What are some questions to ask a potential home inspector?
November 21, 2023 2:47 PM Subscribe
My wife and I have put an offer in on a house and we want to have an inspector ready to go in case the offer is accepted.
However, we've never shopped around for an inspector before, so we'd like to know more about which questions to ask a potential inspector and any other tips or suggestions that you fine folks might have.
Our realtor suggested some, but we're not sure if we should trust that they're not going to find someone that will skip/omit things. I know, I'm paranoid.
Thanks!
You're right to not use your relator's suggestions. My one recommendation would be to find one certified by ASHI .
posted by AaRdVarK at 3:27 PM on November 21, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by AaRdVarK at 3:27 PM on November 21, 2023 [2 favorites]
I've gone with the realtors' suggestions twice and have no complaints.*
A few things I'd clarify if I was shopping around:
-- the contract, including their liabilities, your rights and responsibilities, and any timelines associated with pursuing legal action
-- the scope of the inspection. E.g., will they inspect roofs and crawlspaces, and how? Will they test the appliances (if conveyed)?
-- the presentation of inspection results. In addition to verbally walking you through the results, the written report should be clear and understandable to everyone who needs to review it.
A home inspection is, by nature, a limited inspection and the more you understand about the process and its limits, the better. Two inspectors can go to the same property and contradict each others findings, find different things, come to different conclusions; in my opinion, it's helpful to think of a home inspection not as a comprehensive catch-all but as a preliminary "red flag" check based on an individuals' expertise, not a specific standard.
*One thing I will note is that if your realtor and the sellers are in the same agency, if you take their suggestion you may end up with the company inspecting twice on the property (if the sellers did one prior to sale). Personally I would avoid this scenario for pretty much the same reasons I would avoid having the same realtor.
posted by sm1tten at 4:06 PM on November 21, 2023 [1 favorite]
A few things I'd clarify if I was shopping around:
-- the contract, including their liabilities, your rights and responsibilities, and any timelines associated with pursuing legal action
-- the scope of the inspection. E.g., will they inspect roofs and crawlspaces, and how? Will they test the appliances (if conveyed)?
-- the presentation of inspection results. In addition to verbally walking you through the results, the written report should be clear and understandable to everyone who needs to review it.
A home inspection is, by nature, a limited inspection and the more you understand about the process and its limits, the better. Two inspectors can go to the same property and contradict each others findings, find different things, come to different conclusions; in my opinion, it's helpful to think of a home inspection not as a comprehensive catch-all but as a preliminary "red flag" check based on an individuals' expertise, not a specific standard.
*One thing I will note is that if your realtor and the sellers are in the same agency, if you take their suggestion you may end up with the company inspecting twice on the property (if the sellers did one prior to sale). Personally I would avoid this scenario for pretty much the same reasons I would avoid having the same realtor.
posted by sm1tten at 4:06 PM on November 21, 2023 [1 favorite]
Best answer: Yes, you do want to get your own independent inspector, but since you mention feeling paranoid I feel like it's good to lay out exactly what purpose the inspector is serving in this process, and what the inspector does and does not do. And, I apologize if this is already obvious to you or something other people have explained.
I think the most important thing to keep in mind is that an inspector's report should not be considered the final word on things that are wrong (or could go wrong) with a house. It serves basically two purposes:
1. Finding severe undisclosed or unknown issues that will be immediate dealbreakers for you, the buyer. These are things like "the house needs significant foundation work that could cost tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars" or "there was a fire at some point, it was only fixed cosmetically, the structure is unsound" and are cases where you would just bail and start looking at other properties again rather than trying to negotiate. Category one could also include things that might not be a dealbreaker for everyone but are for you ("the roof is 15 years old and will probably need replacement within 5 years"). These things, along with the fact that you can bring in an inspector at all, should be outlined in your contract with the seller; ask your realtor if you have questions about it.
2. Providing a well-documented list of things to take back to the seller as points of negotiation.
Assuming there isn't anything in the first category, the inspector's report will probaby contain a fair number of things, maybe as many as 25 or 50, in the second, and you'll then need to decide what to do about them. A long list does not mean the house is faulty or that you shouldn't buy it. The list is long because it maximizes your negotiating position. Ultimately you don't want an inspector that will come back and say "yeah everything was actually pretty good," even if it was.
The inspector will not be an expert on most of these--they will not also be a plumber, an electrician, or a structural engineer, etc.--and the report is likely to have a lot of things that are simply explained as "you should have a licensed ____ evaluate this." These things could be expensive to fix, or trivial, or you could potentially live in the house for decades without addressing them. The inspector will also not give you simple cost-based explanations like "this would be $8000 to repair," but you do ultimately need to translate the report into a monetary estimate because that's what you're going to ask the seller to reduce the price by. The other possibility is that the seller could fix certain agreed-upon things before closing, but my opinion is that you always want the price reduction, because the seller is obviously motivated to spend as little as possible and get the work done as quickly as possible, which is probably not how you would want it done as the prospective owner. You also can decide whether you're going to try to get other contractors in to look at the property provide quotes based on what the inspector's report finds, and if you need to ask for a time extension to get this done (the seller may decline to allow this). Because the timeline is usually very tight, you should go over the report, get in touch with your realtor so they can clear further inspections/estimates with the seller, and start scheduling these people as soon as you can.
Ultimately, though, there will 100% be things that the inspector can't have reasonably been expected to notice, and in most cases they're not responsible if you discover things you're unhappy about after closing. You're probably going to have to sign an agreement to this effect. But, tl;dr: that's not exactly the inspector's job. Their purpose is to allow you to bail or negotiate, and to make your negotiation as effective as possible.
posted by pullayup at 4:14 PM on November 21, 2023 [8 favorites]
I think the most important thing to keep in mind is that an inspector's report should not be considered the final word on things that are wrong (or could go wrong) with a house. It serves basically two purposes:
1. Finding severe undisclosed or unknown issues that will be immediate dealbreakers for you, the buyer. These are things like "the house needs significant foundation work that could cost tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars" or "there was a fire at some point, it was only fixed cosmetically, the structure is unsound" and are cases where you would just bail and start looking at other properties again rather than trying to negotiate. Category one could also include things that might not be a dealbreaker for everyone but are for you ("the roof is 15 years old and will probably need replacement within 5 years"). These things, along with the fact that you can bring in an inspector at all, should be outlined in your contract with the seller; ask your realtor if you have questions about it.
2. Providing a well-documented list of things to take back to the seller as points of negotiation.
Assuming there isn't anything in the first category, the inspector's report will probaby contain a fair number of things, maybe as many as 25 or 50, in the second, and you'll then need to decide what to do about them. A long list does not mean the house is faulty or that you shouldn't buy it. The list is long because it maximizes your negotiating position. Ultimately you don't want an inspector that will come back and say "yeah everything was actually pretty good," even if it was.
The inspector will not be an expert on most of these--they will not also be a plumber, an electrician, or a structural engineer, etc.--and the report is likely to have a lot of things that are simply explained as "you should have a licensed ____ evaluate this." These things could be expensive to fix, or trivial, or you could potentially live in the house for decades without addressing them. The inspector will also not give you simple cost-based explanations like "this would be $8000 to repair," but you do ultimately need to translate the report into a monetary estimate because that's what you're going to ask the seller to reduce the price by. The other possibility is that the seller could fix certain agreed-upon things before closing, but my opinion is that you always want the price reduction, because the seller is obviously motivated to spend as little as possible and get the work done as quickly as possible, which is probably not how you would want it done as the prospective owner. You also can decide whether you're going to try to get other contractors in to look at the property provide quotes based on what the inspector's report finds, and if you need to ask for a time extension to get this done (the seller may decline to allow this). Because the timeline is usually very tight, you should go over the report, get in touch with your realtor so they can clear further inspections/estimates with the seller, and start scheduling these people as soon as you can.
Ultimately, though, there will 100% be things that the inspector can't have reasonably been expected to notice, and in most cases they're not responsible if you discover things you're unhappy about after closing. You're probably going to have to sign an agreement to this effect. But, tl;dr: that's not exactly the inspector's job. Their purpose is to allow you to bail or negotiate, and to make your negotiation as effective as possible.
posted by pullayup at 4:14 PM on November 21, 2023 [8 favorites]
Also, I apologize if this is stating the obvious but you should be present during the inspection. I would not go with any company that tried to suggest that you not.
posted by sm1tten at 4:31 PM on November 21, 2023 [8 favorites]
posted by sm1tten at 4:31 PM on November 21, 2023 [8 favorites]
A couple of other thoughts:
Trust your instincts. If something seems hinky, ask the inspector about it. I think you should also be able to (through your realtor) ask the sellers to have something inspected by the appropriate type of licensed contractor even if it was *not* called out in the inspector's report. If there's a big willow tree between the house and the street, for instance, you could say "I want to hire a plumber to scope the line connecting to the city sewer to make sure it isn't full of roots," because basically no inspector would do this. (Though, hopefully, they would point out the tree!)
You don't mention the age of the house you're buying, but if it's an old house (let's say 50-100+ years old) definitely ask the inspectors you're vetting if they have extensive experience with old construction. Codes/standards/practices were different in the past and if it is an older structure it's certain that there is all sorts of weirdness both original and added by people doing repairs and improvements to different levels of okayness than we expect today. And, I guess obviously, there's the potential for asbestos and lead in all sorts of (often surprising!) places, so it's a good idea to have an inspector who is familiar with them.
posted by pullayup at 6:19 AM on November 22, 2023 [1 favorite]
Trust your instincts. If something seems hinky, ask the inspector about it. I think you should also be able to (through your realtor) ask the sellers to have something inspected by the appropriate type of licensed contractor even if it was *not* called out in the inspector's report. If there's a big willow tree between the house and the street, for instance, you could say "I want to hire a plumber to scope the line connecting to the city sewer to make sure it isn't full of roots," because basically no inspector would do this. (Though, hopefully, they would point out the tree!)
You don't mention the age of the house you're buying, but if it's an old house (let's say 50-100+ years old) definitely ask the inspectors you're vetting if they have extensive experience with old construction. Codes/standards/practices were different in the past and if it is an older structure it's certain that there is all sorts of weirdness both original and added by people doing repairs and improvements to different levels of okayness than we expect today. And, I guess obviously, there's the potential for asbestos and lead in all sorts of (often surprising!) places, so it's a good idea to have an inspector who is familiar with them.
posted by pullayup at 6:19 AM on November 22, 2023 [1 favorite]
An athletic and physically small home inspector is a bonus over a larger person, because they can get their body and thus their eyes deeper into crawlspaces or attics. I have seen a brawny man and a tiny woman inspect the same crawlspace and the smaller person was able to physically see a lot more issues.
Things home inspectors did that I was impressed with:
- Used a heat-sensing camera to check for wet spots under the shower pan and in any area of old water staining on the ceiling. They also found a mouse nest in the wall!
- Climbed right into the attic (small woman, for the win)
- Took copious photos of everything they found
Things home inspectors did that I was not impressed with:
- Didn't open the cabinet under the laundry sink and missed a large hole in the floor! Learning: open every single cabinet
- Didn't move some piles of junk and missed a structural issue with an exterior wall. Learning: move junk piles!
- Didn't move a shelf and missed an important damp spot in the foundation. Learning: move shelves and stored items! Or at least poke the heat-seeking camera into obstructed areas to find those cold damp spots that indicate leaks.
posted by nouvelle-personne at 10:38 AM on November 22, 2023
Things home inspectors did that I was impressed with:
- Used a heat-sensing camera to check for wet spots under the shower pan and in any area of old water staining on the ceiling. They also found a mouse nest in the wall!
- Climbed right into the attic (small woman, for the win)
- Took copious photos of everything they found
Things home inspectors did that I was not impressed with:
- Didn't open the cabinet under the laundry sink and missed a large hole in the floor! Learning: open every single cabinet
- Didn't move some piles of junk and missed a structural issue with an exterior wall. Learning: move junk piles!
- Didn't move a shelf and missed an important damp spot in the foundation. Learning: move shelves and stored items! Or at least poke the heat-seeking camera into obstructed areas to find those cold damp spots that indicate leaks.
posted by nouvelle-personne at 10:38 AM on November 22, 2023
What do you think of kitec water pipes? If they don't say "RUN" or "be ready to face dire consequences", then don't hire them. None of this "grandfathered in" which is absolute $^%^&%^*##!! The moment you want to change, upgrade or repair anything that lovely phrase means nothing and you will pay both in money and emotional pain as your house is ripped apart around you to replace all the water pipes.
posted by meepmeow at 10:39 AM on November 22, 2023
posted by meepmeow at 10:39 AM on November 22, 2023
Ask around if you're local already. People who own homes have strong opinions about inspectors. We had an inspector talk us out of a home purchase we really wanted because of the electrical work we'd have needed to do. We sing his praises to anyone who asks.
posted by potrzebie at 9:18 PM on November 22, 2023
posted by potrzebie at 9:18 PM on November 22, 2023
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