrades, I was told in order to sell the house. There was a brand new roof, just days old, a new furnace and A/C compressor. And yet the asbestos remained. As I said earlier it is very hard to figure people. I usually don't try.

Karma, sometimes it's hurts.

 

 

Posted by

James Quarello
Connecticut Home Inspector
Former SNEC-ASHI President
JRV Home Inspection Services, LLC

 ASHI Certified Inspector

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Comments (22)

Gary L. Waters Broker Associate, Bucci Realty
Bucci Realty, Inc. - Melbourne, FL
Eighteen Years Experience in Brevard County

Wondering how common itis to inspect the same property multiple times... You would think a buyer would address issues like asbestos before other expensive updates.

May 02, 2013 10:12 PM
David Popoff
DMK Real Estate - Darien, CT
Realtor®,SRS, Green ~ Fairfield County, Ct

James all you had to do was go back to the office and pull up the report from 4 years ago.

May 02, 2013 10:13 PM
Carol Zingone
Berkshire Hathaway Home Services Florida Network Realty - Jacksonville Beach, FL
Global Realtor in Jax Beach, FL - ABR, CRS, CIPS
It's amazing how that deja vu feeling washes over you, isn't it?
May 02, 2013 10:26 PM
Clint Mckie
Desert Sun Home, commercial Inspections - Carlsbad, NM
Desert Sun Home, Comm. Inspection 1-575-706-5586

Hi James.

It will come back to haunt you at a later date.

I have had buyers and sellers say they were going to fix something just to inspect a home years later and see the repairs were not completed at all.

Then they have to scramble to get them done in order to close on time. It was a rookie home owner mistake.

Have a great day in Connecticut.

Best, Clint McKie

May 02, 2013 10:28 PM
Michael Setunsky
Woodbridge, VA
Your Commercial Real Estate Link to Northern VA

James, apparently the sellers didn't ask for the asbestos to be removed when you did the first inspection. The new buyers may feel differently. The seller's will be in for a big expense.

May 02, 2013 10:31 PM
Joshua Frederick
Home Inspector for ASPEC Residential Services, LLC - Defiance, OH
Home Inspector in Defiance & all of Northwest Ohio

Maybe they were betting on it not being inspected again.  And I bet you had to look up the spelling of conscientiousness when writing this blog :)

May 02, 2013 10:52 PM
Mark Delgado
houses for rent, Solano County & Glen Cove - Benicia, CA
Benicia and Vallejo, Property Management, rental h
I sometimes get the same déjà vu feeling when photographing a home. And very often have the same photos back in my computer just like you do. Maybe inspectors and photographers should team up?
May 02, 2013 10:54 PM
Donald Hester
NCW Home Inspections, LLC - Wenatchee, WA
NCW Home Inspections, LLC

Jim, Funny how that asbestos just keeps living on ;) By the way great advice on the making sure they understand that the buyer will be someday the seller.

May 02, 2013 11:15 PM
Tom Arstingstall, General Contractor, Dry Rot, Water Damage Sacramento, El Dorado County - (916) 765-5366
Dry Rot and Water Damage www.tromlerconstruction.com Mobile - 916-765-5366 - Placerville, CA
General Contractor, Dry Rot and Water Damage

You know you have been around for a while when you have photos from previous inspections of the same house James. :)

May 02, 2013 11:27 PM
David Opoka
Gilbert, AZ

That is why a buyer has a home inspection to let then know what  to have the seller fix or at least be aware of any problems.

May 02, 2013 11:42 PM
Nina Hollander, Broker
Coldwell Banker Realty - Charlotte, NC
Your Greater Charlotte Realtor

I'm in a transaction right now where I keep asking my client didn't your inspector find this when you bought the home? She keeps saying yes, but they wanted the house so badly they didn't care what the inspector said. Now it's biting her in the proverbial butt as she tries to sell her home with so many deficiencies that should have been addressed by the prior seller.

May 02, 2013 11:49 PM
Richie Alan Naggar
people first...then business Ran Right Realty - Riverside, CA
agent & author

The buyer and the seller will determine what is or is not important...Inspectors inspect and life goes on...Good post

May 02, 2013 11:58 PM
Robert Hammerstein
Christie's International Real Estate - Hillsdale, NJ
Bergen County NJ Real Estate

James - Isn't technology a grand thing? In that we can save all our pictures and go back in time so effortlessly? Oh I mean the human mind.... Yes Karma can get you back sometimes.... good post

May 03, 2013 01:31 AM
Steven Cook
No Longer Processing Mortgages. - Tacoma, WA

James -- surprising that the folks doing the furnace upgrade didn't mention the asbestos issue, and how they could take care of it for only a few thousand extra.   A great illustration of the difference between being a buyer and seller of the same home.

May 03, 2013 03:10 AM
Fred Hernden, CMI
Superior Home Inspections - Greater Albuquerque Area - Albuquerque, NM
Albuquerque area Master Inspector

I am even worse than that... a couple weeks ago I had a seller ask me "Aren't you the one that inspected this house when we bought it?" Awkwardly, I said I didn't think so. When i got home I looked back in my records and she was right...lol, four years ago! Duh! So I did the same home for the seller and the buyer!

May 03, 2013 10:01 PM
Lyn Sims
Schaumburg, IL
Real Estate Broker Retired

Obviously they didn't think it was a big deal & they just thought they would just pass that along to the new buyers. Also probably hope they don't see it.  Biggest mistake is having you back in to do the new inspection.

May 04, 2013 07:28 AM
James Quarello
JRV Home Inspection Services, LLC - Wallingford, CT
Connecticut Home Inspector

Jay, Any inspection other than a pre purchase one is a hard sell. 

Lenn, It will be, was requested by the buyer's agent this time. 

Gary, Funny you should ask. This is the third time this year for me. A record.

David, Yes I could have, but I wouldn't.

Carol, Yes it is. The mind is more powerful than we realize. 

Clint, Same here. I guess the repairs are forgotten once they move in. 

Michael, Exactly. The new buyer's did ask for it to be removed. 

Joshua, Yes and No. Spell check :)

May 04, 2013 10:11 PM
James Quarello
JRV Home Inspection Services, LLC - Wallingford, CT
Connecticut Home Inspector

Mark, I think we aren't taking pictures of the same stuff. 

Don, Thanks. It only stands to reason. No one stays in a house forever. 

Tom, Yep. I'm a little amazed at how long it's been.

David, Yes, awareness I think is one of the top reasons. 

Nina, You could have wrote the same blog :)

Richie, Ultimately yes, the two interested parties make the decisions. We're just there for advice.

Robert, I look back on how I began and where I am now with technology, huge difference.

Steven, My thoughts exactly. I have to believe it was mentioned, yet obviously ignored. 

Fred, I actually can see that happening very easily. We pay much more attention to the house than the people buying it. Not to say we are ignoring our clients, it's just the house is our main focus. 

Lyn, It's actually, if you think about, highly improbable for the same inspector to inspect the same house.

May 04, 2013 10:22 PM
Charles Buell
Charles Buell Inspections Inc. - Seattle, WA
Seattle Home Inspector

Jim, so true, and not just with asbestos.  I have buyers that I know go through the report and fix every little thing while others likely never even looked at the report :)

May 10, 2013 01:53 AM
James Quarello
JRV Home Inspection Services, LLC - Wallingford, CT
Connecticut Home Inspector

Charlie, Asbestos was the example here, but like you, I have inspected the same house and found nothing had been repaired that was cited in the report. 

May 10, 2013 09:45 PM