OPRA (No! not Winfrey) Reports, Inspections and do I need them?

[Martin Sterling]

Hey guys!

I was with an investor of over 30 years this pass weekend and one of the things he mentioned was an Open Permits Reported Act (OPRA) report. For those not familiar with it, it gives you a report of any permits not closed by the properties previous owners. He said he gets them every time before he buys a new property to flip. This investor also said he gets a property inspection and sewer line inspection before he purchases it as well.

Now, I did a flip with a Sherrif sale property. My mentor who JV'd with me, seems to never get these items before closing on a deal. He has his contractor take a look at the property to get the repair estimate and then does a title search, tank sweep and that's it.

Now I see the value of a tank sweep and title search, but, doesn't a Home inspection before you purchase your flip open you up to potential problems that were never reported and you could've quietly handled inexpensively, on your own timeline, in your own way and still make the property safe and sound for the final C/O inspection?

For example, undisturbed encased asbestos isn't an issue, but, if an inspector sees the house before you buy it and get a chance to encase it, he could give you a hard time and cost you money.

Also, do you guys typically pull these OPRA reports? 

So, is the investor who I JV'd with me playing it dangerous, or is the 30 year plus investor too "by the book" to be practical for most scenarios? A lot of these good deals will be gone by the time you get all your reports back to make a decision to pull the trigger when you're in a market where whale investors will do a non-refundable deposit on an initial walk through.

Thanks In Advance