This is me in today’s Arizona Republic (the permanent link):
Home inspection important, but don’t let it scare you off
When you buy a home inspection, are you looking for reasons to buy the house or reasons to walk away?
Some inspectors seem to think it’s their job to scare buyers to death. They’ll call out things that are almost never found in resale homes — for example the absence of arc fault circuit interrupters — then describe the possible consequences in the direst of terms.
Please understand, I think you should have a home inspection. Even if you’re purchasing the home “as is,” with no seller-supplied repairs, you still should get an inspection. Done properly, this can be the cheapest $400 you’ll ever spend. It will either tell you to fully embrace the house you already love so much. Or it will tell you to run away in horror.
What matters is the house, not the inspector. Repairs in a newer home should run to $1,000 or less. For an older home, the costs might run to as much as 1 percent of the purchase price. If the work needed starts to climb toward 2 or 3 percent of the purchase price, that could be cause for concern.
If the seller is doing the repairs, will they be done in a “workmanlike manner,” using licensees where required, with everything documented with receipts? If you’re doing the work yourself to save on the purchase price, will you have the financial resources to finish the job?
Here is what you need to know from the inspector: What is serious and what is trivial? Was the home built — and remodeled — to code? Which repair issues are health and safety issues, and which are optional or cosmetic? What are the repairs likely to cost?
Ideally, your home inspector should have a strong background in the building trades. This will inform his determination of what is and is not significant. You want your inspector to be honest to a fault, without the fault of being an alarmist.
What you want is the truth, expressed calmly, rationally, realistically. A phlegmatic analysis of the costs will tell you if you should buy the home or walk away.
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