Liability of providing MoveInCertified.com vs a regular inspection.

[Joe Farsetta]

My price and service is exactly the same, regardless of whether it's a buyer of seller. I will not return to inspect the same house for a buyer so long as my initial client (seller) still owns the home. I explain this to them at the time of the inspection to justify the same rate.

Dale is correct. Its the same inspection.

[David A. Andersen]

This is all boiling down to some good stuff!

I think that at the conception of this program, many inspectors figured they could do a "shortcut" inspection, throw in a sign and a quick report and be out of there!

I have been looking at MIC from this perspective and cannot find a way to make it work. You must do the same job that you always did. Produce a report that you always did (just worded it differently). And charge the same amount for your time.

As Nick (and others) have stated, there are some advantages to the program that should be considered or thrown out by the inspector. It is not about totally getting rid of liability, it's about making more money for the amount of liability you must carry to do this job. The liability is not going to go away, regardless of who you are working for. However, it is less likely to occur in one scenario than the other.

In a MIC inspection, the current homeowner who knows the property can help you with your inspection, backspace allowing you to do a better job.
How many of you require a residential property condition disclosure form before you do an inspection? I was pulling out one of these forms today from an inspection I had done. I did read it before I did the inspection, but what if I hadn't?

This was on the disclosure:
A new door was installed six years ago and sometimes drips water when it rains.

A new roof was installed three years ago and when there are high winds and heavy rain the ceiling sometimes drips. No one has been able to find the source.

Added HVAC duct work into a remodeled addition is not sufficient. We use a window unit to overcome this problem.

Sometimes the rear yard drainage system does not handle rainwater sufficiently and under some conditions water enters under the garage door.

Do you think as an inspector it would be nice to know about this stuff? I was armed with a moisture meter and an infrared camera at the time and could not find moisture. I got up on the roof for over half an hour (which I normally do not get up on in the first place).

I did everything I could possibly do, knowing the circumstances provided by the seller and still could not come up with anything. In this case the seller divulged more information than would be required. The conditions cannot be considered active when they only occur every couple of years. What is high wind? A tornado?! How many of those do we have? Doesn't every house in the neighborhood leak than?

The ability to work with the seller who knows more about the house then anyone has got to be a great advantage. Is there still a chance they'll lie to you and you will become liable? Sure! But in most cases I think that it is about "wasn't asked, didn't tell", they simply forgot!

When you go in to a MIC inspection and sit down with the seller and asked them to disclose information about the house and they don't, are they going to come back and try to sue you? They didn't fulfill their obligation!

This program is all about doing things right. This is something we should be doing every day, anyway! Sure another home inspector will come behind you and find something different because we all look at things from a different perspective.

In the case of a MIC inspection, it is initially stated right up front that we are only looking for significant deficiencies. The seller is more than willing to forego all those minor cosmetic things, however the buyer is less likely to and often distort things that are outside the scope of inspection.

I don't want to drift this thread too far away, however there has been talk about the word "certified". In reviewing my property condition disclosure form. On line 3 of page 1 it states; "sellers must inform the buyers, at or before closing, of any inaccuracies or material changes in the condition that have occurred since the time of the initial disclosure, or "certify" that there are no changes".

So at least in this state, it is a state law that the seller "certifies" the property they are selling! I don't think Tennessee home inspectors need to dwell on the use of this word any further.

[Bruce A. King]

Good points David,

I rarely see the disclosure form and don't want to require it.

I just have this in my agreement:

The report is only supplementary to the sellers disclosure, termite inspection and any problems known by others.


Saw one the other day, it disclosed:
A partial drain blockage is present at the master addition but the bathrooms function ok.

I saw some backup debris in the master shower, looked like organic stuff, not sewer.

House and addition on a slab with city sewer.

Report on this was very educational to my client.
It included "sewer pipe inspection with a camera may not indicate improper installation methods"

The house needed a roof and water heater as well as many other things too.

[Billy Boerner]

Regardless the liability make sure you damn well know what your doing before doing any inspection. A good place to start is here...

http://www.usinspect.com/HouseFacts/HouseFactsIntro.asp

Tells you everything you need to know when it comes to inspecting residential properties.

Bill

[Dale Duffy]

Originally Posted by bboerner

Regardless the liability make sure you damn well know what your doing before doing any inspection. A good place to start is here...

http://www.usinspect.com/HouseFacts/HouseFactsIntro.asp

Tells you everything you need to know when it comes to inspecting residential properties.

Bill

----)))

Bill,

You made me spit Iced Tea all over the computer again---)))

[ccurrins]

Originally Posted by dduffy

----)))

Bill,

You made me spit Iced Tea all over the computer again---)))

I take it you got your training somewhere else.

[Bruce A. King]

Originally Posted by bboerner

Regardless the liability make sure you damn well know what your doing before doing any inspection. A good place to start is here...

http://www.usinspect.com/HouseFacts/HouseFactsIntro.asp

Tells you everything you need to know when it comes to inspecting residential properties.

Bill

I only looked at that site for 5-6 minutes and found two very major things missing from the items to be inspected.

[James H. Bushart]

Bill...you just seem to step from one wet cow pie to another. How do you manage to do it?

[Billy Boerner]

Originally Posted by jbushart

Bill...you just seem to step from one wet cow pie to another. How do you manage to do it?

Ok let me rephrase. It will give you a good idea. Your all right not everything you need to know. lol Dale you crack me up. I just feel strongly you better have a great idea of what your doing if your going to do pre inspections.

Bill

[Billy Boerner]

Originally Posted by bking

I only looked at that site for 5-6 minutes and found two very major things missing from the items to be inspected.

What did you find? Share it with us.

[Billy Boerner]

Originally Posted by jbushart

Bill...you just seem to step from one wet cow pie to another. How do you manage to do it?

Jim lol your right but I bet you I've learned more than any greenie here on this board by stirring you guys up. The information you guys share is priceless and that's what makes this board unique from all the others.

Bill

[Bruce A. King]

Originally Posted by bboerner

What did you find? Share it with us.

They have a little bit of roof structure mentioned but basically they left out inspecting rafters, trusses, truss plate connections, roof framing bracing, floor systems including girders, bandsills.

Just the top of the house and the bottom was left out,

[Bruce A. King]

Originally Posted by bboerner

Jim lol your right but I bet you I've learned more than any greenie here on this board by stirring you guys up. The information you guys share is priceless and that's what makes this board unique from all the others.

Bill

I agree, Bill, you are a good "message boarder" or whatever you call it.

Keep up the questions and keep em stirred up!

Even the ole hard *****es learn more than they will admit on here.

[Billy Boerner]

Originally Posted by bking

I agree, Bill, you are a good "message boarder" or whatever you call it.

Keep up the questions and keep em stirred up!

Even the ole hard *****es learn more than they will admit on here.

lol Yea let's put it this way I've been reading alot at InspectAPedia among other sites lately so maybe I just confused InspectAPedia with USinspect lol. Can I use that excuse lol USinspect has some good inspection tips but your all right it's not a complete how to nor is it even close. However it's a great place to see pictures and learn how some things work if one never had any trade experience what so ever.

Bill

[James E. Braun, CMI]

I wish that their inspectors, I have ran across, was as complete as their site. They training must really suck.