My neighbor is currently selling her home. And the prospective buyer is going over the
property with a fine-tooth comb. The buyer scheduled home, HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning), plumbing and termite inspections. I personally felt conflicted over the matter, because I inspected her house not too long ago and found some major problem spots. But here is the real issue for me: None of the other inspectors reported what I found during their visits. Should the buyer know? Did his inspection go badly?
Freedom of information
The buyer should most definitely know about the problems, but I can’t be the one to tell him. Why you ask (you certainly are inquisitive this evening)? My neighbor hired me, so my findings belong to her, and I can’t share the information that she bought. Now technically, she should have reported my findings on the seller’s disclosure form — this paperwork exists in various forms in every state — but certain circumstances allow her to bypass reporting them. If she believes that the issue has been resolved or the problem has been fixed since the initial findings, she does not have to report it. If she is not sure of the cause of the problem, for example my report was not absolutely definitive, she does not have to report the findings. For this reason, inspectors lovingly refer to the seller’s disclosure form as the “pack of lies.” We read it when we need a laugh.
I watched the days pass as the different inspectors poked and prodded the property. One of the home inspectors the buyer hired has a reputation for being one of the best in Texas. But even he missed some of my findings, completely ignoring them in his report. My neighbor happily reported that they found nothing really wrong with the home, except the federal pacific panels (FPE panels are a story for another day). Does this mean his inspection was bad? Well, that is debatable.
In the eye of the beholder
Today, a Realtor was surprised when I told him that my inspections last for four hours. He thought it would be shorter. I try to ensure him that I see everything, but the fact of the matter is, no inspector does. Mainly we fall into two groups: inspectors who work hard to find everything and those who know they will not find everything, so they don’t worry about it. Hopefully, every major item will be uncovered, but your inspector’s experience may not guarantee his best performance.
There’s also the “deal killer inspector.” I’ll admit that sometimes even I can fall into this category. A couple of months ago, a client told me that if he wanted to get out of the contract, he would just have to show the seller my report. The home had problems, and I was going to report them, because I felt my client needed to know all the details. But I find most deal killers are the inspectors who want to overemphasize their reports. Because an inspector has a brief time to connect with his client, he may act dramatic or overzealous so that the client will feel convinced. But this approach frequently leaves the client frightened, so it’s not a good idea for inspectors to do that. If this happens to you, review the inspection report on your own and determine how important the findings are to you. Major problems with the structure should be a worry, but a torn window screen may be something that you can live with.