Hey Dave, you've been running into some real doozies here lately. It won't help the existing crap but when a home goes on the market I think that the home inspection and appraisal should be more related. What I mean is that the inspector should be required to be comprehensive, and when conditions are identified that are in violation of codes and standards for that area then they should have to be fixed before the close of escrow. If the inspection had the force of real estate law like the appraisal does, hacks and clueless homeowners would be less likely to create the sorts of time bombs you’ve had to fix.
I recently went to look at the newly purchased older home that a friend purchased, they paid cash and to save a buck they used the owner’s inspection report, (this couple doesn’t have a lot of money, they looked for almost a year for a house they could afford. I can’t figure out why they didn’t make a loan even though they could pay it off)
I looked around and he showed me almost a dozen things that should have been caught by an inspection, only 1 or 2 were on the list. Some one had built shelving in front of the pnl and then covered that with a curtain. They had a detached that was converted into a shop with a sub pnl that was fed by 12/3. They had a W/D hook up out there, I told them to hire a plumber and bring gas to the dryer to save a bit of money in the long run.
I think that (primary residence and multi family dwelling) homes should not be sold without an inspection and necessary corrections made.
