inspections

Why A Home Inspection Is Important

March 6, 2023 by khproperties Leave a Comment

We can’t stress enough how important home inspections are to a buyer. While it might seem like a good idea to save some money when buying a home, the home inspection is definitely not one of the things to cut. This home inspection infographic is a simple straight forward answer to the question, “Do I need a home inspection?

Have questions about getting a home inspection? Need a recommendation for some excellent home inspectors? Not sure if you need a home inspection? Buying a new home and wondering if you can skip the home inspection? Give us a call and we can help.

Writing Effective Repair Amendments

November 28, 2016 by khproperties 3 Comments

You may need to think about repair amendments during the course of buying a home, typically during the option period and after your inspection. Your agent will prepare your repair amendments for you, but as a buyer, it pays to understand how to write an effective repair amendment as the language used in them can have serious effects down the road. Understanding both how to write a repair amendment with negotiations and the final outcome in mind, as well as how to write them so that what you want is really what you get, can save you a lot of time and hassle later down the road. Remember, these repair amendments become part of the contract and performance of the items contained within them is serious business. Many real estate lawsuits center around the repairs agreed to and made and whether or not they were sufficient. Know what goes into the repair amendment before you sign so you can avoid any issues that could effect your purchase.

Negotiating Repairs

After your inspection and your review of the inspection report, you’ll probably have a laundry list of items that you want fixed in order for you to continue with the purchase of this home. We understand anyone’s desire to have everything perfect in their new home, but the reality is that all homes have items that can or should be fixed. Even the inspection on a brand new home will turn up items that need corrected. The goal here is to come up with a list of items that the seller needs to fix…and that they will agree to.

Since no home is ever perfect, you’re going to need to take a look at the inspection report and decide what matters to you most and what can be negotiated by both parties to create the magical win-win situation. Simply sending over an inspection report and saying “fix everything” will more than likely get you a denial from the seller. So how do you determine what to ask for and what not to ask for?

You want to take a look at the big picture. What items do you feel are the so-called “deal killers” – those items that you cannot see past and will cause you to walk away from the home in an instant. Typically, we see these are big ticket items like roofs and HVAC units or health and safety issues such as faulty wiring or items that create a risk of fire, electrocution, or explosion (think leaking gas).

Every homebuyer is different though and what you might consider a no-go, the next homebuyer might not even flinch at. It all depends on your needs and your comfort level.

As well as your needs, you’ll need to consider where the seller is coming from. Did they just take a really low offer from you on the home? Are they trying to move quickly due to a relocation? Are the facing foreclosure or perhaps they just need to sell because they don’t have the money? There are so many factors to consider and your real estate agent can help you see some of the potential pitfalls to the negotiation before they even happen. Remember, the goal is to get the seller to repair items, not bury them in so much that they refuse to do anything.

Writing Repair Amendments

Our biggest tips to writing repair amendments are simple: be specific, don’t overuse words and don’t under explain what you need, and let the inspection report do the talking.

Be specific. We’ve seen cases where repair amendments said something along the lines of “have sprinkler system checked.” The seller did exactly that. They paid to have someone come out and inspect the sprinkler system…and nothing more. There were issues with the sprinkler system (in this particular case a broken pipe under a sidewalk which was causing a major loss of water) and because of the language in the inspection report, the seller merely confirmed what everyone already knew, the sprinkler system needed repair. The two strongest words you can use in a repair amendment are repair and replace. For example, if there are extensive roof damages, a roof replacement may be more practical than roof repair.

Over/under explaining things. Be succinct in your wording. Don’t become a junior inspector or plumber or electrician. Let the experts determine what is wrong and fix it. If the property has a septic system, let a septic tank services company inspect and repair the damages if any or see if a new septic system installation is needed. Sometimes people try to use a lot of big words or even legalese to make the repair amendment sound official. You want to write clearly and in simple, plain language to get to the heart of what it is you want done.

Let the inspection report do the talking. Quote items in the inspection report and give reference numbers for pages or sections of the report where the item appears. Let the inspector’s words inform what needs done.

Remember, that all repairs must be done by a licensed person if the trade requires a license (plumbing and electrical are two examples) or by someone regularly employed in a trade that reflects what they are doing like Shower regrouting melbourne . For plumbing examples, read more about BFMD, LLC Plumbing here.In other words, if you hire a handyman to fix items on a repair amendment, they need to be a handyman as their regular job, not just Uncle Bob who says he can fix it. These two requirements can be overruled if agreed to by both parties and put into writing. One can rely on experts and for plumbing service San Diego see PIC Plumbing.

The more precise you are with repair amendments, the better your results will be. Remember to think items through as well, what are the consequences of the action you’re requesting? We see a lot of arguments over removing items like TV brackets. If someone requests “remove TV brackets” on a repair amendment, they might get exactly that. What’s left when you remove TV brackets? Big holes and mismatched paint. You may want to use something more along the lines of “remove TV brackets and repair, patch, texture, and paint to match current walls” so that you have a more detailed explanation of what you want done. Remember, there is no “they should have known what I meant” clause in contracts.

image courtesy of pixel_unikat

Hail Damage Still Causing Issues for Sellers in San Antonio

July 11, 2016 by khproperties Leave a Comment

Did your home suffer hail damage during the storms earlier this year? Many people don’t even know that their homes were affected by the hail storms and since they’ve experienced no leaks or obvious things like broken windows, they think they have escaped the major brunt of the storms and all is well. Many homeowners don’t know anything happened at all…until they go to sell their homes and the buyer comes along for the home inspection. If your home was in the path of one of the storms that brought with it extensive hail damage, chances are the inspector will find evidence of it and notate it in their report. Once it’s on that report, you’re going to have to deal with it one way or another.

Inspectors know what neighborhoods experienced hail damage and which didn’t, so they are on the lookout for the telltale signs of damage on rooftops. On composition shingle roofs, the hail typically leaves a mark upon impact, which removes some of the granules from the shingle and there is often a bit of a skid mark where they hit the roof and begin to slide down. Although these pockmarks can be small and seem insignificant in the grand scheme of things, they are an indication of long term wear and tear and while they may not be causing a leak now, they can cause issues in the future. Inspectors are there to report their findings to the buyer and because of the heightened awareness of hail in the area, they are looking at roofs more closely. Remember, the inspector has to protect their liability too – so when things like this become common place in an area, they are more likely to report these kinds of issues. They have to cover their liability and make everyone aware of the potential disclosure of items that could cause trouble for the owner – now or after the sale.

Once an inspector notates evidence of hail damage in their report, you’re stuck with it. As a seller, you now have a few basic choices:

- Do nothing. Most buyers are going to back out if you do nothing and if they did their inspections during the option period, there’s little recourse for you as a homeowner. This choice has an additional downside in that you now have to disclose that inspection report to future buyers on your Seller’s Disclosure Notice, so chances are just about every buyer is going to ask you to rectify the situation. It’s not just a matter of the buyer getting a new roof either – most insurance companies won’t insure the property for a new buyer because of the known damage. It truly is a case of being stuck between a rock and a hard place.
- Fix the roof and pay for it yourself. Depending on what the damage is, it may be a simple fix or it may be time to tear the whole roof off and replace it. Coming out of pocket for a new roof is not something most owners enjoy, so the next option is usually the better one.
- Call your insurance company and have them come out and inspect the roof. This can take time, so typically the seller and buyer will agree to extend the option period to allow time for an insurance adjuster to come out and present their findings. The insurance company will give you an estimate of what they think the damage is and how much it will cost to fix the roof or get a new one. Remember, the insurance company will take into account any depreciation of the value of the roof as well as your deductible, so while they may declare it a total loss in need of replacement, they won’t necessarily pay for the whole thing. Once you have your numbers, you can arrange to have the roof fixed. You may have to work with the buyer to change closing dates as most lenders will not close on the home until they can verify the work is complete.
- You can perform the steps above, but instead of arranging to have the roof work done and paying for it with your insurance claim, you can assign the insurance proceeds over to the buyer at closing. You will still be responsible for your deductible, but this puts the work into the hands of the new owner after the sale. There’s a catch however. Most lenders and insurance companies won’t allow you to do this. There are some that allow it, but in most of the cases we’ve seen this year, either the lender requires the work to be complete before they will close and fund the loan or the insurance company doesn’t allow for assignment of proceeds. The banks are protecting their asset and the insurance company is making sure that the work gets done and no one is just pocketing the money only to make a claim later for the same item. Also, the buyer’s insurance company may not insure the property because of their knowledge of the claim and may also insist the work is done before they will insure the home. Without insurance on the home, the lender will not close on the loan.

Whichever route you choose, you’re going to want to keep the buyers updated and informed and you will need to get them to come to an agreement with you on how to proceed. As always, you’ll want to get everything in writing and your agent will draw up and amendment to the contract to reflect the decisions made on how everything will be handled.

Do You Have Hail Damage?

Most homeowners don’t go up on their roofs very often to inspect them, so you may not even know you have hail damage. If the storms passed through your neighborhood, chances are you do, even if it is only slight damage. Telltale signs you may need to think about your roof? If you’re seeing roofers all throughout your neighborhood, signs in the yards for roofing companies, pallets of shingles stacked in driveways…you’re going to want to get your roof checked. Buyers and their agents will be looking for those signs as well as having the home inspected and chances are, some evidence of hail damage will be found.

If you’re thinking about selling and live in an area that did experience hail storms, you can call your insurance company beforehand and have them come out to inspect the roof. It will save a lot of time and hassle while the home is under contract and you can have the work started sooner rather than later. You’ll probably have to come out of pocket for some of it (at least your deductible), but doing it now can save you the hassle and headache later during the sale. If you decide to have the whole roof replaced, it can add value to your home as well, so you may wind up with better, stronger offers for more money, especially since many buyers are aware of the length of time it can take to get these problems resolved while the home is under contract and they may not be prepared to take on the challenge of those types of delays. A little preparation goes a long way.

image courtesy of cafuego

A Home Inspector Will Find Everything…We’re Serious

February 26, 2016 by khproperties Leave a Comment

Notice anything strange about the photo to the left? Anything? The home inspector certainly did. Go ahead and click on the photo and take a moment to laugh. This inspection report came across our desks this morning and we had to chuckle. We see a lot of great real estate photos during the course of any given day, but this one wins the internet this Friday morning. We all know cats rule the internet. In all seriousness though, this is a great example of what a home inspector is tasked with doing. Their job is to inspect and report, even if the report may seem a little strange. They’re not there to fix problems or make repairs…or even rescue cats stuck in the attic. I’m sure the home inspector on this job had a few laughs as he was taking the photo, but imagine if he were faced with a rabid raccoon instead. Yikes! Home inspectors play a very important role in the process of buying a home and a great inspector is worth their weight in gold! Be sure you get a home inspection so you don’t find any surprises waiting for you when you buy your next home. We hope your attic will be free of cats, but it’s always best to know everything about the home you’re about to buy and a thorough inspection of the home will help you know just what obstacles or issues you might face in the future.

Thanks to all of the inspectors we’ve worked with that have protected our clients and always provided us with some fun stories to share! If you ever find yourself in need of recommendations for home inspectors that have proven their commitment to excellence, contact us and we’d be glad to connect you with one of the many we’ve built strong relationships with.