Do we need our own home inspector ? (Houston: real estate, foreclosures)

[jayden08]

We are going to close a 7 year-old Perry home in Shadow creek ranch. The home looks good to us although there are some minor things need to be repaired here and there. I do think about the home inspection but most of my relatives said it 's a waste of money because the home is foreclosure so whatever the inspection comes out, I have to take it As-is! I really need you guys advices and comments !

[Myztri]

I say you absolutely need someone to inspect the home. You want to make sure that there aren't any major issues that would make you want to kill the sale.

[AlfredB1979]

Ditto. Inspect it.

Not sure where your standing is financially, but my aunt and uncle basically bought a $140,000 fixer-upper because they trusted the sellers "inspection"...it is bad enough that the mortgage takes up half their income, but an extra $50,000 later, I think they have what they wanted at a hefty price.

Of course, that inspection would have found a 46-year old attic mounted AC unit (well, 41 back when they bought the house) that was rusting to hell that leaked all over the ceiling and caved a chunk of that in over the dining room and saved the "Why didn't the seller fix this?" nonsense...$5,000 more right there.

Fair warning...you have it. I know of two people that could have killed a deal had they known what they were doing. I don't want to see "we" added to it.

[Poltracker]

Oh yes, you definitely want a very good inspection. The bank may not want to fix anything you find, but you may want to back out and find another one.

[Txgal33]

YES!!!! You don't want to be buying a lemon and even though it may say AS IS sometimes just maybe they will cave and fix. Not most of the time but sometimes. If it is something that will prevent the house from selling. If they won;t fix they can always adjust the price so you can get it fixed. Never buy a house without getting it inspected first!!

[Point man]

Although many of the inferior builders have been
weeded out in the last few years, you really should have an unbiased third party that works for you check the place out. If for nothing more than piece of mind. I have personally inspected some of the worst new construction I have ever seen in SCR.

https://www.city-data.com/forum/houst...sed-these.html

[westres1]

yes

[Oildog]

Home inspection is money well spent. Your relatives are wrong on this one.

[jmeadors]

As someone who has bought, sold, built, and renovated many houses, I would say that, if you are a fairly inexperienced buyer or homeowner, an inspection certainly couldn't hurt. But you can probably get more effective results by hiring specialized people in each of the major fields to do inspections. For example, a foundation company, and hvac company, a plumber, and electrician, etc. Most home inspectors know a little about a lot but not a lot about anything in particular. So, the end up with stuff like "needs a GFCI plug in the bathroom" instead of the more important and much more expensive problems that are harder to detect if you don't work in that field every day.

So my vote is that if you can find a great inspector at the right price or are willing to take the time & spend the energy that it takes to REALLY find out what's going on in that house--using specialists--then the inspection may just be a waste of money.

Price is more important than condition. Any house, in any condition, is a good buy--at the right price. Some people assume foreclosures are already listed at a discount to the market. Sometimes that is true. Sometimes it is not.

[Point man]

The common sense approach during a real estate transaction would be to seek the advice of the Professional Home Inspector before that of the Licensed Electrician, Licensed HVAC technician, Licensed Plumber, Roofer, and Structural Engineer etc., Consider the limited amount of time for all of these different trades' people to be contacted and scheduled, the amount of time to compile their data and write their reports and get them to the client and their agent in time to respond to them before the contingency date of the contract expired. Consider the need for someone specialized in each of these areas to read and explain the variously formatted reports in layman terms to the client, agent and seller.....and then, the fees that would probably range in the (conservative) area of a total of $1500 to $2000 instead of the typical $300 to $500 fee for a home inspection. The economics of the transaction dictate what the consumer gets. The Texas Real Estate Commission could write Standards of Practice that dictate an overly detailed and technically exhaustive inspection, but this is not acceptable to Real Estate Agents and their clients (the home buyers and sellers). The consumer is getting what they have demanded; a qualified, competent, well trained and dedicated Professional Home Inspector.

Houston Home Inspectors - Top 2 Bottom Home Inspections - Houston, Texas