Should I Still Get a Home Inspection?

[Timothy A.]

Hi everyone!

I just opened escrow on my first property! It's a 3 unit, single building home and I am super excited about it. It's an old 1910 California craftsman style home with 2700 sqft in a historic neighborhood. It was previously used solely for rentals, but I plan to live in the downstairs unit and will rent out the 2 upstairs units. Unfortunately, this property needs a lot of work. It's in pretty bad shape cosmetically and my father-in-law (general contractor) estimated ~$50k-$60k in repairs from his quick walk through of the house (mainly cost of materials since he's family).

My question is, would it still be a good idea to get a home inspection performed? My father-in-law seems to think it's a waste of money since we'll be doing extensive renovations to the home anyway. But I figure a professional home inspector going through every facet of the house may catch some things that my father-in-law wouldn't have caught upon his initial walk through. Any particular thoughts on the matter?

[Simon Campbell]

Originally posted by Timothy Aing:

Would you folks recommend my father-in-law be there during the home inspection? Or should I just review the report with him afterwards? I feel it would be most beneficial if he was there taking in all of the info, but I'm just wondering if he'd be annoyed at the 5 hour inspection process, especially after he gave me his opinion. Thoughts are much appreciated!

Personally, I would not bring the father-in-law because it is like rubbing his nose in anything that he missed. I might not even tell him I got the inspection. Then as you do the rehab, you could point out something off the report as "Heh, come look at this! Maybe we should take care of this."

Then you save face with family and the repairs are done and you have the assurance of a quality home.