I got a call yesterday from the people who will be doing the house inspection. Now this is something that is totally optional for the buyers to do. We don't have to have the house inspected but it is always a good idea so you at least know what it is you are getting into, a sort of protection.
The house we had in Texas, the people who bought it, had it inspected and we were insulted about it and luckily, we were not there either for the inspector to go through and nitpick away on it. It was bad enough reading the list of things they wanted us to fix.
I hope these sellers will not be there for it either cause this is the painful part when you are proud of your home. The buyers for our place in Texas were awful in that they were insisting we fix and repair a whole list of nitnoid crap and it made me feel like they were wanting a brand new house or something? We had lived there for 8 years, it was going to have some scratches and dings.
I WILL NOT do this to the nice couple in Maine!
The inspector (a husband and wife team) told me that I would find out everything I ever wanted to know about the house and then some! A friend of mine had told me how cursory that house inspectors are, suggesting nearly it was more of a scam and he didn't get much at all looked at. This was surprising to me as I told him all that they were going to do. Our inspectors told us they were going to take a lot of pictures and would be happy to go over the report anytime after we get it if we had questions and they would also go there to the house and show us what they were talking about! Gotta love that! Plus, we are having them inspect the garage as well and also several other tests like radon for not only the air but also the water. A normal house general inspection is $350, but with all the extras we wanted, it is going to be $800. And yes, that is a lot but it is something that we will feel better about having, that knowledge of the house beforehand so we will know what to put on our to-do list and some things that we may not have thought of or notice at first. So I am not going to bug the sellers to fix anything. A lot depends on what it is of course, but I have no intentions to do that to them. The house isn't brand new and I don't expect it to be, I expect there to be things that I will need to be mindful of and that's fine.
The inspectors emailed the invoice so I can write a check and mail it up to them. Our realtor picked them out and a lot of this, is trusting your realtor. It is a must, especially when you live far away.
The inspector is different than the appraiser and you need to be aware of that. The inspector is someone that the buyer can hire to inspect and go over the house and conduct tests such as the radon, water quality, etc.
The appraiser is someone that is sent out by the buyer's bank who goes out and looks at the property to determine it's worth. As I mentioned in a prior post, the bank will not lend money for a property that is not worth what you are wanting to pay. That is a good safeguard for the buyer but it is the scary part.
So at this moment, everything is ok and good to go until we get the appraisal. I will probably receive the report from the inspection first and so that will give me a clue as to what the appraiser might find, but we'll see what happens.
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