Why is it a bad idea to waive a home inspection?
don’t waive home inspectionTrade Secrets Home inspections; naples florida home inspections
It seems like right now there’s definitely a rush to move to Florida. While it seems that the market is hot everywhere, we are definitely seeing the effects of it in our area. There’s a really high demand for homes, but there’s a shortage of homes listed. But, there’s a huge supply of people willing to pay just about anything, including over-asking price, and it’s creating some really crazy things happening in the market.
People are calling to request inspections in a 3 to 5 day inspection period. And that’s in the cases that they’re not waiving the inspection completely. That’s what’s really concerning: people from other parts of the country moving down to Florida. These people are not familiar with the environment and conditions here, so to just step into a high risk, huge investment seems like such a peril.
Is there anything I can do in lieu of a home inspection, especially if the seller is unwilling to wait?
If you’re a Realtor or a buyer there are some ideas and options on what you can do in this competitive market. You may not be aware of some of the risks involved to decline the property inspection. Today properties are selling $10, sometimes $100’s of $1000s of dollars over appraisal value. People are willing to spend that kind of money, and that’s fine. But there’s so much competition that the sellers are being put in this power position, where they get to say, “I have so many people offering me to take this right now, I can make some demands that otherwise wouldn’t generally happen.”
Let’s talk first about what we, a home inspection company, can do for you in the short offer periods.
If you don’t have the time or you’re not in a position to do the full due diligence inspections, there are some options. There is what is called an “informational only inspection” or a “walk through inspection”. Essentially, you bring your home inspector on your initial walk through of the open house or property, and instead of doing a written inspection, the inspector walks through it with you.
One of the other options we tell people is to put in your offer. If you’re going to offer what is generally more than asking, put in a bonus offer for allowing the inspection. Many times that the report comes back with at least $2,500 dollars worth of findings. Even if you’re not going to get that money credited to you, or accounted for you in the offer, you just need to know what it is you’re purchasing. A few dollars spent today could save you $50,000 tomorrow.
Another option is known as a “short inspection”.
There are four fundamental insurance forms that document the major systems, to include HVAC, roof, electric and plumbing. Roofs are now becoming harder and harder to insure, and it’s not that the roof has a problem- it’s that there are fewer insurance companies that want to take the risk to insure it. Even though a roof might be brand new!
If your roof is 15 years right now there’s almost no company out there willing to offer you a coverage policy on it. They’ll give you insurance on the house, but then limit the coverages, such as water intrusion, or they won’t cover the roof. In cases where cash buyers don’t need to meet the mortgage requirements, you still need to be aware that you are responsible if a new roof is needed. In your offer you should always make sure it is included that you have the right to void regardless of whether the customer is saying they’re selling the property as is. Everything is simply a negotiation. How much risk are you willing to take?
True Story:
I met with some clients a couple of weeks ago who didn’t think they were going to do the inspection. Because I was able to fit them in the schedule within the shortened timeline, they decided on an inspection after all. Because this newly remodeled home looks beautiful, they weren’t convinced that it was worth spending the time or money.
This newly remodeled home had no outstanding issues other than some small repairs here and there; the workmanship was also fine. The one problem, however, is there are no permits on file.
So is that a problem?
Yes. The city really does get involved in these big construction projects that weren’t done correctly, or legally with permits. So from there the city will say you need to buy all the permits, and will most likely charge triple. And, the city will have to do all the inspections, which often means you have to take everything apart, because they want to do the rough-in inspections and that’s all buried behind the beautiful finishes. It would seem as if you were remodeling that house again.
Your best course of action in that case is to invest some time in finding out exactly what it is you’re purchasing. Before they blindly handed over $500,000 the clients decided to walk away from that property.
This happens every day. Let us be your advocate. Don’t let the pressure of the seller push you into something you aren’t prepared for! There are alternatives to a full home inspection!
Rick