Home Inspections

Written by Bakersfield Magazine

It’s a buyers market right now. If you’re looking to move into a new home, or move into your first home, it’s high time you got looking. There are some big decisions to make when it comes to buying a home but it’s such an exciting time that you might overlook some very important aspects of the home-buying process.

After all, last thing that you want to buy is a money pit (of course, if you are Tom Hanks and Shelley Long, that’s a moot point).

You don’t want to move into your new home and spend time and money making unforeseen repairs so your first step should always be to have a prospective home inspected before you get too serious.

You want to find a home inspector that is proficient enough to give you an accurate picture of the property, so you can decide if you are going to move forward with the purchase.

Still, many buyers will spend countless hours, days, and sometimes months looking for just the right home, but then choose a home inspector solely based on price, or not at all.

“It’s protection on your investment,” says Butch Boynton of NuHoms, Inc. “Unless a buyer gets a good inspector that really tears the house apart, you could be buying a real can of worms.”

Sure, from the street, the house looks lovely, but it can be riddled with hidden problems, and many new and experienced home buyers are paying the price—in dollars and mental aggravation—for botched home inspections.

Dry rot, corroded pipes, a broken air conditioning unit, or faulty electrical wiring can be dangerous and potentially end up costing thousands to repair or bring up to code.

But the most serious problems can be under the house or in the attic, places that sometimes are overlooked. Joists holding up the floor may have clear signs of deterioration caused by bugs, or perhaps wooden beams will have to be replaced to keep the house from collapsing.

Boynton, who has worked in the real estate industry since 1965 and has been inspecting homes for the past 18 years, says that with all of the short sales and foreclosures in today’s market, it’s even more important that buyers get a thorough home inspection.

“If someone is losing their house to foreclosure or a short sale, they probably haven’t been making the necessary repairs.”

He also says that professional inspections of new homes are equally as important, spotting potential problems early, while they are still easy to correct.

With the newer homes sitting for longer than normal periods of time, Boynton has noted more problems, in particular with plumbing and homes not being finalized.

So how does a buyer go about hiring and inspecting an inspector?

Picking a reputable inspector is important and Scott Tobias of Prudential Tobias, Realtors® and President-Elect of the Bakersfield Association of Realtors says, “When you do enough business you know who’s reputable and who’s not, but it is always a good practice to supply the buyer with two or three names and let them select the person.”

“Be sure that the inspector you choose has professional affiliations,” adds Boynton, “such as the American Society of Home Inspectors (ASHI), or the California Real Estate Inspection Association (CREIA).”

According to the National Association of Home Inspectors, there are no licensing standards or regulations for home inspectors in 21 states and the District of Columbia.

While most buyers may be aware of inspections, they should make their offer to purchase conditional on a home inspection. What they may not realize is that in California anyone can print business cards and call himself or herself a home inspector. There is no minimum education requirement, work experience, or training to set up shop as a professional inspector. These people come from all walks of life.

However, to qualify for a certification, all inspectors must meet minimum requirements, including the completion of an approved education program, and pass a test inspection.

“Just because the person has a certificate doesn’t make things foolproof,” says Boynton, “so make sure you talk to a couple of people that the inspector has done business with.”

More importantly, a buyer needs to make sure the inspector they choose follows and abides by the Standards of Practice for Home Inspections established by the State of California Legislature in 1990, requiring inspectors—licensed and non-licensed—to follow the California Business and Professions Code.

That is why the training, experience, and professional judgment of an inspector are critical—a buyer is relying on his or her opinion and judgment.

Even so, a good inspector cannot see through walls or tear into those walls and look for things. But a qualified inspector is trained to spot the warning signs of a problem or potential problem.

“Also, when you are interviewing potential inspectors, find out if they have errors and omissions insurance,” says Boynton. “A responsible, professional inspector is going to carry E & O insurance.”

Yet, in the end, homebuyers need to have a realistic expectation of what a home inspector — even the best inspector — can do for them. There’s nothing a buyer can do to guarantee the inspector will spot all the visible problems. A home inspection is not a guarantee or warranty of condition. It’s an opinion. Still, it is the best thing a potential buyer can do to prevent expensive surprises.

Tobias suggests that an inspection is done early in the buying process, before the appraisal, and Boynton recommends that buyers be involved in the entire inspection process.

“If you are there, you can see what the inspector sees, and have things explained to you,” Boynton says. “By walking around with the inspector and asking questions, you should feel more confident and comfortable with what he’s telling you.”

A typical inspection lasts two to three hours and cost around $300 for a 2,000 square foot home. After the inspection is complete, buyers will receive a written report of the findings from the home inspector, usually within five to seven days.

Once a buyer has the results, they have several options, ranging from walking away from the purchase or asking the seller to fix the problems, to reducing the purchase price, or receiving a cash credit at closing to fix the problems themselves.

“When we get a report from the inspector, we go through it with the buyer and they decide what they can live with and what they cannot,” says Tobias. “We always go back to the seller with a repair list to see what they are willing to repair.”

The bottom line is this: buying a house is probably the biggest purchase that most people will ever make.

Given what’s at stake, you want to be sure you’re not buying a lemon.

Article appeared in our 28-3 Issue - August 2011