Use Home Inspection to get out of Purchase Agreement

[David A. Andersen]

A home inspection report is not necessary to get out of the purchase agreement. However, they must have a home inspection done to fulfill their contractual obligations. They do not need to cite any particular deficiency, they only need to have an inspection done and in their opinion be "unsatisfactory".

There is no reason whatsoever that you need to come up with any deficiency in particular to help them get out of their inspection. Just do your business as usual. They can change their mind at any point, however they do need to pay for a home inspection if they are using a home inspection to cancel their purchase agreement.

[whandley]

Originally Posted by dandersen

A home inspection report is not necessary to get out of the purchase agreement. However, they must have a home inspection done to fulfill their contractual obligations. They do not need to cite any particular deficiency, they only need to have an inspection done and in their opinion be "unsatisfactory".

There is no reason whatsoever that you need to come up with any deficiency in particular to help them get out of their inspection. Just do your business as usual. They can change their mind at any point, however they do need to pay for a home inspection if they are using a home inspection to cancel their purchase agreement.

Not in California....

[Nick Gromicko]

Line 170 and line 233 are interesting: http://www.parealtor.org/content/***.../PDFs/AS-R.pdf

[Vince Santos]

I think everyone knows the inspection can be used to get out of a purchase agreement. That's one of the reasons people get a home inspection. If a person called me and asked that question I would tell them I will do the inspection and if they think a defect is something they don't want to deal with they have the option to deny the purchase.

Of course every home has problems and no matter how you report these problems that client can say the problems are not something they want to deal with and don't want the home, end of story.

[Roy D. Cooke, Sr]

Originally Posted by vsantos

I think everyone knows the inspection can be used to get out of a purchase agreement. That's one of the reasons people get a home inspection. If a person called me and asked that question I would tell them I will do the inspection and if they think a defect is something they don't want to deal with they have the option to deny the purchase.

Of course every home has problems and no matter how you report these problems that client can say the problems are not something they want to deal with and don't want the home, end of story.

This is not the statement I would make .( I would tell them I will do the inspection and if they think a defect is something they don't want to deal with they have the option to deny the purchase. ) I would tell whem I do the inspection and give you the report how you use it is your decision .
I try never to give legal advice .
I also try to never use the word PROBLEMS, I like concerns , some concerns are big and some concerns are small .
Many people know what is needed and just need confirmation
Roy Cooke

[Russel Ray]

Originally Posted by gromicko

Line 170 and line 233 are interesting: http://www.parealtor.org/content/***.../PDFs/AS-R.pdf

I found Line 169 to be far, far more interesting than Line 170.

[Russel Ray]

Originally Posted by vsantos

I think everyone knows the inspection can be used to get out of a purchase agreement. That's one of the reasons people get a home inspection. If a person called me and asked that question I would tell them I will do the inspection and if they think a defect is something they don't want to deal with they have the option to deny the purchase.

Of course every home has problems and no matter how you report these problems that client can say the problems are not something they want to deal with and don't want the home, end of story.

As an example, several years ago I inspected a two-story home above Coors Amphitheatre that had a 360° view of the world. It probably still ranks as the best home I've inspected in terms of number of items noted in my inspection report. However, the big item is that all the screen doors and screen windows were missing, and not found in storage anywhere. My Clients were from Boston had found both me and their Realtor on the Internet. They canceled the purchase because there were no screen windows/doors. The Clients were not at the inspection, so I didn't have a clue as to what was going on.

I think the purchase price was $899,000. Now on an $899,000 house, any Realtor who understands commissions (are there any who don't?) would have spent $500, $1,000, maybe even $2,000 to buy screens for their Client on a $899,000 house (3% commission = $26,970). Remember that the broker will get some of that, sometimes up to 60%, leaving the Realtor with $10,788, but the cost of the screens would have been tax-deductible. So, what happened?

Well, six weeks later I did another inspection on the exact same model house a couple of blocks a way. Same view. Same price. Same Realtor. Same Clients. Afterwards, I found out from the Realtor that my Clients lived in a 3-story brownstone on Beacon Hill in Boston. A couple of years earlier, their young son had fallen out of the third-story window and died. There were no screens on the windows. Now I don't think a screen in and of itself will prevent someone from falling out of a window, but they and all their friends blamed the lack of screen windows on the young child's death. Their intent was to move as far away from Boston as possible while staying in the Lower 48 States. They obviously were having problems dealing with the pain and anguish from their yound child's death, and the lack of screen windows noted in my report brought back that pain and anguish, pain and anguish which they needed time to deal with. Six weeks later, the other house had more problems, but the screen windows and doors were there.

Ever since then, I decided not to presume why my Clients were or were not buying a property. If the property was a scraper, I simply documented the condition of the scraper; educated my Clients about what the condition might mean in terms of safety, maintenance, and cost; and did whatever I could do to help them, as long as my help was legal and ethical. Since I started taking that attitude, I've found that I have greater peace of mind, and perhaps my whole attitude is detectable in my body language, facial expressions, and vocal inflections. Perhaps that's why Realtors called on me most when there were decrepit properties involved. I was an expert at those types of properties, as well as an expert in working with first-time home buyers, who usually buy properties that have more problems because the price is lower and they are younger, meaning that they can do repairs as they get money and a few weekends.

[Harold E. Miller]

Russell
An interesting story on how your clients backed out of the deal over window screens. On a resale home I do not normally report on their absence or presence. But if they are present and damaged, then I would note the damage. On new construction some builders provide them, some don't, so I will note if they are absent in that case as a heads up to the buyer to remember to ask for them.
So it looks like you dodged a huge bullet by reporting the absence of these screens. These particular buyers clearly have serious emotional baggage regarding the screens, and hey after what they went through it is easier to understand. I wonder how they would have reacted had they moved in and found the missing screens later. Good news is we will never know.

[Russel Ray]

I report on missing screen windows mainly based on my own experience. I didn't have screen windows on my first apartment in Houston many (many, many, many) years ago. There was a bayou below me, palm trees all around, and birds by the dozens feeding on the roaches and other widlife. I left a window slightly ajar one day and came home to find a large crow in my apartment. It obviously had been inside for quite some time because there was bird poop all over everything. And bird poop is very acidic, so everywhere that the bird poop had sat on my wood for any length of time had a real nice stain. That's when I got into candles because putting a candle over the stain was less expensive than buying all new furniture. It was a disgusting smell, though; not a pleasant experience at all.

So when I find screen windows missing, this goes in my report:

Screen windows not present in _____. Condition can allow unwanted wildlife to intrude into structure interior, creating safety and health hazards. Recommend having screen windows replaced.