 |
|
 |
Home Inspection Horror Stories - How to Avoid Being OneHome Inspection Horror Stories are far too common.They basically fall into two categories. 1. Legitimate Claims: Nearly all legitimate home inspector horror stories involve an inexperienced home inspector or a home inspector who works as part of the real estate sales team not fully disclosing the significance of a finding to a client. In either case the client buys the home not knowing the extent of the problem due to the inspectors lack of knowledge, lack of report writing skills or lack of ethics (desire for future referrals from unethical realtors being put ahead of his clients interests). Sometimes Home Inspection Horror Stories start like this - A home inspector finds an electrical defect (rusted connections inside the electric panel). An experienced home inspector would know enough to indicate the electrical defect is a fire and or shock hazard that requires immediate corrective action. An inexperienced home inspector or a home inspector who does not want to scare the client may disclose the defect exists but not the significance of the findings. Many times the home owner will offer to clean off the rust and represent the water problem is solved. The real and only cure is likely to be complete removal and replacement of everything that got wet and or is rusted or corroded. Frequently the electric meter pan, electric meter. electric panel including all circuit breakers must all be removed and replaced for $1,000 to $2,000. Other times Home Inspection Horror Stories start like this - A home inspector checks the air conditioning system by comparing the return and supply air temperatures. A temperature drop of a properly functioning system should be between 15 and 20 F degrees. If a temperature drop of less than 15 degrees is observed many home owners and realtors quickly point out the system needs freon. Many home inspectors who do not know better remain silent and simply report the temperature drop is less than expected. Again, factually accurate but deceptive. Air conditioning systems are supposed to be sealed systems that circulate refrigerant through sealed pipes. If a system is missing refrigerant gas one must first determine where the missing gas went. If a system is missing refrigerant gas one must FIND AND FIX THE LEAK in order to avoid a $10,000 find for discharging an ozone depleting gas into the atmosphere and twice a season or weekly addition of refrigerant gas. Thus an inexperienced home inspector or one how does not know any better leaves a client with the impression a $150 service call will fix the problem when the real cure is replacement of the exterior portion of the air conditioning system and replacement of the interior coil $4,000 to $6,000. It is also possible for a Home Inspection Horror Story to start like this - During the home inspection the home inspector observes an addition on the home that was not properly built. The home owner and or realtor indicate it was there when the existing home owner bought the home and that the municipality issued a Certificate of Occupancy so proper permits had to exist. An experienced home inspector knows better than to believe what others represent and to read between the lines. Few if any municipalities actually check to determine if all permits, inspections and approvals were obtained prior to issuing a Certificate of Occupancy. In the vast majority of situations a Certificate of Occupancy is issued even if the proper permits never existed. An experienced home inspector looks for potentially unsafe or illegal additions and changes and clearly tells his or her client why it is a concern and insists someone verify in writing with the municipality the proper permits, inspections and approvals have been obtained and that real estate taxes have been updated or that they be obtained prior to expiration of your home inspection contingency. Just because others have gotten away without getting permits or real estate taxes are lower than they should be it does not mean you will get away with it too. 2. Non Legitimate Claims: Home inspectors perform visual evaluations of the components that are visible during the time of the home inspection. No home inspector can be expected to predict when or if any component of the home will fail or tell any client about any problem that is not visible (problems behind the wall). Exactly who works for you during a home purchase? Your New Jersey Real Estate Attorney will, as will a very carefully selected home inspector. A haphazardly selected inspector can be very hazardous to your wealth. Many home buyers are told by those who are only compensated if a sale goes through all licensed home inspectors are the same. Few things can be further from the truth. For example if you were going to a doctor would you prefer one who just got out of school last week, or one who taught in the school for a few years, who has been in practice since 1993, who had eight or so years experience in an affiliated industry and who has done the exact same thing more than 6,000 times for others. When selecting a doctor, New Jersey Real Estate Attorney or New Jersey Home Inspector do not let the minimum qualification of holding a license fool you. Go out of your way to select the best qualified and most experienced professional you can afford. Click for more information about New Jersey Real Estate Attorney, Real Estate Law or about Home Inspection Books -
NJ home inspector
Michael
Del Greco
Home Inspection Horror Stories - How to Avoid Being One
New Jersey home inspection
56 Woodland Drive
Woodland Park (formerly West Paterson)
,
NJ
,
07424
United States
973-812-5100
NJ Home inspector performs New Jersey Home Inspections |
