Investor · Highland Park , NJ · Member since 2014 · 80 posts · 13 votes
Good Morning!!!! I have an accepted offer on my first multi-family property. I am currently in attorney review. After attorney's review is over I need to get the property inspected. Does anyone have suggestions on:
I moved from that area and owned property in North Plainfield, but we did our own inspections and I'm not even sure I have someone I could recommend. There is a contractor out of North Plainfield named Gary Lewis (Under Your Roof) that had wonderful integrity and really knew his stuff. I'm not sure if he does inspections, but he's an honest guy and he knows that stuff inside and out. Worth asking.
I think any good inspector might do the trick, but if you can find someone familiar with the state green card inspections--that would be awesome (assuming your multifamily is more than 3 units). You might want to have your lawyer check the current green card status of the property. This is actually how I used to find properties to list (when I was an agent) or buy--find the ones whose status was "expired" because they were clearly owners that weren't keeping up.
Admittedly, that was about 10 years ago--it may be called something else now; but it's a state inspection on 3+ unit properties done every 2-3 years. I honestly don't recall what they were inspecting FOR, but this is definitely something to look into while you're inspecting anyway.
In my humble opinion along with some experience, get a reputable home inspector, one who lives in the community and does business in your area. I should think a few calls to local Real Estate Agents should get you some results, also check out the business section of your local telephone directory. (egads! yes an old fashioned telephone book")
Be extremely cautious of any Franchise Home Inspection Company. My experience with these guys has been horrible, they just don't do the job!
This is another area where having a good investor realtor on your team is helpful. They are always recommending inspectors for their buyers. If you have a major aversion to talking to a specific realtor, try going to their company website. Often a list of recommended vendors can be found there. A lot of home inspectors that do residential will also do multifamily. I am also a fan of using a local inspector. They are familiar with construction and builders in the area should have inspected similar units.
A good relator has a couple of names. Also know what other inspections you may need aside from a general home inspection. We did have any systems that were dated or of concern inspected separately. I doubt you would need in central Jersey what we did which was well/septic, maybe fire alarm? Get an estimate for any major areas of concern.