Home Inspections

Part of the modern real estate transaction is the professional home inspection. These are good for the buyer and hopefully bearable for the seller. When we moved to our old house (82 years old), we had a premium inspection (more money) and learned about the house's many idiosyncracies. But being a relaxed couple, we mainly wanted information about what we were buying. And if any significant defects turned up, we would want compensation. The seller was selling 'as is' (a seller's market), but we did get a $2000 concession from them based on inspection results.

We are not selling 'as-is'. It's a buyer's market now. Our current Buyers received a quality inspection here and wanted (reportedly through prodding by their agent) some plumbing and electrical inspection items changed to make it more modern. We obliged the Buyers on 13 of 16 desired corrections, discarding one as bogus and negotiating away two. (One should never entirely roll over, or the Buyer might wonder why the Seller is being so easy.) Their inspector found most of the things that our inspector had found with the house, giving me a good feeling for the quality of available inspectors.

The new house in Mukilteo is a more complex situation. The Seller had a 'pre-inspection' performed, presumably to re-assure a potential buyer that any problems had been fixed, and perhaps to instill enough confidence that the Buyers would not feel it necessary to do their own inspection, a nice idea, but bad idea. Our agent rounded up the first available inspector on his list and performed a Buyers' inspection. The report looked pro-forma, a couple of minor items, but none of the items on the first report. On the surface, it appeared that the problems on the first report indeed had been fixed.

But I was not happy with our report; it was suspiciously non-informative. What if the items hadn't been fixed, and we had received an incompetent inspection report? (They don't call me paranoid without reason.) I asked for invoices documenting which of the pre-inspection items had been fixed. By this single stroke, I apparently alienated our own agent by impugning the inspector he had picked, and had further given the appearance of questioning the Seller's good intentions, potentially endangering our deal. The Seller was already jumpy about the deal and her agent was threatening to re-list the house at a higher price. Now we were dealing with snippy agent and jumpy seller. Way to go, Mr. Buyer.

My main concern was the evidence of past standing water issues in the crawlspace, documented in the Seller's pre-inspection. But the only relevant invoice produced was from a handyman, apparently a relative of the seller or her agent, who went under the house and did some cleanup. My suspicions further aroused, I insisted on another inspection for crawlspace issues. I am glad I didn't have to see the look on our agent's face when he presented this request to the Seller. From all indications, he is a truly unhappy camper now. He told me twice on the phone that I have 'trust' issues. Debby hit the roof when I told her that, but I am the calm one (euphemism for my normal catatonic appearance), and carried on unperturbed. We have a good deal and just need to get past this little kink.

Our agent managed to get a 5 day extension and the Seller's agreement to re-inspect. She tried to get her original inspector, but he refused. So they obtained a 'free' inspection from a reputable construction company in the guise of an estimate to repair any crawlspace problems. The estimate was $3200 to fix a faulty drainage system and install a new vapor barrier.

The first inspector and the Buyer (yours truly) are vindicated. Our agent has calmed down a little; he now gets it, that we are not suggesting malfeasance, but just that some things fell through a crack. The Seller also admitted that another pre-inspection item, failed thermopane seals on some windows, had not been addressed and her quote was $800. Our agent suggested to us that the Seller and her agent were in shock at the total bill, and the deal was in jeopardy. So we waived the window fix, since we may do some window mods anyway.

I wrote an email to the construction company requesting I talk to the engineer that made the bid. They agreed and I received a call from him a few minutes later. We had a five minute chat and I now understand the drainage issues and the fix. There may be more fix later, but that's how these things go. We will move into a dry house. The deal is still on.

Would I ever do a pre-inspection as a seller? No. TMI is bad for business.
Are all inspectors up to the task? No. Check those references. Wait for the best inspector to be available.