That I don’t need to inspect the roof because the roof is maintained by the homeowners association.
I just smiled and stated well there may be something on the roof that the home owners association needs to be aware of. The realtor also stated that the other inspectors in this particular city did not inspect the roofs on these town houses. My second statement was while gritting my teeth well young lady you have never had me as an inspector before:shock: end of conversation;-) Here are some pics of just a few items found on the roof.
Pic 4 was the control panel for the electrical fan unit in the ceiling with strip heat What ever happened to pride in workmanship it was hanging by a nail from the floor joist
I do the same thing Charley, it’s odd we need to explain whether the roof is the responsibility of the HOA or not, my client might not want the next storm coming though their portion of the roof—:shock:
And as we all know, the poor unsuspecting buyers really do not think about that, so a little explanation goes a long way, the realtor is pissed, and the buyer is happy…everything always works out nicely.
And when the realtor says the roof is the responsibility of the HOA, we know damn good and well there will be numerous issues to address.
I inspected one a couple weeks ago which of course was the HOA responsibility, probably in the worst condition I have found a low sloped roof in a while.—:lol:
Exactly Greg…strange, strange indeed…especially when the buyers do not read the HOA financial statement very well “WE’RE BROKE, HOW CAN WE REPAIR THE ROOFS”…which was the case with my last client, a young girl who had some realtor trying to snowball her…damn shame—:twisted:
In all actuality, I believe each home owner was supposed to cough up $8,000.00 each to have repairs made—:twisted:…which she did not understand…shame how some realtors take advantage of unsuspecting new first time home buyers.
In Canada during the period from 1999-2001/2, by federal statute, all condo corps had to have their properties reviewed by engineers and their Reserve Funds updated to meet future requirements.
One unit I inspected (after her inspector missed/didn’t know about local problems) for a lady had severe wall/window framing rot on the side facing the ocean and onshore winds. This was widely known within this group of similarly built townhouse style condo corps. At my serious urging, myself and client actually broke into/interupted the monthly condo board meeting (which we’re not allowed into earlier in the evening…not enough advance notice!!) with samples of various rotted framing members…some pieces which I crumbled to dust on the meeting table!! Although they only had $23K in the reserve fund for appproximately 60 units, her repair work got done immediately.
Interestingly, the new proposed SOP for my state (which will be adopted next month) actually requires an inspection of common elements (foundations, roofs, etc) that are in physical contact with the unit being inspected. This will make for some interesting discussions with Realtors and condo HOA’s I suspect. We will be able to depart from the SOP under certain conditions of course, but it will have to meet the following test:
When a Realtor starts butting in and talking their shi+, I simply tell them that they need to go about their own business and leave us alone for awhile. Some get upset, but I could care less. I can’t stand a Realtor that can’t keep their damn mouth shut when I’m trying to get my clients attention.
