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I Wish the Home Inspector Would ................... (Fill in the Blank)

By
Home Inspector with HABITEC Home and Building Inspections, LLC

Do what?  Please send in your thoughts and comments on what you would like to see from Home Inspectors.  Regardless of where you work in the real estate market, from realtor to loan officer and everyone in between, send in your thoughts on what you would like to see from Home Inspectors in general.  What can we do to make your job easier? 

Thank you!

Richard

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Comments in this blog posting are the intellectual property of Richard Acree, President, HABITEC Home and Building Inspections, LLC, and contributing members of the Active Rain Real Estate network, and are intended to educate and otherwise assist home owners, sellers and buyers, building owners, sellers and buyers, realtors, real estate investors, property managers, and lenders in the process of owning, buying or selling homes or commercial buildings.  HABITEC is a residential (home) and commercial building inspection company serving Middle Tennessee including Nashville, Brentwood, Franklin, Murfreesboro, Smyrna, Mt. Juliet, Hendersonville, Dickson, Belle Meade, Columbia, Spring Hill and more!  In addition to building inspections HABITEC offers Environmental Services for mold assessments, radon testing and water quality analysis.  Additional information about HABITEC can be found on our website at www.habitecinspections.com, or call 615-376-2753. 

Richard Acree is the author of the HABITEC Home and Building Inspections Blog and founder of the ActiveRain Group Tennessee Home and Building Inspectors.  All are welcome to join and see more blogs like this one.

Comments (12)

Martin E. Kalisker, Esq.
Natick, MA
Real Estate Law From A Practical Perspective

I enjoy working with the various home inspectors that my clients select.  However, there are a few, shall we say, over zealous, inspectors out there that seem to put the scare of God into buyers about the home that they thought was going to be their next residence.

Let me explain.  I realize that building codes change over time, and that towns update their codes periodically.  However, when a home built in the 1970s, for example, is being inspected, it is quite normal up here in Massachusetts to see wall outlets 8-10 inches above baseboard heating units (electrical or radiant).  Yes, I agree that there is a potential risk that an electrical cord could touch the hot baseboard and this could be a potential fire hazard.  And yes, I agree that current building code doesn't allow for electrical outlets to be installed above baseboard heaters.  But to urge the buyer to have this problem rectified before ownership, in my opinion, is going overboard.

Because of this, I now take control of the situation and better inform my clients that the inspectors role is to tell them about everything they see- good or bad.  But that unless the inspector identifies something that the buyer didn't already know about or see prior to their offer, that they should not expect the seller to automatically accept the recommended upgrade or improvement and they should not look to the inspection report as an automatic pass to back out of the transaction.  I also (in front of the buyer client) tell the inspector the following "Before you go through your recommendations and findings with my client (i.e. if it wasn't for this transaction, you wouldn't be here), I suggest that you keep in mind the following which I will remind you to say, if you don't do it yourself.... Mr (Ms) Client, here are my findings....  However, in conclusion I would (wouldn't) still recommend to my sister (grandmother, etc.) to buy this home if they were in a similar situation."

I also try to get the inspector to categorize the bullet points: a) critical - needs immediate attention or affects home value, b) important - may want to get additional information, or suggest you hire another licensed professional to look at this, c) new owner maintenance point and d) FYI - don't do anything about this, just be aware of it.

I'm not trying to discount the important work that inspectors do.  I actually find that ASHI member firms are more proactive in trying to keep the deal alive for the buyer than non-members, but that's just my own experience.  But, I think that it's important to note that no home is perfect and as such, the role of the inspector should be to be alert to properly evaluate his findings in the context of a home purchase transaction and in the proper education of the buyer (and possibly the real estate agent).

  

 

Aug 13, 2008 02:03 AM
Rick Maday
Schaumburg, IL
Schaumburg Home Inspector -

Martin,

I have a few questions for you:

  1. Would you want to know if there was a fire hazard in the house you were buying?
  2. What about a "small" gas leak? Carbon Monoxide? - just a little bit?
  3. Do you think GFCI or AFCI save lives?  Smoke detectors?
  4. Do you make sure the client's attorney is also aware that it is your client (i.e. if it wasn't for this transaction, they wouldn't be there)?
  5. Do you often ask inspectors (and remind them if they forget) to make statements that could cost them their license?
  6. Do you know that inspectors are supposed to do their job without concern for "the deal"?

If you'd like to discuss further - email me.

 

Aug 13, 2008 04:09 PM
Michael Ivie
Ivco Inspection Service serving all of Habersham county - Cornelia, GA
CPI

I don't know what to say about the Weichert answer....Except I'm glad I don't work in that area. How could I sleep at night knowing that I didn't do the job my client hired me to do. This is another great example of what kind of inspectors some R/A's want to recommend.

Aug 13, 2008 04:25 PM
Sandy Nelson
Riley Jackson Real Estate Inc. - Olympia, WA
your Olympia area Realtor

Richard,

I like when home inspectors let the buyers know which deficits are severe and which are minor. Presenting  that a water heater is only strapped down with one earthquake strap rather than two in the same way as the fact that the roof only has 5 years of life left can be alarming to a new home buyer. The buyer's Realtor should not be in the position to make these differentiations.

Sandy

 

Aug 13, 2008 04:30 PM
Christopher Currins
CBC Home Inspections - Godfrey, IL
Metro East Home Inspector - IL.

"I will remind you to say, if you don't do it yourself.... Mr (Ms) Client, here are my findings....  However, in conclusion I would (wouldn't) still recommend to my sister (grandmother, etc.) to buy this home if they were in a similar situation."

 

If I made ANY recommendation in regards to buying the house I would loose my License.

Also if the organization I belong to (InterNachi) found out, I would also loose my membership to them.

 

 

Aug 13, 2008 04:34 PM
Robert Dirienzo
HABITEC Home and Building Inspections, LLC - Franklin, TN
Home Inspections - Nashville TN

Great comments everybody!  Two points jump out at me so far in this discussion.

First, I agree with a "grading" system on Home Inspection reports.  At HABITEC Home and Building Inspections, LLC, we have several grades that we can apply to each item evaluated during the Inspection.  The most common are Acceptable, Functional, Marginal, Defective and either Not Inspected or Not Applicable.  Each grade comes with a definition that is repeated in the summary pages.  The feed back we get from our associates in the real estate community is that such a system helps the Client and the Realtor prioritize the list of issues discovered during the Inspection.  This makes the job of the realtor easier by breaking down the list into those of most concern to those of least concern.  Grading can be subjective but without grading all issues may be looked at equally, which can actually lead to unnecessary confusion.

Second, I agree with the opinions that Inspectors should not engage in making recommendations regarding the purchase of the home.  Again at HABITEC we are frequently asked this question by the Client.  Our response is basically that we cannot make that call because there is a lot more involved in the answer than simply the issues discovered during the Home Inspection.  Things such as location, neighborhood, proximity to work and schools, the cost of the home, taxes and more.  We do spend time explaining that almost all homes have issues that should be addressed.  This approach appears to help the Client understand that few homes will appear as "perfect".

Richard

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Comments in this blog posting are the intellectual property of Richard Acree, President, HABITEC Home and Building Inspections, LLC, and contributing members of the Active Rain Real Estate network, and are intended to educate and otherwise assist home owners, sellers and buyers, building owners, sellers and buyers, realtors, real estate investors, property managers, and lenders in the process of owning, buying or selling homes or commercial buildings.  HABITEC is a residential (home) and commercial building inspection company serving Middle Tennessee including Nashville, Brentwood, Franklin, Murfreesboro, Smyrna, Mt. Juliet, Hendersonville, Dickson, Belle Meade, Columbia, Spring Hill and more!  In addition to building inspections HABITEC offers Environmental Services for mold assessments, radon testing and water quality analysis.  Additional information about HABITEC can be found on our website at www.habitecinspections.com, or call 615-376-2753. 

Richard Acree is the author of the HABITEC Home and Building Inspections Blog and founder of the ActiveRain Group Tennessee Home and Building Inspectors.  All are welcome to join and see more blogs like this one.

Aug 14, 2008 02:25 AM
Anonymous
Erol Kartal

Real estate agents should stay out of the inspection process. It's none of their business how we write our reports. The buyer has hired us to perform a neutral party inspection. If the home has major issues then show the buyer another home. That's your job!

Aug 14, 2008 04:17 AM
#7
Patrick Cloninger
Pinpoint Home Inspections - Knoxville, TN
Knoxville Home Inspector

All I can say is WOW!

Martin......I hope that is not how you really conduct yourself during the sale of a home.  If you do, IMO, you should not have a real estate license.

I go in to every inspection as a neutral party. I treat my client the way I would want to be treated, plain and simple.

Aug 14, 2008 07:06 AM
Michael Thomas
Paragon Property Services - Chicago, IL
Home Inspector - Chicago, IL

One thing that some real estate agents don't understand is that a home inspector often does not have a choice as to whether to report a condition - even if  in the inspector's experience and opinion it's highly unlikely to actually result in injury or death.  If we see it, and know that it's considered a potential hazard, we have to report it, and we can't understate the the potential risk to please a agent or anyone else. 

A leaking (and thus potentially defective) TPRV could server as  a good example: statistically, the chances it will result in an explosion are very low... but real.  And no inspector is his or her right mind is going to fail to explain the potential outcome to a client in terms they cannot fail to understand, both verbally and in the report, for example my report contains a link to a page on my site with several examples such as this one:

 

water heater explosion sent heater through garage roof

Is this going to "worry my client"?

I certainly hope so - I don't ever intend to be on the witness stand with an attorney asking me why I didn't make it absolutly clear to my client that this could happen.

Note, however, that IMO iti is also my responsibility to put this problem in perspective for my client - in this case by pointing out that it's most likely this defect can be corrected by the installation of a replacement TPRV - a relatively inexpensive repair - and that the unlikely absolute worst case is that the water heater would have to be replaced.

Another thing an agent or seller may not appreciate is that an inspector may have good reason for believing  that a "minor" item is a more serious or likely hazard then they suppose.

A good example is non-safety gazing at an window in a exterior door.

When I first started as an inspector this was just one of many "hazardous" conditions to be observed and reported, however when within a year three different clients had rolled up their sleeve to show the nasty scars they had received as children or adults from such mishaps (a trend that has continued) I began to take this defect very seriously... though I'm sure some agents are wondering "Why the heck is this inspector is making such a big deal out of this?".

As for recommendations to upgrade certain "grandfathered" systems and components to modern standards, when someone points out that this is not required, taking a cue from an older and wiser inspector than myself I just note that that "that's not likely be a source of much comfort to the surviving spouse".

As for telling people to not buy the house, here's my take:

When you ask the home inspector "Should I buy this house?"

Aug 16, 2008 08:57 AM
Rick Maday
Schaumburg, IL
Schaumburg Home Inspector -

Great points Michael,

I'll akso add that we are lucky, in Illinois, to have to inspect to current construction standards.

Aug 16, 2008 11:10 AM
Robert Dirienzo
HABITEC Home and Building Inspections, LLC - Franklin, TN
Home Inspections - Nashville TN

Michael,

Great comments and even better picture.  There is a segment on one of the Discovery Channels stories about Myths that goes through the process of testing various sizes of water heaters with "failed" TPR valves.  They all eventually explode, with the standard 50 gallon appliance doing exactly what is depicted in your picture.  Amazing!

Your comments about reporting and not offering advise on the purchase of a home are right on. 

Thanks

Richard

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Comments in this blog posting are the intellectual property of Richard Acree, President, HABITEC Home and Building Inspections, LLC, and contributing members of the Active Rain Real Estate network, and are intended to educate and otherwise assist home owners, sellers and buyers, building owners, sellers and buyers, realtors, real estate investors, property managers, and lenders in the process of owning, buying or selling homes or commercial buildings.  HABITEC is a residential (home) and commercial building inspection company serving Middle Tennessee including Nashville, Brentwood, Franklin, Murfreesboro, Smyrna, Mt. Juliet, Hendersonville, Dickson, Belle Meade, Columbia, Spring Hill and more!  In addition to building inspections HABITEC offers Environmental Services for mold assessments, radon testing and water quality analysis.  Additional information about HABITEC can be found on our website at www.habitecinspections.com, or call 615-376-2753. 

Richard Acree is the author of the HABITEC Home and Building Inspections Blog and founder of the ActiveRain Group Tennessee Home and Building Inspectors.  All are welcome to join and see more blogs like this one.

Aug 17, 2008 01:23 AM
Charles (Chuck) Crooker
CROOKERHANCOX HOME INSPECTIONS INC. - Brantford, ON

Make more $$$$.

Sep 17, 2008 04:13 PM