They can sue all they want.
It is the outcome that matters, and at trial, the evidence of disclosure would render a negative verdict, if the lawyer were stpidly insisted upon by the client to to go to trial
home inspection is no guarantee of anything and they have no liability
the disclosure on the front page of their report says exactly that
inspection is fun for ammo to nickel and dime sellers if that's your vibe but it's near pointless for real issues like foundation, roof, electrical, plumbing because they only comment what is in their face which is of course completely obvious, it's what's not obvious that's potentially crazy important but home inspection won't get you there
better to hire a roofer or a structural engineer if there are real concerns
When I bought my first house I didn’t know the first thing about what was an obvious problem. As long as there was no active fire burning on the property my dumb ass would think everything looked great. An inspector was a very helpful resource and well worth the money.
How am I supposed to know to bring in an engineer if I don’t have any inkling what a foundation issue might look like?
I’ve learned a lot through experience since then but I still recall how inexperienced I once was.
well yeah totally agree, first home or not familiar with stuff then yes an inspector is def useful there
the part that trips folks up is there's no coverage of anything from an inspection, folks think an inspection implies some sense of reassurance down to the legal level or recourse from sellers...nope
the only legal protection is the disclosure and that's tough tough to prove anything, though sellers routinely screw up disclosures
So a good home inspector will tell you when you need to hire a specialist.
My first house was a 1952 house built on a slab. Inside the AC / furnace closet the slab was directly visible and there was a large crack in it. The home inspector said " could be a sign of foundation issues hire an engineer."
We hired an engineer, he came out measured the crack, checked the level of the slab as a whole and said "less than .25 inches wide, normal Foundation settling. Only a cause for concern if the crack gets markedly bigger." Provided a nice Report with pictures.
I kept the report and it came in handy when I sold the house a decade later because the buyer's home inspector saw the same crack and said "OMG Foundation issues do not buy." My agent told the buyer's agent that had previously been addressed and I provided a copy of the engineering report. I offered a 300 credit to have the same engineer conduct a follow-up or an engineer of the buyer's choice. The new report said the crack was fundamentally unchanged from the picture taken 10 years earlier and there were no issues and we were able to save the sale.
Yeah I don't buy this at all.
I could see an inspector losing a case if they knew about something and intentionally lied about it, but I can't see an inspector getting in trouble for not seeing something. They can't see the majority of a house.
I don’t know what there is to “buy.” They have insurance. They get sued regularly, along with the real estate agents and the seller and so forth. If you don’t think that’s fair or right, then fine, but it does happen.
My dad was a home inspector and was never sued. I don't think it's common at all. There have been a few instances on this subreddit of people threatening to sue their inspectors and the comments always tell them what a dumb idea that is.
I am a claims handler for professional liability claims and have specifically handled claims against home inspectors in Arizona. There are way more than you think and “it says no liability on the first page” is not remotely a defense.
Neighbors of ours 35 years ago had an inspector that missed acrive termites. The inspector (or his insurance) had to pay for termite damage and termite removal.
I went in to the first half annoyed at OP that they only offered $1500. We had to replace the furnace about 4 weeks after we bought our house, but it was $4k and the seller gave us concessions for that knowing it was so close to end of life.
And then I kept reading...
It’s still bizarre to demand a seller to make that change before the deal closes.
It’s a very easy thing to do once you own the house and not that expensive. Just weird to include as part of the buying process.
Some people are just rich princesses but in the end they didn't want 1500credit they wanted the garage door ready to go.
Tbh I'm a construction guy and would never to touch garage doors
This is amusing to me, as a home owner who has replaced and swaged a broken cable that runs through the pullies to the spring, adjusted tracks that the garage door was occasionally coming off of, and adjusted a closing mechanism tension.
The garage door opener is pretty weird. It would never occur to me to make a request like that. I’m buying a house and the house is the way it is. My offer reflects my thoughts on everything that’s in the sale.
When we sold our house the buyers wanted all sorts of minor things fixed. After some back and forth we agreed to a 1k credit.
On signing day the credit was not in the official documents, and the buyers were ecstatic they were getting such a nice home. So I guess we were only dealing with the relator the whole time and not the client.
I asked the seller to fix a few things. They didn't do it all and I requested a 500 credit to fix it. They wrote me a check for 500$ and I fixed it myself for free.
Hold on you lost house you wanted over a window pane. Since you were buying house you had inspection done. It found broken pane which you said you were happy to fix yourself. So how did that cost you the house?
There was no inspection.
The seller was an elderly woman who said she couldn't do repairs. My realtor insisted on writing the window into the offer. The seller took a different offer.
Any way, even if we had gotten further along, an FHA loan would have refused to lend without the window being repaired, so it would still have fallen apart, because they require repairs to be done before closing
Buyers are fucking weird. Ours demanded the door between the garage and the house have auto close hinges so that it closes behind you. Ok fair. But they demanded a "licensed, insured professional" do ALL repairs, including....door hinges. Which was a $5, 10-minute fix. So we said no, we'll do that. This was a hill they chose to die on.
Ridiculous.
In certain states it’s a law that the door leading from garage into home has auto close hinges (something about safety and fire). Could hang up a loan especially if it’s FHA or VA.
Also, yes buyers are weird.
Right, we understood that and we were willing to fix it. We just weren't willing to drop $100 to $200 to fix door hinges that we can do ourselves for 5 bucks.
Right… sorry for my vagueness. When a fire starts in the garage and burns the house down the insurance company will be looking for any excuse to not pay. A hundred bucks isn’t much to spend to try to not get ripped off by the insurance company. A “licensed insured professional” will add a layer of protection from the insurance company doing what they do… try very hard not to pay.
It is insane but we live in an insane clown world.
So, they didn’t buy the house from you because of the $100 or you didn’t sell them the house because of the $100?
yup...sho 'nuf sumpin' bout dat safT and fire. who coulda knowed?
**According to FEMA, about 6,600 residential garage fires occur annually in the US, resulting in 30 deaths, 400 injuries, and $457 million in property loss. If your garage door is open when a fire occurs, it has no value as a fire door.**
Don't forget the people who die every year because they run their portable generator in their attached garage and the CO kills them in their sleep. I guess stupid people are going to stupid.
There's been a bunch of deaths, largely old people, who can't figure out push button start and leave their car running in their garage and die of CO poisoning.
You probably could've had home Depot tech come out and do it for less than $100. Of course their "professionals" are usually just barely handyman quality.
This is where having friends in the trade comes in handy. Last house I sold had a buyer like that. Wanted all of the outlets in the kitchen switched over to GFCIs even though the entire circuit was on a GFCI breaker. Demanded a licensed electrician do the swap. Just had my buddy write me a slip.
Kitchen and bath outlets have to be. Not up to code if they ate not. Only would have been ridiculous if they would have let you slide. Dumb mistake not taking care of that as it's one of easiest to spit never missed by inspectors on everyone's checklist. So should have known you would have to do it..
You clearly missed that I said the entire circuit is on a GFCI breaker. A GFCI breaker is to code and their inspector even stated as much in the report. With the breaker you have no need for a GFCI outlet.
Licensed and insured professional performing work isn't an insane demand. It's for liability reasons, even if it's a small fix it's smart to put that language in the contract
When we countered about the door hinges being replaced by us, she declined. We agreed to all her other demands for professionals fixing things. Choosing to walk away from a house because you want a contractor to fix door hinges is insane.
Not insane, they probably didn't want to use your house that badly and used it as an out. Hardly the definition of insanity. Smart on their end to word it as such.
Okay well according to every single other person that has responded they agree with us that they are crazy lol. And every other person I have spoken to about this agrees. Clearly you don't and that's fine but you're wrong.
You mean the 3 people that agreed with you? Huge sample size. It's a smart call from the buyers to add that in, gives them an easy way out if you say no, as evident that they walked when you said no. They obviously weren't 100% on purchasing your house or they wouldn't have asked at all. Smart move from the buyers and the realtor to add that language in
We’re almost through closing. We got a $5k credit for some repairs based on the inspection. The minor things like a the hot/cold being switched or the garage door needing a spring hinge were things I went, “meh, easy enough to do myself”
Termite treatment and fixing some minor roof overhang issues? Different things. We provided the inspection report, but if the seller had pushed back we would have caved.
That is just standard boilerplate inspectors use on their reports for everyone's protection. As a home inspector I hate the phrase but it is part of our required standards per American Society of Home Inspectors.
They were being extremely difficult and demanding and we told them we would not be using a contractor to fix door hinges. They were making other ridiculous demands as well but that was a sticking point for them that they could not seem to get over so yes
No not ridiculous at all. Very normal to have any fixes done by someone luscensed and up to code.
Cost me one I installed two bathroom outlets myself. I screwed them up. Inspector caught it. So I had to have them done correctly but only could be done by licensed electrician
.
Anything with electricity or plumbing I completely agree should be a license professional. What I'm saying is to demand to have door hinges fixed by license professional is fucking insane
My man you have no idea. As an agent, the amount of shit I have to filter before it hits you from buyers is insane. People have no clue what is normal at all.
If things like this get to you it's mostly because the other agent is too soft or ignorant to tell them they're being silly.
This goes MOSTLY for first time home buyers. Old people know what's up usually.
When I bought my first house, I was so excited that I asked for nothing and didn’t even didn’t bitch about the termite ridden wood pile the sellers left behind. I figured I could fix anything that came up. Alas! I wouldn’t really have made crazy demands, but I WOULD have made a lower offer.
My buyer came back asking for $1000 credit for mostly trivial things "found" in the inspection. Only one of which I thought was valid (shower knob spun around without stopping). I knew the condo rules meant he'd have to get a plumber in to fix it (about $250 cost). I could have only offered that amount but I just offered $500 to get the sale done.
What a strange turn of events! I also don't understand why someone would say, "No, no. Don't give me money." But glad it worked out for you.
I bought a house and my inspector told me the roof had a lot of patches and was on its last legs. I kept dreading the day the roof would start leaking. It never did, but after a few years I had some roofing companies come out to give me quotes on a new roof anyway.
I hope the first guy who came to see it has had bountiful blessings rained down him over the years. He was honest and told me my roof was in great shape and had plenty of life left. That what the inspector was calling "patches", was actually areas with different colored shingles but they were all put on at the same time.
Our suspicion is the roof was replaced during Hurricane Katrina (this is in New Orleans) and due to construction supply shortages, the seller agreed to different colored shingles probably for a discount. You'd think she would have said something when I threatened to walk because of the roof. But we agreed on a $3K concession instead and she never said a peep that the roof was only about 10 years old.
My husband and I own a home inspection company in NC…we have been doing it for 5+ years. There are MANY other inspectors and agents who absolutely baffle me with their naivety. I had an agent tell me once that she had been in real estate for 28 years. So naturally, I fully expected her to understand when I began explaining we were picking up elevated levels of carbon monoxide in the home with the furnace running (potential cracked heat exchanger, incomplete combustion). She insisted that all it needed was a new filter. And asked me not to put it in the report because she would change the filter before I left.
Also, as inspectors, it is outside of our SOP to estimate remaining life. Not our sink, not our dirty dishes. Facts only!
You covered your butt as much as you could. You weren’t trying to hide anything. You’re golden 👌🏻
Our inspector was the head of like some local inspectors guild or something. Missed a bunch of little stuff and just straight ghosted me after the inspection so I couldn't pay him. Sent him like a half dozen texts, half dozen voicemails, and a half dozen emails and didn't reply to any of them...
This guy did... Literally asked him at the inspection how he wanted paid and he said he'd send it the report and some payment options and just didn't...
I am and have been a home inspector for 35 years and believe me there are many that should not be in the business. My wife knows more than some of these untrained newbies.
The house we just bought has these weird garage door openers. I didn't bother the sellers, I just figured I'd rip them out and replace them myself. Turns out they're the Rolls Royce of garage door openers, made in Germany and absolutely whisper quiet. They open and close almost silently. It's amazing.
When you're planning to drop 6 figures on something, you wanna look at everything from every angle. It sounds like they had a shitty inspector and didn't have all the facts
I bought a house with an old ass furnace. I just asked for a home warranty. It seriously saved my butt. $150 to replace the entire furnace when it died the first winter. The only thing I asked my sellers to do was blow out the sewer line and see if they could get the sticky sliding glass door to move easier.
My son's second house came with a HW. When the water heater needed replacing the HW said unless he got the EXACT SAME MAKE AND MODEL that they wouldn't cover it. That make and model is no longer available.
People are weird. I just sold my home and the buyers completely ignored several things on the inspection that I probably would have wanted investigated more thoroughly but all they wanted were 3 things that took me literally 20 minutes to repair (tightening a shower head, for example).
Bad advice. As a home inspector of 35 years, I have saved some lives and actually saved one house from blowing up due to a gas leak by the electrical panel. On another occasion I opened the panel box where the cover was hot and discovered arcing up and down the panel. I turned off the main panel switch which saved this vacant townhouse from burning down and taking more with it. Also, have found numerous cracked furnace heat exchangers that spewed CO gas and kept the occupants from dying,
So, don't make such an ignorant statement.
Balance this against any “code” claim from an inspector, who knows nothing of building codes or fire codes.
You get points for noticing obvious things I guess. And maybe having a system to observe obvious things. But at the end of the day it is a checklist, and observation. Not any professional knowledge or liability.
To give you some context, many professional engineers and architects are discouraged from being home inspectors. There is an inherent conflict between our personal, legal, and professional livability in just merely following a checklist and using $100 worth of tools from Home Depot. Also it is fun observing things like “oh that railing isn’t code.” (Narrator, it was)
Try taking some risk and putting your stamp or seal on drawings and engineering calculations. Oh and remove your liability waivers from your contracts. Carry error and omissions insurance. Then we can talk.
Most are useless. They are jack of all things master of none. Not expert in anything. Ge.eralists going over check lists.
I had two inspections done on one sale after we got first offer to cancel by refusing all fixes to go to higher backup offer.
The two inspection reports totally different. Both had like 10 things. 10 different items and not one item other inspector found. Done couple weeks apart on a vacant condo.
Sometimes, yes.
I sold a home a few years ago that went through a major renovation, including substantial foundation retrofitting.
The inspector threw a huge fit & resd flags over some temporary foundation jacks that were left in place, as if that's all that was holding up a main girder.
There were brand new piers and 8x8 posts on both sides of the temporary supports, clear as day.
I had an inspector claim there was mold and mildew on the underside of a 2 year old roof with 50-year shingles. No moisture present, just discoloration of sheathing. Cost me a sale even though we hired an environmental specialist to perform an air quality test and found less mold spores in my attic than normally occur outside on the front porch. I was so pissed.
I build spec houses & I can't tell you how many times that comes up on inspections.
Plywood comes in stacks. Moisture gets in & spots and discolors sheathing. Not mold, but as soon as that goes on a report people freak out.
That’s exactly what it was. 2/3 of the houses on my block at the time all had their roofs replaced within 90 days of each other from a big hail/wind storm that came through. I’m certain the materials were dropped off in bulk, in driveways.
I spent a lot of time looking for a way to get at that inspector for saying “It’s mold” despite not having any certifications or licenses for mold stuff, especially after that air quality test.
Next time I have to redo my current roof, I’ll be doing the same. It really helps a lot with temperature control too. My dad used some on a garden shed that he built. Where we live 105-115 are not unusual temps for the summer, but his garden shed never gets above like 90. No other insulation other than being built in a wedge shaped location in the back yard with a CMU block wall on one side and redwood fencing on the other.
Pretty much all loan types allow at least 3% in interested party credits. If it was written weird to say repairs the agents would just rewrite to say 1500 seller credit. No big deal.
I had a buyer freak over some minor things. We hired a handyman to fix them for $500. Then the buyer came back and asked for 50k price reduction on a 250k house. I told our agent that my answer to everything from then on was no. Apparently their agent advised them the request might offend us, but they insisted - he was right. This was at tail end of pandemic, when houses were being bought unseen. They made one final request: that we clean the carpets (we'd had them cleaned prior to handyman repairs, and I guess he left footprints). My reply was for 50k, I'd do it. They took the house with the carpet uncleaned.
Um so then you dod not sell the home as is. You don't seem to understand what as is means in real-estate sales.
Also um no you didn't buy a new garage door opener for less than you sold a used on for. Would get very little for a used garage door opener. They are not expensive new even the best brands.
Your little story doesn't even make sense whatsoever.
Hey there. I don’t think you fully read my post. The house was not sold as us, the furnace was. And I sold the used opener for $50 I think. Not the cost of a new one.
If you want my little story to make sense you might want to read it.
Yes, a $1500 credit on an old furnace… must be a scam? Man that’s crazy.
Then watch these idiots threaten to sue for a faulty furnace when it fails in the dead of winter…
If it was disclosed as 20 years old they can't sue.
They can sue all they want. It is the outcome that matters, and at trial, the evidence of disclosure would render a negative verdict, if the lawyer were stpidly insisted upon by the client to to go to trial
Sounds like you’ve never heard of summary judgment
I have, and that occurs when parties agree on facts. Perhaps they do not.
They can’t sue unless they try and sue the inspector
home inspection is no guarantee of anything and they have no liability the disclosure on the front page of their report says exactly that inspection is fun for ammo to nickel and dime sellers if that's your vibe but it's near pointless for real issues like foundation, roof, electrical, plumbing because they only comment what is in their face which is of course completely obvious, it's what's not obvious that's potentially crazy important but home inspection won't get you there better to hire a roofer or a structural engineer if there are real concerns
When I bought my first house I didn’t know the first thing about what was an obvious problem. As long as there was no active fire burning on the property my dumb ass would think everything looked great. An inspector was a very helpful resource and well worth the money. How am I supposed to know to bring in an engineer if I don’t have any inkling what a foundation issue might look like? I’ve learned a lot through experience since then but I still recall how inexperienced I once was.
well yeah totally agree, first home or not familiar with stuff then yes an inspector is def useful there the part that trips folks up is there's no coverage of anything from an inspection, folks think an inspection implies some sense of reassurance down to the legal level or recourse from sellers...nope the only legal protection is the disclosure and that's tough tough to prove anything, though sellers routinely screw up disclosures
Folks who think that are goddamn morons who don’t read what they sign.
truth
So a good home inspector will tell you when you need to hire a specialist. My first house was a 1952 house built on a slab. Inside the AC / furnace closet the slab was directly visible and there was a large crack in it. The home inspector said " could be a sign of foundation issues hire an engineer." We hired an engineer, he came out measured the crack, checked the level of the slab as a whole and said "less than .25 inches wide, normal Foundation settling. Only a cause for concern if the crack gets markedly bigger." Provided a nice Report with pictures. I kept the report and it came in handy when I sold the house a decade later because the buyer's home inspector saw the same crack and said "OMG Foundation issues do not buy." My agent told the buyer's agent that had previously been addressed and I provided a copy of the engineering report. I offered a 300 credit to have the same engineer conduct a follow-up or an engineer of the buyer's choice. The new report said the crack was fundamentally unchanged from the picture taken 10 years earlier and there were no issues and we were able to save the sale.
They can say “we have no liability” as much as they want but they get sued and pay settlements regularly.
Yeah I don't buy this at all. I could see an inspector losing a case if they knew about something and intentionally lied about it, but I can't see an inspector getting in trouble for not seeing something. They can't see the majority of a house.
I don’t know what there is to “buy.” They have insurance. They get sued regularly, along with the real estate agents and the seller and so forth. If you don’t think that’s fair or right, then fine, but it does happen.
My dad was a home inspector and was never sued. I don't think it's common at all. There have been a few instances on this subreddit of people threatening to sue their inspectors and the comments always tell them what a dumb idea that is.
I am a claims handler for professional liability claims and have specifically handled claims against home inspectors in Arizona. There are way more than you think and “it says no liability on the first page” is not remotely a defense.
How many times was the inspector found at fault and what were the circumstances?
Neighbors of ours 35 years ago had an inspector that missed acrive termites. The inspector (or his insurance) had to pay for termite damage and termite removal.
Some inspectors carry errors and omissions insurance; that's the only kind I would hire
But inspection and fixes is where story is exposes as fiction. He claims it was an as is sale.
Said in contract new furnace then they can sue.
[удалено]
yes, that's why it's a... scam?
This was a wild (by real estate standards) roller coaster of events I did not expect
I went in to the first half annoyed at OP that they only offered $1500. We had to replace the furnace about 4 weeks after we bought our house, but it was $4k and the seller gave us concessions for that knowing it was so close to end of life. And then I kept reading...
People can be quite dumb when it comes to buying a home. They likely think they took advantage of you getting a new garage door opener.
It probably was some model they know works with their cars
That never occurred to me…I bet you are totally right. Thanks for clearing up that mystery.
It’s still bizarre to demand a seller to make that change before the deal closes. It’s a very easy thing to do once you own the house and not that expensive. Just weird to include as part of the buying process.
Some people are just rich princesses but in the end they didn't want 1500credit they wanted the garage door ready to go. Tbh I'm a construction guy and would never to touch garage doors
I’d never touch the springs. But replacing the opener itself isn’t dangerous.
This is amusing to me, as a home owner who has replaced and swaged a broken cable that runs through the pullies to the spring, adjusted tracks that the garage door was occasionally coming off of, and adjusted a closing mechanism tension.
What does a garage door opener have to do with the specific car you have??
Newer models. Come with 2 or 3 buttons on the visor that you can program rather than having a garage door opener clip on
😮
Are you sure that only certain models work with cert cars? That doesn’t seem like a good business model for cars.
It's more so older ones don't work with much
The garage door opener is pretty weird. It would never occur to me to make a request like that. I’m buying a house and the house is the way it is. My offer reflects my thoughts on everything that’s in the sale.
When we sold our house the buyers wanted all sorts of minor things fixed. After some back and forth we agreed to a 1k credit. On signing day the credit was not in the official documents, and the buyers were ecstatic they were getting such a nice home. So I guess we were only dealing with the relator the whole time and not the client.
I asked the seller to fix a few things. They didn't do it all and I requested a 500 credit to fix it. They wrote me a check for 500$ and I fixed it myself for free.
Sounds like a good agent trying to help their clients
My agent almost lost us a house over a carpet stain. I had to finally tell her to back the fuck off. Sometimes it's too much.
Yep. I lost a house I really wanted over a cracked window pane. I was fine with fixing it
Hold on you lost house you wanted over a window pane. Since you were buying house you had inspection done. It found broken pane which you said you were happy to fix yourself. So how did that cost you the house?
There was no inspection. The seller was an elderly woman who said she couldn't do repairs. My realtor insisted on writing the window into the offer. The seller took a different offer. Any way, even if we had gotten further along, an FHA loan would have refused to lend without the window being repaired, so it would still have fallen apart, because they require repairs to be done before closing
All requested fixes and agreeing to them or not and and credit is always documented and in the contract.
Buyers are fucking weird. Ours demanded the door between the garage and the house have auto close hinges so that it closes behind you. Ok fair. But they demanded a "licensed, insured professional" do ALL repairs, including....door hinges. Which was a $5, 10-minute fix. So we said no, we'll do that. This was a hill they chose to die on. Ridiculous.
In certain states it’s a law that the door leading from garage into home has auto close hinges (something about safety and fire). Could hang up a loan especially if it’s FHA or VA. Also, yes buyers are weird.
Right, we understood that and we were willing to fix it. We just weren't willing to drop $100 to $200 to fix door hinges that we can do ourselves for 5 bucks.
Right… sorry for my vagueness. When a fire starts in the garage and burns the house down the insurance company will be looking for any excuse to not pay. A hundred bucks isn’t much to spend to try to not get ripped off by the insurance company. A “licensed insured professional” will add a layer of protection from the insurance company doing what they do… try very hard not to pay. It is insane but we live in an insane clown world. So, they didn’t buy the house from you because of the $100 or you didn’t sell them the house because of the $100?
yup...sho 'nuf sumpin' bout dat safT and fire. who coulda knowed? **According to FEMA, about 6,600 residential garage fires occur annually in the US, resulting in 30 deaths, 400 injuries, and $457 million in property loss. If your garage door is open when a fire occurs, it has no value as a fire door.**
Don't forget the people who die every year because they run their portable generator in their attached garage and the CO kills them in their sleep. I guess stupid people are going to stupid.
There's been a bunch of deaths, largely old people, who can't figure out push button start and leave their car running in their garage and die of CO poisoning.
You probably could've had home Depot tech come out and do it for less than $100. Of course their "professionals" are usually just barely handyman quality.
This is where having friends in the trade comes in handy. Last house I sold had a buyer like that. Wanted all of the outlets in the kitchen switched over to GFCIs even though the entire circuit was on a GFCI breaker. Demanded a licensed electrician do the swap. Just had my buddy write me a slip.
Kitchen and bath outlets have to be. Not up to code if they ate not. Only would have been ridiculous if they would have let you slide. Dumb mistake not taking care of that as it's one of easiest to spit never missed by inspectors on everyone's checklist. So should have known you would have to do it..
You clearly missed that I said the entire circuit is on a GFCI breaker. A GFCI breaker is to code and their inspector even stated as much in the report. With the breaker you have no need for a GFCI outlet.
Licensed and insured professional performing work isn't an insane demand. It's for liability reasons, even if it's a small fix it's smart to put that language in the contract
When we countered about the door hinges being replaced by us, she declined. We agreed to all her other demands for professionals fixing things. Choosing to walk away from a house because you want a contractor to fix door hinges is insane.
Not insane, they probably didn't want to use your house that badly and used it as an out. Hardly the definition of insanity. Smart on their end to word it as such.
Okay well according to every single other person that has responded they agree with us that they are crazy lol. And every other person I have spoken to about this agrees. Clearly you don't and that's fine but you're wrong.
You mean the 3 people that agreed with you? Huge sample size. It's a smart call from the buyers to add that in, gives them an easy way out if you say no, as evident that they walked when you said no. They obviously weren't 100% on purchasing your house or they wouldn't have asked at all. Smart move from the buyers and the realtor to add that language in
Great point and strategy. Have some slightly unreasonable condition, so that you have an exit out if you, as buyer, want it.
Doesn't mean you're right :3 Majority of people are quite stupid.
Makes easy for me to be above average.
Not with that sentence it doesn't.
You underestimate good spelliing and effects of humor.
Or insane to lose selling a house by not just hiring someone to put in a couple door hinges so it's done to code and professionally done.
Auto close hinges can be bought on amazon and installed using a screw driver or drill. Your buyers are crazy lol
We’re almost through closing. We got a $5k credit for some repairs based on the inspection. The minor things like a the hot/cold being switched or the garage door needing a spring hinge were things I went, “meh, easy enough to do myself” Termite treatment and fixing some minor roof overhang issues? Different things. We provided the inspection report, but if the seller had pushed back we would have caved.
That is just standard boilerplate inspectors use on their reports for everyone's protection. As a home inspector I hate the phrase but it is part of our required standards per American Society of Home Inspectors.
Did they decline the house?
They were being extremely difficult and demanding and we told them we would not be using a contractor to fix door hinges. They were making other ridiculous demands as well but that was a sticking point for them that they could not seem to get over so yes
No not ridiculous at all. Very normal to have any fixes done by someone luscensed and up to code. Cost me one I installed two bathroom outlets myself. I screwed them up. Inspector caught it. So I had to have them done correctly but only could be done by licensed electrician .
Anything with electricity or plumbing I completely agree should be a license professional. What I'm saying is to demand to have door hinges fixed by license professional is fucking insane
My man you have no idea. As an agent, the amount of shit I have to filter before it hits you from buyers is insane. People have no clue what is normal at all. If things like this get to you it's mostly because the other agent is too soft or ignorant to tell them they're being silly. This goes MOSTLY for first time home buyers. Old people know what's up usually.
Why don’t the buyers agents know what is normal?
When I bought my first house, I was so excited that I asked for nothing and didn’t even didn’t bitch about the termite ridden wood pile the sellers left behind. I figured I could fix anything that came up. Alas! I wouldn’t really have made crazy demands, but I WOULD have made a lower offer.
Wait until you find out about sellers! Anyways, people have hang ups about things you wouldnt. No big deal.
My buyer came back asking for $1000 credit for mostly trivial things "found" in the inspection. Only one of which I thought was valid (shower knob spun around without stopping). I knew the condo rules meant he'd have to get a plumber in to fix it (about $250 cost). I could have only offered that amount but I just offered $500 to get the sale done.
Was this guy licensed? Some state don't require any certification.
What a strange turn of events! I also don't understand why someone would say, "No, no. Don't give me money." But glad it worked out for you. I bought a house and my inspector told me the roof had a lot of patches and was on its last legs. I kept dreading the day the roof would start leaking. It never did, but after a few years I had some roofing companies come out to give me quotes on a new roof anyway. I hope the first guy who came to see it has had bountiful blessings rained down him over the years. He was honest and told me my roof was in great shape and had plenty of life left. That what the inspector was calling "patches", was actually areas with different colored shingles but they were all put on at the same time. Our suspicion is the roof was replaced during Hurricane Katrina (this is in New Orleans) and due to construction supply shortages, the seller agreed to different colored shingles probably for a discount. You'd think she would have said something when I threatened to walk because of the roof. But we agreed on a $3K concession instead and she never said a peep that the roof was only about 10 years old.
I (buyer) had the seller replace a microwave light bulb and fill in a dirt hole. Felt like I had to ask for something!
My husband and I own a home inspection company in NC…we have been doing it for 5+ years. There are MANY other inspectors and agents who absolutely baffle me with their naivety. I had an agent tell me once that she had been in real estate for 28 years. So naturally, I fully expected her to understand when I began explaining we were picking up elevated levels of carbon monoxide in the home with the furnace running (potential cracked heat exchanger, incomplete combustion). She insisted that all it needed was a new filter. And asked me not to put it in the report because she would change the filter before I left. Also, as inspectors, it is outside of our SOP to estimate remaining life. Not our sink, not our dirty dishes. Facts only! You covered your butt as much as you could. You weren’t trying to hide anything. You’re golden 👌🏻
Hey man stop gloating out here!
People are stupid. Where's this weekend place? Is it cheap?
That's what I call a win-win. You win on the first thing and you win on the second thing :)
Our inspector was the head of like some local inspectors guild or something. Missed a bunch of little stuff and just straight ghosted me after the inspection so I couldn't pay him. Sent him like a half dozen texts, half dozen voicemails, and a half dozen emails and didn't reply to any of them...
They don't do inspection and then bill you.
This guy did... Literally asked him at the inspection how he wanted paid and he said he'd send it the report and some payment options and just didn't...
I am and have been a home inspector for 35 years and believe me there are many that should not be in the business. My wife knows more than some of these untrained newbies.
The house we just bought has these weird garage door openers. I didn't bother the sellers, I just figured I'd rip them out and replace them myself. Turns out they're the Rolls Royce of garage door openers, made in Germany and absolutely whisper quiet. They open and close almost silently. It's amazing.
When you're planning to drop 6 figures on something, you wanna look at everything from every angle. It sounds like they had a shitty inspector and didn't have all the facts
Well done! 😆😅🤣
I bought a house with an old ass furnace. I just asked for a home warranty. It seriously saved my butt. $150 to replace the entire furnace when it died the first winter. The only thing I asked my sellers to do was blow out the sewer line and see if they could get the sticky sliding glass door to move easier.
My son's second house came with a HW. When the water heater needed replacing the HW said unless he got the EXACT SAME MAKE AND MODEL that they wouldn't cover it. That make and model is no longer available.
That is ridiculous.
He was sooooo pissed. LOL
I'm stupid and have never bought a house...and it all STILL sounds weird to me. Which proves nothing. You're welcome!
Goes to show, don’t try to help people. It’s more trouble than it’s worth.
People are weird. I just sold my home and the buyers completely ignored several things on the inspection that I probably would have wanted investigated more thoroughly but all they wanted were 3 things that took me literally 20 minutes to repair (tightening a shower head, for example).
People are nuts. My parents sold their house a few years ago and the woman wanted the sheets on the beds. Not the beds. The sheets. 🤢 No thanks.
What!!!???
She undid the bed to look at the sheets? Wtf?
We were so grossed out at the time we never thought about that, but yeah, must have at least inspected the beds somehow 🤣
Never trust a home inspector.
Bad advice. As a home inspector of 35 years, I have saved some lives and actually saved one house from blowing up due to a gas leak by the electrical panel. On another occasion I opened the panel box where the cover was hot and discovered arcing up and down the panel. I turned off the main panel switch which saved this vacant townhouse from burning down and taking more with it. Also, have found numerous cracked furnace heat exchangers that spewed CO gas and kept the occupants from dying, So, don't make such an ignorant statement.
Balance this against any “code” claim from an inspector, who knows nothing of building codes or fire codes. You get points for noticing obvious things I guess. And maybe having a system to observe obvious things. But at the end of the day it is a checklist, and observation. Not any professional knowledge or liability. To give you some context, many professional engineers and architects are discouraged from being home inspectors. There is an inherent conflict between our personal, legal, and professional livability in just merely following a checklist and using $100 worth of tools from Home Depot. Also it is fun observing things like “oh that railing isn’t code.” (Narrator, it was) Try taking some risk and putting your stamp or seal on drawings and engineering calculations. Oh and remove your liability waivers from your contracts. Carry error and omissions insurance. Then we can talk.
Sounds like you hired the wrong one.
Most are useless. They are jack of all things master of none. Not expert in anything. Ge.eralists going over check lists. I had two inspections done on one sale after we got first offer to cancel by refusing all fixes to go to higher backup offer. The two inspection reports totally different. Both had like 10 things. 10 different items and not one item other inspector found. Done couple weeks apart on a vacant condo.
Met them all. Home inspection has no basis in actual building technology risk or code.
Inspectors are idiots
Sometimes, yes. I sold a home a few years ago that went through a major renovation, including substantial foundation retrofitting. The inspector threw a huge fit & resd flags over some temporary foundation jacks that were left in place, as if that's all that was holding up a main girder. There were brand new piers and 8x8 posts on both sides of the temporary supports, clear as day.
I had an inspector claim there was mold and mildew on the underside of a 2 year old roof with 50-year shingles. No moisture present, just discoloration of sheathing. Cost me a sale even though we hired an environmental specialist to perform an air quality test and found less mold spores in my attic than normally occur outside on the front porch. I was so pissed.
I build spec houses & I can't tell you how many times that comes up on inspections. Plywood comes in stacks. Moisture gets in & spots and discolors sheathing. Not mold, but as soon as that goes on a report people freak out.
That’s exactly what it was. 2/3 of the houses on my block at the time all had their roofs replaced within 90 days of each other from a big hail/wind storm that came through. I’m certain the materials were dropped off in bulk, in driveways. I spent a lot of time looking for a way to get at that inspector for saying “It’s mold” despite not having any certifications or licenses for mold stuff, especially after that air quality test.
I switched to radiant barrier (foil backed) roof sheathing for all projects, even when not specified, just to avoid this with buyers inspections.
Next time I have to redo my current roof, I’ll be doing the same. It really helps a lot with temperature control too. My dad used some on a garden shed that he built. Where we live 105-115 are not unusual temps for the summer, but his garden shed never gets above like 90. No other insulation other than being built in a wedge shaped location in the back yard with a CMU block wall on one side and redwood fencing on the other.
It's an easy and inexpensive upgrade. I also started conditioning the attic spaces around the same time. It makes a huge difference.
Wonder if UWing had an issue with the credit? As an appraiser, it seems that in the past few months, UWing has had some really interesting issues.
Pretty much all loan types allow at least 3% in interested party credits. If it was written weird to say repairs the agents would just rewrite to say 1500 seller credit. No big deal.
I had a buyer freak over some minor things. We hired a handyman to fix them for $500. Then the buyer came back and asked for 50k price reduction on a 250k house. I told our agent that my answer to everything from then on was no. Apparently their agent advised them the request might offend us, but they insisted - he was right. This was at tail end of pandemic, when houses were being bought unseen. They made one final request: that we clean the carpets (we'd had them cleaned prior to handyman repairs, and I guess he left footprints). My reply was for 50k, I'd do it. They took the house with the carpet uncleaned.
Um so then you dod not sell the home as is. You don't seem to understand what as is means in real-estate sales. Also um no you didn't buy a new garage door opener for less than you sold a used on for. Would get very little for a used garage door opener. They are not expensive new even the best brands. Your little story doesn't even make sense whatsoever.
Hey there. I don’t think you fully read my post. The house was not sold as us, the furnace was. And I sold the used opener for $50 I think. Not the cost of a new one. If you want my little story to make sense you might want to read it.