Has the Importance of a House Inspection Become Overblown?

[ameliasolis]

Get the seller to accept your price. So people bid at or high to be “first in line to get their bid accepted” and plenty of realtors say you must bid high to get this house. Obviously, it’s somewhat area specific. Once the seller accepts the offer the buyer is “in the driver seat for x days” At this time they can go around “finding” all these horrible things wrong with a house. Granted some are legitimate, others are simply to get that overbid price down. The seller at this time is stuck with the choice they made and the realtors start saying it’s still a

good price even with dropping 3-20k off the price because you get to sell and move on. The seller is stuck between a realtor and a buyer so a lot of times the whole experience becomes a “F it” I wanna be done with this and they agree. Usually, because they need to sell so they can move on to their new house etc. And the realtors, sellers, and buyers all know this It’s a game everyone plays. Now yes inspections have become a weapon in negotiating wars. Ultimately the seller can tell the buyer and realtors a simple word. NO. I have

used that plenty of times when I told people that I’m not interested in whatever proposition they have. The best thing to do is price the house with the understanding that it needs work. You can drop the price where it accommodates some leeway for the needed repairs. Now if the house needs say 30k worth of work I’m not dropping 30k off the price. I’ll drop it lower to accommodate some of the work. The problem is people are expecting a preowned house to be in like new or new condition these days. If it doesn’t have it they want deep discounts. Ultimately you are buying a previously lived-in house and lots of times it means it’s not going to be all new everything,

 

[Mark K]

Not a concern of the building department.

 

[e hilton]

Amelia … you are confusing a private home inspector with a city/ county public inspector.

 

[Mark K]

A private engineer inspecting a building can be held personally liable while a building department inspector has no personal liability.

 

[Gregg Harris]

Get the seller to accept your price. So people bid at or high to be “first in line to get their bid accepted” and plenty of realtors say you must bid high to get this house. Obviously, it’s somewhat area specific. Once the seller accepts the offer the buyer is “in the driver seat for x days” At this time they can go around “finding” all these horrible things wrong with a house. Granted some are legitimate, others are simply to get that overbid price down. The seller at this time is stuck with the choice they made and the realtors start saying it’s still a

good price even with dropping 3-20k off the price because you get to sell and move on. The seller is stuck between a realtor and a buyer so a lot of times the whole experience becomes a “F it” I wanna be done with this and they agree. Usually, because they need to sell so they can move on to their new house etc. And the realtors, sellers, and buyers all know this It’s a game everyone plays. Now yes inspections have become a weapon in negotiating wars. Ultimately the seller can tell the buyer and realtors a simple word. NO. I have

used that plenty of times when I told people that I’m not interested in whatever proposition they have. The best thing to do is price the house with the understanding that it needs work. You can drop the price where it accommodates some leeway for the needed repairs. Now if the house needs say 30k worth of work I’m not dropping 30k off the price. I’ll drop it lower to accommodate some of the work. The problem is people are expecting a preowned house to be in like new or new condition these days. If it doesn’t have it they want deep discounts. Ultimately you are buying a previously lived-in house and lots of times it means it’s not going to be all new everything,

So your position is to sell the house even if it needs 30 k of work the buyer should except that because you need the profit.
Why would any one pay more for a house than it is worth. Does not make sense.
Home inspections are a good thing because most people do not know if something is wrong that a previous owner did as a repair or just neglected the property to a point where it is untenable and the seller knows but does not divulge the information to the perspective buyer.

That is just plain wrong. House flippers attempt to cover up needed repairs in an attempt to get top dollar and an home inspection can reveille that in most cases.

 

[e hilton]

Why would any one pay more for a house than it is worth. Does not make sense.

Neighbor just sold his house 2 weeks ago. Previous owner sold to him under market value at about $250. Our house is identical but slightly better condition … he has done nothing in 5 yrs except last minute pre-sale fixup, market is about $400. Neighbor was in a hurry to sell, he had a mobile home south of tampa and was like a high school kid chasing skirt … nothing was going to stop him. We were surprised when he listed for $429 but we figured he had room to negotiate. Young couple had missed a couple of houses so offered $480 the first day. $50k over asking. We almost fell over. Clueless inspector found a few things, like saying the entire roof needed to be replaced. It’s 5 yrs old and we have not had any damaging weather. He did point out the hvac was original … 30 yrs … seller refused to negotiate. In the end the sale closed, the buyers caved.

 

[Gregg Harris]

Neighbor just sold his house 2 weeks ago. Previous owner sold to him under market value at about $250. Our house is identical but slightly better condition … he has done nothing in 5 yrs except last minute pre-sale fixup, market is about $400. Neighbor was in a hurry to sell, he had a mobile home south of tampa and was like a high school kid chasing skirt … nothing was going to stop him. We were surprised when he listed for $429 but we figured he had room to negotiate. Young couple had missed a couple of houses so offered $480 the first day. $50k over asking. We almost fell over. Clueless inspector found a few things, like saying the entire roof needed to be replaced. It’s 5 yrs old and we have not had any damaging weather. He did point out the hvac was original … 30 yrs … seller refused to negotiate. In the end the sale closed, the buyers caved.

I am aware that people do get excited and pay more for items just because they want it. What I do not agree with is when people know they have major repairs but do not care to make the repairs, but expect to get top dollar for it. Your house as an example you state is in better condition so asking for a market price would be an ethical position to take.

Now your new neighbors are facing repair cost that they probably had not considered

 

[ICE]

Home inspectors can be a valuable tool for the uninitiated. It gives the buyer a warm fuzzy feeling to know that a man that drives a pickup looked it over and the house is not on fire.

 

[Gregg Harris]

Home inspectors can be a valuable tool for the uninitiated. It gives the buyer a warm fuzzy feeling to know that a man that drives a pickup looked it over and the house is not on fire.

Uninitiated individuals is the reason for having home inspectors.
As in any line of work you have individuals that are quite knowledgeable in there field, and there are many others that are not. I have met both types of home inspectors.

 

[e hilton]

Now your new neighbors are facing repair cost that they probably had not considered

The only real repair is the hvac. Everything else is mosty maintenance, like the landscaping that the 2 full size dogs trashed.