home inspectors-are they necessary?

Question

A woman I know just bought a house and hired a home inspector.  Two weeks after moving in a pipe broke behind a washer and flooded her whole house. She had to have the whole floor - subflooring and all - replaced. Why didn't the home inspector catch this? It had nothing to do with freezing pipes. It was just a bad pipe. It makes me feel funny about hiring one. Are there guidelines that they have to follow? Are they regulated by the state?  How can I find a good one?

Scott Miller · Answer

I'd have to agree a little slack would have to be extended in this circumstance.

There is no way to determine the tensile strength of piping and or internal wear and tear, etc. unless you hired Clark Kent.

Regards,

Scott Miller

Ken Hicks · Answer

I agree with the home warranty. $500 You can't lose, even when I had my home built with in the first year I would have had to pay $1,500 or more to replace the compressor in my heat pump. Thank god it was under the warranty.

I have always wondered if it is better for a contractor to do the home inspection. I seen home inspectors that didn't seem to know what they were talking about and inspected the home in under an hour. I did have one inspector that was great. I think He charged $150 I honestly forget. He was in and out of the house. he had a detailed report generated from his truck. 100% on his A game. He spent 3 hours or more at the house that was 4 years old. Some questions I had he answered with educated answers. Some of these guys just go take a class then get a paper saying they can do this job (I think this is how it goes). just like anything I would screen them.

Ruben Aguirre · Answer

I am at new real estate investing, although I've worked in the industry for several years now.  I do have an experience with an inspector I would like to share to prove many comments in this post.

Approximately 6-12 months ago, my wife and I were looking to purchase a home as our personal residence.  We fell in love (I know, I know) with a not great looking home in a great neighborhood with a beautiful park within a 3 minute walk.  And the area has some of the highest resale values in El Paso, TX.  The home was priced at 180,000, just barely for us to still live comfortably with the mortgage.  The price was also a little below the average for the area.

We submitted an offer for the house, and under my agent's pressure (she is a friend of ours), hired an inspector and coughed up $170.  I hated doing that!  I thought, I'm not going to fork over any more money after this.  The guy was super thorough, spent 4 hours in the house, let me walk with him as he inspected the house (I hear EPTX inspectors are very prissy and don't like to be followed through the inspection) and explained every little thing as he saw things.  I found out the guy owned a couple of rentals, is a handy man and rehabber. ( ...As I write this,  the light bulb just turned on in my head!  I need to call this guy up and add him to my team, even as a mentor-type!... )  He gives an unofficial estimate because he isn't allowed by law to give an official one. $12,000-15,000!!!  And he suggested I spend more money,  "I'm not a termite inspector, but if I were you, I would have a termite inspector check that out."

$75 dollars later, I get an unofficial bid from a termite inspector for damage of potentially $5,000.  And all this time, I didn't want to "waste money" on an inspector!  We amended our contract 23K below the asking price and never heard from the seller's agent again.

I guess I should title this, how $250 saved me $20,000.

Now, I'm not a thoroughbred RE investor (I'm a newbie), but if the community is saying a good inspection should take 2-3 hours, plus another 1 hour for miscellaneous, and it may not cost more than $100 an hour to do an inspection, shouldn't you pro's let an inspector do the work while you're tying up other deals or securing the current one, instead of running the inspection yourself?  Unless of course the time you invest in your business doesn't generate over $100 an hour. But that is a whole different story!  :)

Account Closed · Answer

I googled "home inspection checklists" and found one at 
http://www.inspectamerica.com/html/home_inspection_checklist.html

I have a very old one, this is similar to that one.
For instance, This one lists:
Roof (Type) Asphalt Shingles_________ Slate_________ Tile________ Cedar________ Other________

Roof (Condition) Good________ Fair________ Poor________ Sags________

Roof Leaders & Gutters Good________ Fair________ Poor________

Mine however, says, in part, for the roof:
Crawl up into the attic. Look at the wood on the roof. Is there any sign of leakage?

Is there any rotten wood? Check the beams, especially in the corners. You can test the wood with an ice pick or screwdriver. Poke it!

It has many more suggestions.

This checklist came from a very old book called _How to Buy a Home_. (that suggestion to use an ice pick may give a clue as to era, lol.)
I don't know the author, but you might find it in your library, used book store, or maybe E-bay. I know I've had the list since at least 1993, but the book may be much older.

If you combine several lists, you might get a really comprehensive list of your own that will serve you well. Then, when needed, call in the experts, and get the home warranty, too.

Matt H · Answer

She should now sue the homeinspector. They will then tap their insurance to cover the damages.

That's one good thing about getting a home inspector in that if the home inspector screws up, they can be sued for damages.

So tell her to go after the home inspector right away. They'll pay for the damages out of their insurance. This happens all the time.

Frank Adams · Answer

IMO if you can't do your own inspections, you shouldn't be investing in RE! To me a TERMITE REPORT is much more valuable, and probably costs a heck of a lot less as well.

I don't need someone to tell me; "there's built up grease in the drip pans on the stove", faucet in 2nd bath may have a clogged aereator", "purlins are missing on some rafters-suggest you have a mechanical engineer inspect".

I can see all of these things, but I can't see TERMITES eating the studs. Of course in TX I assume every house has termites.

I pass on the "insurance policy" too.

all cash

Lee Warren · Answer

If you have enough experience and background in the real estate or construction field to be able to find the things that an inspector would find, then that's great.  It helps save you money on the front side.  It also works if you have the capital to back you up should something come up that you weren't expecting to pay for on the property.  However, for those that may not have the real estate background, or the construction experience to find those things that may make the rehab costs significantly higher than expected when things are found after the fact, it can be very beneficial to have a home inspection done.  Keep in mind that the inspector works for you.  His or her job is to look out for your best interest.  Not every investor will want to crawl through attics, under foundations, on top of roofs, or check electrical panels, plumbing etc.  Most investors don't know if a wire size is too small for the circuit in which it's on.  This is where an investor or home buyer in general can benefit greatly from having a home inspection performed by a reputable inspector.  This is true in both preowned homes as well as brand new ones.  I have found that many brand new homes have more issues than preowned homes.  The rate these houses are being thrown up is causing city inspectors a backlog of work which means things get missed.  I have found sewer lines that were draining the wrong direction on a new home build just before the slab was poured.  This was even after the city inspector had already given them a green tag to pour the slab.  Had that not been ncaught before the pour, how much would that have cost the homeowner after the fact.
Getting a home inspection may not be for everyone.  Some people have the experience and financial backing to not be concerned with it.  For evryone else, it can save you thousands of dollars on the backside.

Lee Warren

Lee Warren · Answer

Some states are different in what is required of a home inspector.  Texas regulates home inspectors quite a bit.  I have worked with a number of investors both on the agent side and on the inspector side.  A typical home inspection should take about 2-3 hours minimum, depending on the size of the house.  You can go onto TREC's website at http://www.trec.state.tx.us and look up home inspector information.  There you can actually pull down the standard report form that home inspectors must use.  You can also look up any inspector to find out if they are actually licensed.  In Texas, you be licensed though TREC in order to get paid to inspect a home.  Now I have had to actually hire an inspector for clients when I was representing them as their agent (can't be both the agent and the inspector - conflict of interest).  Most of the inspectors I hire tend to spend 45 minutes to an hour in the house, and then throw out a report on site.  This is just laziness.  When I do my inspections, I walk through the house with the client after the inspection and then email them the report with pictures included the same evening.  Granted, there are some things that an inspector won't see.  For instance, this situation where the pipe was behind a wall.  There is no real way to see defects that are hidden in such a manner without opening up the wall and causing damage.  However, most investors buying a house aren't going to go through the attic, climb on the roof, crawl around with the snakes and spiders under the house, etc. to find out exactly what they are buying.  When looking for a home inspection, call a few people.  Don't just ask them what they charge.  Ask them what they actually do.  Most inspectors will just throw a price out at you and that's it.  They should be able to break down exactly what they are going to do in the house, and inform you exactly of the services that they provide.  A standard inspection report is 14 pages seeing as TREC even regulates the font size that inspectors must put on their report.  However, reports like mine are typically 20-25 pages due to have much ore information and pictures included.  I am a visual person.  I feel it is easier for people to understand the report better when there are pictures included.  It's also a nice way to prove that the inspector "actually" went through the house like he said he did.  If you have any questions about inspections, please feel free to call me.

Have a great day.

Lee Warren

Eric Medemar · Answer

I never use inspectors on anything that I buy, I just figure something will be wrong with everything, then when its not, I get to celebrate.  I do know what to look for though when doing a property preview

Kevin S. · Answer

As to the original post, I agree with the "give him some slack" view. Sounds like a tough thing to catch. As to the bigger picture about home inspectors, too many of them got their certification from Ranger Rick, and don't know jack. As an investor you can find one to make a deal happen or break one you want out of. Talk to a local real estate agent to find which type you need, a deal breaker or a deal maker.

home inspectors-are they necessary?

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