Home Inspection
Buying Boston Area Real Estate
As of May 2001 Home Inspectors must be licensed in Massachusetts. MA law states real estate brokers and salespeople may not recommend a specific home inspection company or inspector unless representing the buyer as a buyer’s broker. Buyer’s Choice Realty is proactive in finding and recommending the best inspectors for you.
Prepare for the Home Inspection by taking advantage of Seller Property Disclosure forms used by home sellers to provide information about their homes. These disclosure forms are voluntary in Massachusetts but used by many real estate firms. It is also expected that use of these forms will reduce the number of lawsuits based on misrepresentation or failure to disclose defects. Real estate companies who require sellers who list with their firms to provide seller disclosure forms do so, primarily, to limit the broker's liability.
Seller property disclosure forms force home sellers to review their property information and think about things like how long ago they put on that "new" roof or replaced the heating system. The home inspection will help you get a true picture of the condition of the home and seller information can also be very helpful. Home sellers who kept good records of repairs and renovations and are willing to share the information can fill in some of the blanks for the home inspector as he analyzes the home's major systems and components.
Keep in mind that some sellers learn to live with problems that home buyers would not find acceptable such as an inadequate electrical system or a malfunctioning heating or air conditioning system.
Attend the Inspection or at least be represented because accompanying the home inspector during the inspection is the best opportunity to learn about the home's features and maintenance. It is particularly useful for first time home buyers who have not had experience taking care of a home. Plan to set aside half a day for the process, as a comprehensive inspection should take several hours.
Inspection Reports only document the visible condition of the home. They won't provide you with repair options, time frames for future work, and other critical information. Nor do they include a discussion of the subtleties of the conditions found. They can sometimes make a relatively minor problem sound major - and vice versa. You need to hear the inspector's verbal comments to put things in perspective. Ask questions and take notes at the inspection. Keep your eyes open. You may spot something the inspector doesn't see. Realize that, in some cases, you will have a different set of concerns than your inspector. Just as no two homes are alike, each inspector has their own opinion as to what they regard as important or not important.
Read the report and the supplemental materials provided by the inspector. Many home buyers do not read their inspection reports carefully. Inspection reports may provide a new slant on conditions found at the inspection. This is especially true for those conditions where the extent of the problem could not be resolved.
Note: if you cannot attend the inspection it is preferable to find an inspection company that provides written reports. It is difficult to understand checklist or on-site reports unless you were present for the inspection. You may also want to have the inspection videotaped for your subsequent review
Additional Inspections not typically covered by the general inspection include:
Environmental Inspections - Smart home buyers schedule a home inspection by a skilled inspector and include many of the common tests for environmental concerns, such as lead paint, radon, asbestos, septic (Title V certification) and ask about and inspect for undesirable features such as underground oil storage tanks or contaminated soil.
In Massachusetts, sellers are only required to disclose lead-based paint and comply with Title V requirements for private septic systems. Buyer's Choice Realty understands the importance of these inspections to home buyers and work to protect them from unexpected issues that can affect the cost and desirability of their home purchase.
Lead Paint - to meet state and federal requirements, every seller and real estate agent must provide a Property Transfer Lead Paint Notification before the signing of a Purchase and Sale agreement. Homes built before 1978 are likely to have lead paint in them which presents a risk of lead poisoning, particularly to children.
Radon is a colorless, odorless, tasteless radioactive gas that comes from the natural breakdown of uranium in rock deposits. When it accumulates in your home it can build up to dangerous levels which can increase your risk of developing lung cancer.
It is important to identify the defects and unfavorable conditions prior to the home purchase. In this way, the defects can be prioritized and managed. You can expect the home inspection to disclose defects that are not noticeable when you walked through the home during a showing appointment.
Renegotiating After the Inspection The upshot is that you have to think through what repair or renovation would produce the result that is desirable given your circumstances and your standards. Below are some common sense guidelines on negotiations that may help you.
Act on the Inspection Findings - If the inspection revealed the need for critical repairs and you just do not feel that these conditions are warranted and you should not have to pay for these, then speak up. The worst that can happen is the sellers will say 'no' to your proposal.
Follow Up on the inspection with specialists or tradespeople, where the inspection has revealed possible problems, or where the inspector cannot define the degree of the problem. To get this type of information you need to bring out one or more of the specialists in these disciplines.
Be Reasonable - Ask yourself to what degree were the problems revealed by the inspection (or your other investigations) reflected in the asking price of the home? To what degree did the inspection reveal problems that were a total surprise to you? There is no such thing a perfect home and every home will come with some work, some conditions that are less than optimal, and possibly some areas that will need repairs or maintenance.
Keep Things Civil - If the inspection reveals problems that are not reflected in the price of the home, utilize your Buyer’s Agent to help renegotiate. Many seller agents are fairly accepting of the need to have adjustments made in the price or have conditions repaired or resolved by the owner rather than lose the sale completely.
Look Out for Your Own Interests - Get the best inspection you can possibly have done. Have the appropriate environmental assessments and testing done on higher risk items. Bring out specialists to evaluate systems excluded from the inspection, systems of major importance, or suspect conditions. Take an investigative approach. Since there are no standard forms in Massachusetts, make sure the Contract to Purchase you are submitting has unrestricted inspection contingencies. If you want out for any reason, then use your right to withdraw your offer by the end of your contingency period.
Urgent Items - Look at every defect in terms of the urgency for repairs, the risk the item poses, and seriousness or the expense it will pose. Also examine the risks that go with the property. A good example of when you need to evaluate risks is when the probability of there being a problem is small, but the expenses involved in correcting the condition will be enormous. Unless the house is being sold in 'as is' condition and clearly needs major work, you may not want to have to do a lot of immediate repairs just to make the home habitable.
Understand the Market - When the market is hot and sales are brisk you may not have as much leverage on negotiating smaller or less critical defects and you will have much less leeway on renegotiations than in a slow real estate market. However, some things are almost always negotiable. Radon mitigation and termite treatment usually fall on the seller’s shoulders. Defects such as a failed heating system and other 'non-deferrable' expenses usually never go 'with the home', unless previously disclosed.
It All Depends On Price - Ask yourself: does the price of the home reflect the conditions found at the inspection (and through other investigations)? Sometimes the answer will be yes; sometimes no.
Only Negotiate New Information - Anything disclosed prior to the inspection probably is not going to be negotiable later on. If the seller told you the roof needed to be replaced, and you made your offer knowing this information, it’s a lot harder to turn around and ask the seller to cover the cost of a new roof based on what your inspector said about it.
Understand the Seller - Even while always working to get the best deal for yourself, try to maintain a good relationship with the seller. There is nothing to be gained by extracting every last possible concession from them. The home buying experience is much more rewarding when you maintain a good relationship with the seller.
Your Capabilities and Seller Capabilities - If the homeowner you are buying from is an experienced handyman or builder and you are not, it’s reasonable to ask that they complete work that has been started or to fix items that need repairs. On the other hand, if you have the skills to do home repairs and won't have to pay someone to do everything, then you may want to take care of the minor or routine problems yourself.
Major Systems - If major systems are notoperable at the time of the inspection or showed potentially significant defects, it is normally reasonable to ask the seller to resolve the condition of these items. You may want to bring in your own specialist to get an unbiased opinion on a system you have major concerns about. Then ask that the owner get the item repaired or certified to be "in good working order."
Note: with real estate owned property (foreclosures) or homes that are vacant and/or winterized, the plumbing will sometimes be off, the electricity disconnected, or the heating system will be shut down or inoperable at the time of the inspection. While it is always best to try to have these systems operable on the day of the inspection, this is not always possible. In this case, you (or your attorney) should stipulate that the owner have the major systems in the home in "good working order" at some date prior to the closing.
Using the Home Inspection to Walk Away When you have a contingency clause giving you 10 days to have the property inspected, you typically will have the right to 'walk away' from the deal. In many cases, this occurs where the inspection (or the buyer's other investigations) turn up significant problems with the home they were not aware of previously. It is important to realize that except in the direst circumstances, inspectors will not tell you to walk away from a home. It must be your decision to stay or walk.
Properties with serious defects merit walking away. A partial list includes homes with underground fuel oil tanks where the owner will not have them removed prior to the sale, homes where coastal or river way erosion are leading to a serious erosion of the property, homes that would be subject to periodic flooding, homes with serious structural deficiencies that just cannot be fixed without spending tens of thousands of dollars, and homes with little redeeming value where the original construction was poor.
Note: Be careful with serious fixer-uppers, as such properties may have so many major issues they are not worth putting money into. next topic »
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