I get called into a lot of real estate transactions post home inspection. What usually happens is the home inspector will make recommendations based on the inspection of construction defects an advise the seller to seek a qualified, certified or licensed professional depending to the issue to address or fix the problem. At this point it is critical to have a clear understanding what is being asked of the underlying issues in order to make the right decision on how to proceed with addressing the concern. Some sellers will automatically call in some tradesman to "fix" or "replace" whatever issue was identified during the home inspection and spend big money on something that based on the wording in the report may have been misinterpreted, misread, misdiagnosed or misunderstood. Not saying the home inspector is at fault simply saying that their recommendations should be thoroughly understood in order to be correctly addressed. This type of misunderstanding usually ends up costing the seller a lot of money for something that may have had a simpler or cheaper solution if addressed properly.
Example: Recently a homeowner had "suspect" mold on the wood sheathing (plywood) attic written in a home inspection report. The report simply stated for them to have it "looked at by a certified mold specialist". The seller than proceeded to call a mold company and requested an inspection that cost about $1200.00. This inspection simply confirmed that they did indeed have mold in the attic that needed to be cleaned. The mold inspection (testing) firm then recommended that the mold by remediated (treated) by a "certified mold remediation specialist"
Now when I read the report I realized how words can have different meanings... If the wording "looked at" in the report had been replaced with something else like get an estimate or the home sellers first asked for clarification or priced out testing verses cleaning they might have saved a bunch of money by skipping the testing on a job that was it obviously just needed to be cleaned. The actual clean up ended up costing $1500.00...Only $300.00 more than the testing!
This happens with all aspects of home repairs! Plumbing, electrical, HVAC and everything else that breaks and needs fixing!
So in closing read, re-read, re-re-read and you or your client call the inspector and attorney if you are not 100% crystal clear on what is being asked, recommended or suggested as you may be saving the deal and your client a lot of money by doing your homework!
I recently posted the "Realtor Education Series Video 1 of 6" about what to expect from an inspection verses an estimate on our youtube channel: Mr Mold TV:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_qy3hsPL0
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