Should you advise a seller to get an inspection up front?

[Bill Saunders]

It sure seemed like a great idea.

Get the inspection and boom, you take care of many inspection objections on the front end..proactive and all that.

Show that to the prospective buyers to show good faith of the seller's intent on having a good quality product. The seller has already taken care of many of the "problems" so she will not be blindsided during the approach to closing.
Smooth sailing on a peaceful sea...maybe...

Just read in this myriad of info that I obtained on E&O ins. about being  VERY careful about advising your seller as to what repairs to do and what not to do. What if you advise them not to do something and it turns out to be the deal breaker...OMG! You are sooo liable...

What are your experiences/opinions on this?

And just where the %^* have all you guys been?

[Ed Schneider / DC]

We've been hiding from you, but damn, you found us. Must have been my pink hair.

It certainly cannot hurt to suggest an upfront inspection. It can generate good will for the sellers on buyers. I encountered this once and was impressed.

One other thing it might help avoid is having a less-than-scrupulous bastard of a buyer who uses his own inspection report to re-open negotiations after the seller has agreed to their price and taken the property off the market. Your seller will hate when that happens.

[Jennifer Allan]

Whenever I put my own house on the market, I ALWAYS  have it pre-inspected so I can eliminate all the nickel & dime items... and any big items that I want control over repair of. For example, if the furnace is bad, I"d rather replace it on my own terms than have a buyer make demands on make & model & efficiency and such.

The downside is that technically, the seller is supposed to share the inspection with buyers upon request. If there are items on the inspection that the seller chooses not to fix, you can bet the buyer will demand that they be fixed, even if they're silly or inconsequential.

Last year I had my home pre-inspected (by an idiot inspector - my guy was on vacation) and he claimed to find mold in the attic. Upon further investigation, we figured it out it wasn't mold, it was cement (don't ask), but --- I then had an inspection report that said I had mold. Had I shared the report with a buyer, you can bet he would have demanded a bunch of professional tests and raised a fit.

If you think the seller will pro-actively make repairs after an pre-inspection, I'd definitely recommend it.

Regarding your other comment about protecting yourself... I disagree. As long as you're doing the best job you know how and advising from your heart and brain, you'll be right far more often than you'll be wrong. Not to mention you'll make lots more commission checks by being helpful.

You should see me at an inspection. Liability be damned - I'm RIGHT in there with my buyer and really knock myself out providing advice and service. I actually love the inspection process - it's where I really shine!

[Chuck Capan]

Bill-

Sorry I've not been around for a while.  Flunked my last urine/drug test with my probation officer.  Then their was no internet access at the county jail.  Rumor was that the county had not budgeted enough to pay the internet vendor.

I got everything cleared up now...it was just a false positive.  After several trips to nurse for blood analysis I proved that I had not violated my probation.  Only 15 more months to go!  Yiiipppeee!

I agree with JA...get the home pre-inspected.  Then the seller is not under the pressure of a sales contract and may end up paying more than usual.

[Bill Saunders]

It IS a good idea...IMNO (Lord I hope that doesn't mean something horrible..N=newbie) and thanks for the affirmation. I will continue on, cautious, but doing the right thing.

My broker keeps reminding me that I am not an inspector, and I certainly know I am not and I say that all the time, but hell if the sill is rotten, it's rotten...sorry. I just point and say to the stealth-buyer(shadowy on the radar) that if  it were me I would want the inspector to look at "that". I do like working with buyers. I like working my butt off for buyers.

Nice hair Ed, but JA's got ya beat .

Have a good one, folks...rainy here

[Bill Saunders]

Chuck,
I HATE it when that happens!!!

Thanks, man...
all the best...

[Susan Haughton]

Chuck, ahem, after that last comment, maybe your tagline should be "waiting for my BAIL," not bailout.   

Ed, ahem, I'm not sure where to go with the pink hair, blue skin thing...somewhere in heaven, I suppose Andy Warhol is smiling down. Are you going to be on tv any time soon, btw?

As for E&O and all the "I'm too afraid to do my job" crap you hear from people on occasion when they tell you not to do anything because you may get sued, I'm with JA - do the best job you know how,  don't do anything willfully stupid and your clients will love you for it.  A lot of agents apparently think "finding the house" IS the sum total of their job, which is why some members of the public think we're not worth our commission.

[Ed Schneider / DC]

Susan - No TV until October, from what I understand. However, the Get It Solds I appeared in may very well be in rotation on HGTV.

Did I ever tell you I hired Andy W twice to illustrate covers for the magazines I was designing? And yes, he'd love the hair/face coloration.

[Susan Haughton]

Lately I have become - once again - addicted to HGTV so I very well may stumble across an episode...it's not like they're not on over and over and over!  ;-)

Very cool about Andy W...when I was in high school, I attended a fine arts program called Governor's School for the Gifted, one of the partners of which was the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.  One of our outings was lunch at the home of Sydney and Frances Lewis, who were big collectors and art patrons...in their dining room was a Warhol of Mrs Lewis - while that's cool under any circumstances, at 16, it totally blew me away.  I often wish I had that day back because as impressed as I was at 16, I would appreciate it a lot more now.

Anyway, that's neat that you worked with him...

[Perky]

Last year I had my home pre-inspected (by an idiot inspector - my guy was on vacation) and he claimed to find mold in the attic. Upon further investigation, we figured it out it wasn't mold, it was cement (don't ask), but

I HAD THIS SAME THING HAPPEN - and here's the best part.  The "inspector" identifies himself as a "Mold Expert!"  It was NOT mold on the basement walls, it was a small amount of MORTAR from a sloppy masonry job!!!  The seller was very angry and the buyer was scared and walked away -would not even consider negotiating. 

[Bill Saunders]

Walked away even after they were informed it was mortar? Wow...do they spray every doorknob they come in contact with,too?

[Perky]

They would not listen to our reply to inspections.  The buying agent called and informed me that there were too many scary issues with the house (one or two items were legit, like a rotted post on the deck, which required replacement.) and they were not interested in purchasing the home anymore.  The seller freaked.  Naturally we asked for the inspection report and he about had a cow over the "mold in basement area."  The other agent was unable to get them to even consider it - they wanted out and used the faulty inspection report as an out...they believed we were trying to bamboozle them into buying a blighted property!

That particular inspector prides himself on not caring if he spoils deals - he's in it for the "homeowner" he says - but the fact is, he scared this buyer and who knows how many other buyers from buying houses they liked simply because he's an idiot.

[Jennifer Allan]

It amazes me how inspectors take this attitude. Truth be told - if they kill deals unnecessarily, they'll never get Realtor business and they'll have to constantly prospect for new business. As we all know, there are ways to deliver bad news without making the buyer AND his agent feel like idiots. I have the world's greatest inspector - my buyers love him because he is thorough and he knows the actual costs of replacement and repair, and his agents love him because his delivery of his findings is respectful and non-scary.

Can you imagine a doctor bragging about his awful bedside manner when delivering bad news?

[Chuck Capan]

Seller needs to bring his/her attorney in on this one.  If inspector claims in black & white (the report) that the home contained mold...have the attorney request the MOLD report from the lab that identified the type of mold discovered.

The mold inspections that I am familiar with are Air Samples.  Samples are taken outside and on every level inside the home.  Sample containers are sent to a lab and the lab issues a report.  Yes there are physical inspections too...

Mold is virtually everywhere...heck you are breathing some mold right now (eewww).

The questions are what type of mold was it and what amount of mold spores in the air.

And don't worry the inspector probably carries E&O.

[Bill Saunders]

Maybe just a letter of request from a lawyer might make this guy think twice before overstepping his bounds again (with you at least). He is practicing outside of his license when he kills deals claiming mold.

I previewed a fixer-up,up,upper today...and come to think of it...I'm gonna go gargle some lysol and take a shower...really gross...