My husband and I are selling a home built in 1938 that we fixed up and remodeled 3 years ago with the intent of it being our forever home. I had to return to the office for my job, which forced us to move. We got a good offer and went under contract. Then the inspection happened. My husband and I had already replaced the major items like the sewer and roof, furnace was new when we bought it, minor structural issues, etc. The inspector called out a repair to a basement wall which we had inspected by a structural engineer and repaired by a basement specialist when we bought the house. We have an engineer report saying it’s all good. This guy put this as a major concern in his report that “a major repair has been performed here. Recommend another structural engineer review.” (Like did you say that about the roof of the 97 year old home?…cause that was repaired too) He said that pipe off valves didn’t exist when the valves were literally in the picture he took! He called out spiders in the garage and attic and leaves in window wells. He reported that pipes were not accessible in bathroom vanities leading the buyer to believe the new vanities would have to be destroyed to access pipes when all he needed to do was pull out the drawer!He called out grout lines that were uneven calling it poor craftsmanship (I am fussy and I never noticed). You could tell he really yanked on faucets and ceiling fans to see if they would wobble. They were not wobbly before the inspection. He said our new range didn’t work…well it’s induction and needed a conductive pan…duh! There were some more major items like old electrical in the garage, but this guys report made it seem like we put lipstick on a pig and its heart breaking because we put so much love into this house. I mean, I appreciate the thoroughness but he scared our buyers off that we’re first time home owners. I would walk too if I saw a beautiful house only for the inspector to pretty much tell me it’s falling into the ground, it’s infested with spiders, major design features need to be ripped out to access pipes, and the range doesn’t work. When none of this is true! And now we have to disclose this shit report to other potential buyers and do repairs to things that weren’t messed up before he touched them. Is there any recourse here? Any advice? Maybe I’m just venting, but seriously!
Overzealous inspector killed sale
byu/JojothePog inRealEstate
Posted by JojothePog
9 Comments
thats painn
When we sold our home we didn’t say no inspections, but we threw out any offers contingent on inspection. Still sold it within a month for over asking. But this was in 2022.
I hate “home inspectors”, as a buyer and seller. They are complete hacks and a total waste of money. The entire thing is a grift.
usually the buyer agent has an inspector they always recommend to make sure the sale goes through (they don’t tell the buyer anything to kill the sale, make even the biggest problems seem minuscule).
I didn’t see a lot 8n his list that’s actually disclosure items that you need to report. The basement wall has a passing engineers report. You said there are shut off valves, but that’s not on the disclosure form anyhow (in my state anyway). Maybe the electrical stuff you mentioned? Leaves and spiders aren’t a disclosure item, 😆.
Induction cooktops are maybe less common in some areas. Maybe leave a note and a pan out for the next inspection.
I suggest making available all reports and repair receipts available to interested buyers before inspection. Write a brief summary of repairs you did. Being proactive is much better than dealing with this inspection bs. This is what the seller of our current house did along with inspection report they commissioned. 1950 house with major renovations and issues.
That’s his job and responsibility to be thorough advocate for the buyer. To inform the buyer of major issues, areas of concern and anything that seems abnormal or not quite right, which is subjective and is usually not in the “this needs fixed category.” Remediated problems don’t just go away once they are repaired. Any errors, regarding the location of access panels, if they were a concern would have been brought up through the buyer inquiry. Had the seller not shared the inspection details, you would not know why they decided to move on. You do have an opportunity to counter with information and invite them to reconsider, now with the knowledge of the report to inform the buyer of what you disagree with. They may have walked for other reason but used the inspection as an excuse. Your agent can still get a message to them and try to bring them back into the conversation. You are taking this way too personally. You should step back as your home has history and memories and care for you. To anyone else it’s bricks, bones and faults. I bought a house from an attached seller. It was very difficult to keep the sale going when he wasn’t being objective.
If they chose not to move forward with you, because you have received this inspection, you are obligated to disclose material defects that were found in the report as you now have knowledge of an issue. If you disagree, you should hire an inspection of your own to impartially counter. Not everything in a report is required to reported but you may end up with a new potential buyer that will use the knowledge of a failed deal and will ask for it. So be prepared to make notes on your copy with your known facts of each item. And make sure to note that you are providing it as a means of transparency and that while you disagree with some facts and have provided details to the best of your ability, this will not be used in any negotiation and that the new buyer must get their own inspection done or forego at their own risk, the provided copy is someone’s opinion and nothing more. What will help you is if you pick something out of that inspection report and you fix it. And you share that with the next buyer. That you take things under consideration and value updating things when appropriate. Now if you decide to not share this report and that is your right, it may make a buyer think you have something to hide. That’s why it’s important to try to reconnect with the original buyer. Take reduction under a miscellaneous category. Say while I don’t agree with several things on the report, I understand that you may have different feelings and I’m willing to in good faith, offer you $5,000 toward things that you are unsure about that you may want to change. “Please let us know about all of your concerns and how you would like them addressed. You love this home, as do we and I think we can find a way through credit or maybe improvements to make this house your home, blah blah blah” and while this should be your agent doing all of this already, sometimes you have to do work to get the buyer to reengage. You aren’t making any promises to do any of the work – just listening, considering and ultimately declining anything you feel doesn’t affect value. That’s usually where the miscellaneous concession thanks the sting out of the rejection. Just some tips and hopefully some part of this, will help you going forward. Good luck with your home.
He just did his job well. Not many first time buyers will be motivated to buy a 97 year old house. There will be other buyers.
Who actually paid for the inspection? You know when my wife and I bought our house many years back we hired the inspector to look out for our interests and that worked out well because the inspector documented about 35,000 worth of problems. The typical inspector on a lot of real estate transaction is a checklist inspector who charges $300 and he limits his liabilities to refunding his fee if he missed something big. So if the buyer hired the inspector inspector did his job by giving him caution. If you hired the inspector they’re still supposed to do a good job but you know that could be bad for him as inspector. It’s a hard job hopefully he can defend his report.