Maintenance estimation ? Hidden issues ?

Question

Hi,

I through buying my first investment property and i have a question regarding estimating the maintenance costs.

After checking a foreclosure house which has been winterized, if my offer is accepted and i get a home inspection are they going to be able to check pipes and all taps while it's winterized ?

My main question is when inspection checks house and give a list of issues that i need to fix, can i later one find some serious issues ? like main water source leakage ? foundation mold ? mold between drywall which been replaced to cover the mold and leakage which was not fixed ? can i have any huge/serious surprises after professional inspector that can cost me thousands of dollars and lose my investments ?

Do inspectors can also give me a rough estimation costs ?

My only concern is buying a house and find a serious issues which cost me for example 30k while inspector/contractor said stuff for 10-20k , can this happen ?

Thanks.

Sherief Melik · Answer

Thanks @Aaron Westerburg for the detailed reply

Aaron Westerburg · Answer

@Sherief Melik , I have been a home inspector for 10+ years now, and in my experiences

if a house is winterized, an inspector typically will not be able to test the plumbing system. Home inspectors are usually limited to only testing things in a house that can be turned on and tested by normal means. For example, if the water is shut off to the house, a home inspector likely will not turn it back on. The inspector does not know why the water was turned off, or if there is a problem with the plumbing system, and they would be liable for any damage caused by turning it back on.

Most home inspectors will not give an estimate of repair costs. Home inspectors are not contractors or estimators. You can get 3 different estimates from 3 different contractors, and get 3 different prices, it depends on who you hire and how they fix it. A home inspector does not want to give you an estimate, and then it turn out to be way off from what a contractor would charge, this would reflect negatively on the home inspector. Some home inspectors might give you ball park range of costs though.

Can a home inspector miss something? Yes, this does happen. Home inspectors are human beings, and do make mistakes sometimes. The home inspector is inspecting and testing thousands of items during the inspection, not all deficiencies are detectable in a short amount of time, no home inspection is completely exhaustive. If a home inspector does miss something, it unfortunately would be your responsibility to take care of it, not the home inspector's.

I highly recommend that you do your due diligence before you hire a home inspector, and ask questions like, How long have you been in business? What kind of training do you have? Are you properly licensed? Do you carry insurance? Etc.

Hope this helps a little bit.

Cheers,

Aaron

Sherief Melik · Answer

Thanks @John D. and @Matt R. for your replies.

Matt R. · Answer

Quick version: You can un-winterize for the inspector to do tests, but you then have to be willing to either re-winterize or (if you decide to buy the house) pay the utilities to keep the house warm so pipes don't freeze, etc.

The inspection agreement *probably* says that you can't go back to the inspector for money if he or she misses something major - read it carefully.

Long version:

I bought the house I live in now as a foreclosure/REO.  The previous owners moved out in approximately summer 2008, and it had been winterized then; I went through the inspection in January 2009.

From what I remember, the real estate agent had been keeping the electricity on, but the gas and water were off.  She agreed to get those turned on for the inspection.  The gas was OK but when they turned the water on, they discovered a burst in a cold water pipe that hadn't been fully drained of water when winterized.  So they turned the water back off and I had to pay a plumber to fix that burst before we could do the inspection.  Luckily, the pipe was exposed on the garage ceiling, so it was an easy fix for the plumber.  There was also a split in the drain pipe under one bathroom sink; I think we just put a bucket under there when testing the sink.

Since I decided to buy the house, all the utilities were left on, and I left the furnace running at a low setting (like 50 F) so nothing would freeze.  I would also go by and check the house every day or two, to make sure the heat was still working.  The real estate agent told me that if I decided not to buy, the house would have to be re-winterized, and I think I would have paid for that.

I don't remember if I had the ability to go back to the inspector and say "you missed this, I want money" if something major was found later.  I kind of think I don't, but I don't remember exactly what the agreement said.  I *did* hire an independent inspector, not one that was recommended to me by the real estate agent, and I feel that he did a more thorough job.  When I bought a different house, 9 years prior, I hired an inspector that the real estate agent knew, and he missed some minor things.

The inspector in 2009 was willing to tell me *what* it would take to fix some of the issues he found, but he did not want to give me a cost estimate.  Since I had fixed things around a house before, I had a rough idea of what the things he found would cost anyway.

I hope this helps!

Matt R.

John D. · Answer

In my area, typically a home inspector will not, but a pest inspector will for the larger issues (section 1).  One of the home inspectors I've used regularly now gives me an "unofficial ballpark" on the cost of the issues he can see in voice, but doesn't want to put it in writing to make sure he's not liable should the problem/cost be much greater then he anticipated.