Should I pay for another home inspection?

Question

Shawn Mcenteer · Answer

Yes do your own inspection.  It will give you piece of mind and potentially help you negotiating a lower price or kill a deal that could be a money pit.

Mitchlyn D. · Answer

Have you made an offer, or are you deciding if you should? - I have made a 'verbal' offer but nothing in writing.  We have agreed to a price of $46K.  But now i'm a lil hesitant after looking at the properties face to face followed by the inspections.

Or are you in contract already and in due diligence period? - No, at this point, everything is verbal.

Mitchlyn D. · Answer

I totally understand.  It's better to be safe than sorry.

Mitchlyn D. · Answer

Was it before or after the seller purchased the property? - The seller purchased this property 4 or 5 years ago.

Was it a full scope home inspection? - Yes, I have the inspection report with pictures and things which needed fixing.  Including needing a new roof.  For one of the properties.

I would hope this inspector is ethical.  I looked him up on the internet and he seemed to have 4.5 out of 5 stars.  I just want to be certain they are not trying to pull a fast one.  Thanks!

Mitchlyn D. · Answer

@Shawn M - I understand. A piece of mind is what I need and very well trying to avoid the money pit scenario.

Caroline C. · Answer

@Mitchlyn Davis I agree you should get your own report.  Caveat though - only time I've used sellers report is when it was ordered by a prior potential buyer who backed out and seller was legitimately just trying to save our time and my money by providing it.  Report was useful and we ultimately didn't go into contract based on things we found in the report.  But if that report looked overly positive, and we wanted to move forward, we most certainly would have ordered our own inspection in the due diligence.  So, seller providing report up front most certainly saved us the money of doing our own inspection because that report is what stopped us from making an offer.

Have you made an offer, or are you deciding if you should?  Or are you in contract already and in due diligence period?

Shawn Mcenteer · Answer

@Mitchlyn Davis cost of inspection is about $500 in my area.  It is worth the money to ensure you have a better perception of home you are buying.

Matt Schelberg · Answer

My two cents as a home inspector:  You are not being paranoid.  There is potential for conflict of interest.

A lot of this depends on when the home inspector did his report.  Was it before or after the seller purchased the property?  If the seller hired the home inspector during his ownership, I'd recommend bringing in your own inspector.

Contact the previous home inspector and ask him to reply via email about conflicts of interest and his association to the seller.  (Do they have a continuing business relationship?)  If you live in a state where the inspector is licensed, he could get in hot water for ethical violations and concealing a conflict of interest in his reply to you.

Was it a full scope home inspection? (Was anything excluded at the request of the seller?)

Mitchlyn D. · Answer

@Anthony Dooley thanks buddy. I needed to get a different opinion.

Anthony Dooley · Answer

@Mitchlyn Davis I would inspect it myself. After you have looked at hundreds of homes, you know what to look for. You are being paranoid in my opinion. As an investor, you should expect to fix stuff, which is why you should get a better price.

Should I pay for another home inspection?

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