Home buying first time, humbly asking advice

[EAGLE5]

A good home inspector is a rare thing.

[Yoshoobaroo]

Originally Posted by EAGLE5

A good home inspector is a rare thing.

Yep, bought 3 houses in the past 10 years, The inspector has sucked every time.

[MuseChaser]

My experience with "home inspectors" has been similar to my experience with Microsoft customer "support;" the information they provide is essentially correct, but not useful nor indicative of what the actual problems may actually be.

The real estate "industry" has spawned a few sub-industries in the thirty-five years I've been buying houses... not that I've bought that many (four, to be exact). Used to be... a realtor showed you the house, a bank approved a mortgage, and a lawyer made sure the deed was clear and all the paperwork was in order.

Now... "Home inspectors" are touted as being an absolute necessity. I've always had a friend who was a builder look at properties for me (and, at my insistence, paid him for doing so) to point out any possible issues, rather than some inexperienced "trained" "home inspector" who checks off a standard form, kind of like those "120-point inspections" that dealerships sort of do, kind of, sometimes. I used a home inspector on our current house when I bought it back in 2000, and it was a waste of money. He missed some very obvious issues, and made a big deal out of stuff that wasn't.

The other sub-industry that has sprung up that drives me nuts is the "staging" industry... you pay somebody thousands of dollars to "stage" your house with certain furnishings in order to make it more appealing to prospective purchasers.. and possibly hide certain flaws. As a purchaser, I'd like to either see the house empty of contents, warts and all, so I can formulate my own ideas for the future (and see any cosmetic or structural deficiencies that need addressing), or, if that's not possible, see it as it's being lived in, so I can see how the previous owners cared for it. "Staging" is like putting on a tuxedo t-shirt. I hate it. It just smacks of dishonesty. I mean... do you want a wonderful, kind, caring wife, or an actress who will appear to be one until you marry her?

/curmudgeon mode

[soundman98]

To the last point, staging is requisite these days because the majority of people have no vision.

By the same token, everyone wants everything new, so these hackjob house flippers come in, tick all the boxes of what the average wants(granite counters, grey paint, stainless appliances), while hiding disasters behind the wall. Lipstick on a pig.
But the industry of flipping exists because no one can visualize doing the work themselves anymore.

I routinely have to physically hang light fixtures for homeowners for them to see how the height will look because holding a tape measure up to show where it lands isn't good enough..


Home inspectors, I always tell people, are a liability thing like major medical insurance. If the house isn't bolted down(actually seen this), it gives the homeowner some recourse against someone who gave the house a clean bill of health, besides chasing down the previous owner.

[cjd]

We saw benefit from inspection of our last house. Clear negligence (they wouldn't change f***ing light bulbs so half the rooms had no light; terribly wired house or just dead bulbs / lazy owners?). Rotting front porch. Fridge (smaller one but still 2'x2'x5.5' or so so decent size) under the stairs on a 16ga (or maybe even 18ga) extension cord (he climbed over shit for us to see, that closet was STUFFED). Horribly neglected jacuzzi in the master bath absolutely FULL of mold and sludge. He had a good list to work with, and between us, our realtor, and the inspector, we had a list of things we weren't sure about. Group effort.

Yet he couldn't inspect the roof, and that was a failure we had immediately - lost a section 3x, third time we replaced it (~12 years old at that point, installed wrong.) I don't hold that against him. Tiny lots and this place is silly with 10' ceilings all three floors. He told us up front that was a limitation of his equipment and insurance. These days maybe you'd use a drone to get a view at least.

It cost us ~0.05% of the purchase price. We got ten times that in concessions because they didn't want to bother (rather than replace bulbs to demonstrate working circuits, they just "waah but don't wanna this is unreasonable").
Doesn't always work out that way, but given the kind of crap people try to pull...

[Spuds]

Home inspectors are indeed useless, except for getting concessions out of lazy sellers.

However, they did go up on the roof and take a look around, which I hate doing.

[humfrz]

As a real estate broker for about 10 years, I represented several hundred buyers purchasing homes and I always recommended a home inspection by a certified home inspector, even new construction.

However, I would suggest to the buyer what items on an inspection report, he/she should ask the seller to "fix" or give compensation for and what items should just be put on a DIY list for the buyer.

[ZionsWrath]

The biggest things found on my inspection was septic needs pump and a few missing shingles in roof.

I put as addendum on contract. I ended up getting a new roof as the current one was 15 years and they went through their home insurance.

If things work out I'll close this week, if not next week I'll be on the hunt again.

[p1l0t]

Originally Posted by humfrz

Note: In this part of the country, the "selling agent" (selling office) is the agent/office representing the buyer.

WAT

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[p1l0t]

Originally Posted by MuseChaser

My experience with "home inspectors" has been similar to my experience with Microsoft customer "support;" the information they provide is essentially correct, but not useful nor indicative of what the actual problems may actually be.

The real estate "industry" has spawned a few sub-industries in the thirty-five years I've been buying houses... not that I've bought that many (four, to be exact). Used to be... a realtor showed you the house, a bank approved a mortgage, and a lawyer made sure the deed was clear and all the paperwork was in order.

Now... "Home inspectors" are touted as being an absolute necessity. I've always had a friend who was a builder look at properties for me (and, at my insistence, paid him for doing so) to point out any possible issues, rather than some inexperienced "trained" "home inspector" who checks off a standard form, kind of like those "120-point inspections" that dealerships sort of do, kind of, sometimes. I used a home inspector on our current house when I bought it back in 2000, and it was a waste of money. He missed some very obvious issues, and made a big deal out of stuff that wasn't.

The other sub-industry that has sprung up that drives me nuts is the "staging" industry... you pay somebody thousands of dollars to "stage" your house with certain furnishings in order to make it more appealing to prospective purchasers.. and possibly hide certain flaws. As a purchaser, I'd like to either see the house empty of contents, warts and all, so I can formulate my own ideas for the future (and see any cosmetic or structural deficiencies that need addressing), or, if that's not possible, see it as it's being lived in, so I can see how the previous owners cared for it. "Staging" is like putting on a tuxedo t-shirt. I hate it. It just smacks of dishonesty. I mean... do you want a wonderful, kind, caring wife, or an actress who will appear to be one until you marry her?

/curmudgeon mode

Yeah when I was selling my rental house GFCI outlets in the kitchen and railings were a huge deal but he didn't seem to care the mudroom was slightly sunken. I mean the buyer was using an FHA loan, and when I bought the house my inspector said it was no big deal still "structurally sound."

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[p1l0t]

Originally Posted by soundman98

To the last point, staging is requisite these days because the majority of people have no vision.

By the same token, everyone wants everything new, so these hackjob house flippers come in, tick all the boxes of what the average wants(granite counters, grey paint, stainless appliances), while hiding disasters behind the wall. Lipstick on a pig.
But the industry of flipping exists because no one can visualize doing the work themselves anymore.

I routinely have to physically hang light fixtures for homeowners for them to see how the height will look because holding a tape measure up to show where it lands isn't good enough..


Home inspectors, I always tell people, are a liability thing like major medical insurance. If the house isn't bolted down(actually seen this), it gives the homeowner some recourse against someone who gave the house a clean bill of health, besides chasing down the previous owner.

It's definitely an industry of too many hands in the pot and profits largely on human laziness. I actually don't mind profiting on laziness, because let's be honest that's the only reason we even have money is for the stuff we can't or won't do ourselves. The too many hands in the pot really grinds my gears though... I sold my house for almost double what I paid for it. By the time I paid all the closing costs (and I agreed to pay the buyer's closing costs too because it was still the best offer with the government's (FHA AKA your and my tax dollars that also raises home prices lol)), when you consider what I put into it over the years, and then when they tax me on the "profit" I made which won't count the closing costs I paid (probably but I'll check)... I'll be lucky to break even. You can make all the money you want, you just can't keep any of it. And then we wonder why these dummy corporations exist to buy things to write off... but I'm thankful for them too because that's who I work for...

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[humfrz]

Originally Posted by p1l0t

WAT

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WAT = ??

[Spuds]

Originally Posted by p1l0t

It's definitely an industry of too many hands in the pot and profits largely on human laziness. I actually don't mind profiting on laziness, because let's be honest that's the only reason we even have money is for the stuff we can't or won't do ourselves. The too many hands in the pot really grinds my gears though... I sold my house for almost double what I paid for it. By the time I paid all the closing costs (and I agreed to pay the buyer's closing costs too because it was still the best offer with the government's (FHA AKA your and my tax dollars that also raises home prices lol)), when you consider what I put into it over the years, and then when they tax me on the "profit" I made which won't count the closing costs I paid (probably but I'll check)... I'll be lucky to break even. You can make all the money you want, you just can't keep any of it. And then we wonder why these dummy corporations exist to buy things to write off... but I'm thankful for them too because that's who I work for...

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Oh, you would be pissed if you read up on how real estate investment works. You apparently get tax deductions on depreciation per year, even if your house goes up in value. But that's only if you don't use it as your own primary residence.

[humfrz]

Originally Posted by p1l0t

It's definitely an industry of too many hands in the pot and profits largely on human laziness. I actually don't mind profiting on laziness, because let's be honest that's the only reason we even have money is for the stuff we can't or won't do ourselves. The too many hands in the pot really grinds my gears though... I sold my house for almost double what I paid for it. By the time I paid all the closing costs (and I agreed to pay the buyer's closing costs too because it was still the best offer with the government's (FHA AKA your and my tax dollars that also raises home prices lol)), when you consider what I put into it over the years, and then when they tax me on the "profit" I made which won't count the closing costs I paid (probably but I'll check)... I'll be lucky to break even. You can make all the money you want, you just can't keep any of it. And then we wonder why these dummy corporations exist to buy things to write off... but I'm thankful for them too because that's who I work for...

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Well, it doesn't have to be that way (at least not in the state of Washington). A buyer and seller can draw up a purchase and sale contract on the back of an envelope, the buyer encloses $1.00 for earnest money, they go down to the county seat, funds are transferred between the buyer and seller, the title is transferred and recorded by the county - done deal!