I recently asked a friend what he was thinking about performing home inspections on residential properties. "They are shit," he said vehemently. When I asked him why he had such an emotional reaction, he drew and mumbled something that the inspections were a huge waste of time and money because "they never did anything wrong". I suspect my friend does not buy enough houses or hired the wrong inspector.
My home inspector finds mistakes in every home he inspects and that's how I want it visit http://radiantinspect.com/ for more info. With a price of between $ 200 and $ 450 each, I think home inspections are one of the best deals for a real estate investor. In fact, the inspection pays itself and I tell you why in a moment. Let me first say that if my inspector ever tells me that a house has no problems, I'll send it back so it does the job right. It is therefore.
What to inspect
All my housing offers (except for bank shields, I explain in a moment) are subject to an inspection from a professional housing inspector. I'll say that again. ALL MY OFFERS Why? Two reasons
First of all, even though I am a beautiful handy guy and I have bought and sold many houses, I'm not an expert in structures or engineering, not even close. My home inspector is. There are many things that could be wrong with any home you buy, no matter how good it looks or how new it is. Unpleasant things like cracks where there should be no cracks, leaks or water damage in places that must be dry, heaters that only throw air, and ... well, you have the idea. My inspector, expert as he is, knows how to find these things, and his job is to tell me about them also read Do Inspections Cover Appliances?.
Secondly, because I make so many offers, I simply do not have time to inspect a house that I should. To put a housing clause in my offerings is like my safety valve. I do not need to worry because my inspector will do what I do not have time to do. As we discussed, he is still better qualified.
I promised you I would tell you why I do not include this provision in my bank's foreclosure offer. That's why: I would weaken my offer to the bank. Banks prefer real offers, not quotas, and I want them to know that I'm ready to close without worrying about anything. Will I make an inspection at these foreclosures home? It's better that I think I want, but I will not make my offer subject to inspection. The results of the inspection are only for my own information and structure.
I have inspected all my housing investments and I recommend that you do the same.
Another tool in the bag
There is a more important reason for doing a home inspection. When you sign a purchase bid and the seller accepts it, the negotiation process is not done much. At the mind of the sellers it could be finished, but in my mind it's really the beginning.
When your inspector finds something wrong, believe me he will have another tool in his bag of negotiating tactics. Now it's time to go back to the seller, explain the inspector's results and ask for one of two things: fix problem areas or credit the selling price. Either it's good, but I like money more. Here is an example.
Recently I did an inspection of the house on a 1724 square foot ranch in a good part of the city. The inspection of the house turned out very little, but a few things that my inspector discovered was a defective damper in the chimney and a bad GFI switch in one of the bathrooms. Not necessarily major repairs, but I will incur some costs to repair them. They also represent a strong negotiation tool. What did I do?
I called my real estate agent and explained the inspector's results. Then I told my real estate agent to request a $ 750 credit from the household price to cover the repairs. Will i have it It's not very likely, but I get something and that's the meaning. Whatever it can negotiate (in this case turned out to be $ 350) it's more than it would have achieved if he had decided to waive inspection. In addition, I would not have learned the necessary repairs only much later, maybe not before they sold the house and inspect the House my buyer revealed. It is not good
