[Boomer]

Last night I posted this question in a thread that was answering a question about finding an inspector. - a thread that I am treasuring in my TV folder. This morning when I checked in, I thought I had better move it to its own thread because it is a more general question about inspections. I thought it needed to be separated. Of course, I had no idea how to move the post from one thread to another so I am just starting over.

Here goes:

We have bought and sold several homes, but inspections where we live are almost always tied to contingencies. We have FSBO'd more often than not. I get how it works in my neck of the woods.

I think I get what happens when you buy new in TV.

But how do inspections work for pre-owned homes? Who fixes what? When?

We don't sweat the small stuff. We even know how to fix most of those things ourselves. But what happens if big problems are found, like structural problems or mold?

I asked this question while in TV, but I began to feel like I was speaking some weird tribal clicking language or something. I never could get it straight. It must be so different in Florida.

I am not all that angst ridden over inspections. But I do want to know that if a big problem shows up, the buyer is not stuck.

We are beginning to focus on coming back soon so I am doing lots of homework.

I am so glad I found this forum. I appreciate the willingness of so many knowledgeable people to answer questions. Thank you.

[Sidney Lanier]

We too prefer to have an inspection done. When we were considering our house, friends in TV recommended their house inspector. Certified? Licensed? Frankly have no idea; to us the recommendation meant more than the paperwork. Inspectors are there to find things, so we were not perturbed about his pointing out a couple of popped sheetrock nails and the fact that the light fixtures by the garage door were loose (which I fixed with a couple of turns with a pair of pliers). However, he did find one thing we thought significant, so we gave a copy of the report to the sellers, who immediately agreed to have it checked and, if necessary, fixed.

There were two other things that they had agreed beforehand to pay for (unrelated to the one house inspection issue), and even though they were not able to do these three things before the closing, they paid for both after they had already moved out, and now it's a matter of our getting the inspection issue done and a bill given to the sellers. We would not recommend this kind of 'after the fact' arrangement; it just happened to work out in our case this way, we had confidence that the sellers would follow through, and indeed they have.

We have the impression that in TV real estate sales contracts generally do NOT include contingencies (which doesn't mean, of course, that you can't ask for one). Buying a house is like anything else; there are major caveats attached to doing so, and you have to be comfortable however you do it. I might add that I have owned quite a few homes over the years and I am reasonably knowledgeable and handy; I have the impression that houses in TV are pretty well built (or at least ours is...).

INMO....

[JohnN]

Isn't there a home insurance policy that the buyer/seller/realtor can purchase to insure the major components of a home for some period ? (roof, HVAC, applicances, etc) That's common around these parts and would alleviate some of the apprehension.

[Sidney Lanier]

P.S. Just re-read the thread: In my reply I meant to say 'IMHO' (in my humble opinion). Sorry 'bout that....

[Boomer]

Sidney,

I just looked back at your answer to my question. It sounds like maybe you bought directly from the seller.

Sometimes I almost prefer a FSBO. The communication between buyer and seller can often work better.

Once we make the decision to buy, it will be a second home, at least for awhile. The plan is to buy a patio villa and not rent it so that we can come and go on our own schedule.

I just FSBO'd a house for someone else. (I always use an attorney.) When that inspection was done, the inspector brought in some kind of meter that he held up to the walls to look for moisture. Moisture and structure are pretty much the only real concerns we have. The rest is usually pretty obvious. I guess we could buy one of those meters.

We are starting to figure it out where buying in TV is concerned. Little stuff is no big deal. The only real concern is big stuff found on those inspections done after the deal is made.

And, of course, I recognize that any inspection is only as good as the inspector. I have been saving those recommendations that I have found on this site.

You are right. It all boils down to caveat emptor. I'm just doing a little homework.

I appreciate all the help we can find on this site. Thank you.

[Sidney Lanier]

Early in September we visited friends who had just moved to TV; we were on our way to a trade show in Orlando. Fell in love with the place and the concept (they say 'don't drink the water,' but we heard it too late...) and immediately hooked up with a Villages salesperson (very decent guy), ran around looking at FSBOs as well, and tooled around in our friends' golf cart checking our neighborhoods/villages.

In the next few weeks we researched and learned the ropes; we came back in October with a day lined up with our Villages salesperson, another day with an MLS salesperson, and a day of further checking our areas and FSBOs.

Then our friends took us to their neighbors two houses from them who were anxious to sell (and these people DID have their house listed with TV but we saw it through our friends, not the salesperson), and we ended up buying directly. The communication between us and the sellers went very well; the four of us drove together to the closing! In fact, though we don't recommend this and it just happened to happen in our situation, things that the sellers promised to do before the closing never got done; at the closing they told us to give them the bills 'after the fact,' and so far they've paid them with no problem.

With some sellers (and I should add some buyers...) it's better to have a real estate person do the communicating; we happened to be fortunate. Good luck!

[Mintjulep]

Boomer,
When we bought our patio villa in Dec., thru our MLS not our Villages realtor, we requested an inspection. Our contract stated that if the inspection repairs needed were less than 1-1/2% of the sales price, the seller would fix them, if over the 1-1/2% the seller could opt not to fix them, and we could then opt out of the contract, OR designate which repairs we wanted the seller to make to total the repair limit of the 1-1/2%.
And were told that is pretty standard for this area.

Our realtor gave us a couple of recommendations for inspectors. We were very happy with the one we chose. He did the inspection when he said he would, did a very detailed 21 page report that included moisture penetration. He found 3 minor problems and provided pictures of them. He emailed us the report so we could quickly know what he found, then mailed us the hard copy.
The price was $225 for the home inspection and $75 for the termite inspection, so $300 total.
His name was:
Tom Comer
http://www.comerinspections.com/

Hope this helps...

[Boomer]

Mintjulep,

BINGO -- :bigthumbsup:

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for sharing the specifics of the MLS contract language as it relates to inspections.

I finally get it.

We have been on one end or the other of several real estate contracts, and most of them were FSBO's. But they have always included inspection contingencies that allowed the potential buyer to bail if there were serious problems found. But we have never bought Florida property.

Boomer

[l2ridehd]

I have bought and sold 31 homes in my many moves and some for investment.* I have had home inspections done on most and all in the last 20 years.* All but 1 have been done very well.* Through, usually a complete detailed book with every major component of the home, what the inspector found, any corrective action required, and ongoing maintenance information.*

That one failure was in TV based on a Villages VLS agent list of inspectors.* It was the most useless report filled with disclaimers and over all the worst home inspection report I have ever seen.* Now the inspector seemed to do a through job at the inspection ( I was not there with him, but had a friend there) but the report was useless.* I would not recommend this inspector and I would ask to see the report an inspector planned to use before using any one there.* Pages of disclaimers with one line of what he found are not what I expect from a home inspector.* I will probably not post his name here, but e-mail me and I will provide it to any who ask.* The one item he noted was one I told him to note as I found it and even then his finding was VERY wishey washey and not direct in the repair required.*

[dbucchi]

I also used Tom Comer. He was very good. It's a smart thing to do to have a house inspected before you buy.

[TVFBauthor]

@All:

Getting an inspection is very important AND it doesn't matter how new the home is...or how nice the sellers are

The point of an inspection is not to convince you that so much is wrong with the house that you are discouraged to buy it. It is rather to give you an accurate depiction of the current condition of the house, as well as an idea of how certain things will hold up in the future.

I've always gone ahead and paid for a home warranty as well on every house I've bought. Most are $300-$400/yr.

Couple of national companies like American Home Shield http://ahswarranty.com and Old Republic http://www.orhp.com There are some local companies but I've alwaays dealt with the big national ones.

Ryan