Baltimore housing

I got a call the other day to do a minimized inspection for someone in Baltimore city who wanted something like the county rental inspection done. There was a “peeling paint” statement to fill out - no dust samples requested. I used the county rental inspection form and the housing authority checklist to do a one hour check on systems listed. It seems (from the tenants) that the city is requiring a basic inspection with paint condition check for additional persons in subsidized housing.
Anybody know more about this? According to the tenant it was a lease-purchase home or a rent-to-own.
To further my confusion and complicate the thread - When I checked records which I always do - They show the house selling in April for 185k$ when it, according to condition and location, should not sell for more than 40 - 60. Is there a corruption angle here? Can someone who has a 40k$ home fake sell it on record for a much higher price in order to collect government money with the co-operation of an needy tenant?

Sounds like it has you irate.
Not your place to worry about it However unless you are auditioning for spy or detective positions here.

Hey Bob, I’m not irate. If it’s happening lots of people know. Good to talk it around though. - There’s the issue of Baltimore housing wanting a simplified inspection which I haven’t heard about. Thought ya’ll might have some more exposure to that. Thanks

Having been in real estate, there are occasions when you see a transaction and it makes you wonder what was REally going on.

Hi Dale,

I’m in Baltimore and haven’t heard of an initiative to do anything similar to the BC county rental inspections.
Im a bit confused, who exactly hired you to do this “inspection”?

Thanks for the response. The rent-purchaser who is obviously on housing subsidy hired me. - Not to do a lead inspection but to do a “simple inspection” which included a form to fill out by the Baltimore Housing Authority which only specifies that no chipping or peeling paint was found. Instructions for the form were to be attached to a written inspection. The homeowner had no interest in a complete inspection so I analyzed components of the house which seemed to go along with Housing’s checklist for a functional home. This might be some type of requirement by Housing for adding inhabitants to the household. For me to do a minimal inspection as requested takes only a couple of hours. It generally takes about 5-6 hrs to do my regular inspection. I’m wondering if anybody else has had a similar experience here.

Sounds like it’s mostly oriented toward lead paint?