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Home inspections are something that everybody thinks they know a thing or two about, but like most things, professional thoughts and perspectives on a subject are always worth listening to. Maryland real estate professionals Bob and Donna McWilliams recently addressed home inspections in The Capital newspaper.
The McWilliams believe there are misunderstandings about what a home inspection is. The home inspection doesn't address cosmetic issues, just structural ones. Items like scrapes and scratches to wood are not considered defects. A buyer must decide for themselves whether they are prepared to buy a house with a color of paint they dislike, and are prepared to pay for the repainting once they buy the house.
They advise sellers not to try to conceal problems with the house. The ethical and legal thing is to let the buyer know about any structural problems with the house. Honesty is the best policy.
For home sellers, they agree that deciding what to fix up before you put your house on the market is an important consideration. Many home owners have a list of projects they've wanted to do; if they're left incomplete at the time a house is on the market, it can mean losing money when you sell your house.
The McWilliams also point out that home inspection requirements depend on the contract with the buyers. All home inspections have the inspector look at the structural, mechanical, electrical and plumbing parts of the house, but there may be other items written into the contract. Older homes, for example, may be checked for evidence of asbestos.
When it comes to old homes the couple notes that the home inspection standards of today can't always be applied to a house built one hundred years ago. They cite the example of a floor that isn't level in an old house, yet is structurally sound: a home inspection can't list this as a defect. Buyers should realize that a home inspection is not a tool to force home owners to update and rehabilitate everything in a house that a buyer doesn't like.
They also have highlighted their rule of thumb for home inspections:
"Everything should work and function as it was intended. The dishwasher should wash dishes; your roof should keep the rain out; the water heater should make hot water and so on. That doesn't mean that it has to be new or work as efficiently as the latest technology, but things should simply be in operating condition -- no more; no less."
Labels: home inspection issues, home inspection requirements, home inspection standards
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