New to seller inspections

This may be a strange question, but is there a standard time frame that sellers or realtors keep a sellers inspection for. Thanks for any help.

Uh-oh. What cha’ miss? :shock:

What do you mean?

They may keep the report for 10 years and it is only accurate at the time of inspection…things change even homes. :slight_smile:

If you do a really really good job, they won’t show it to anyone :slight_smile:

Sellers inspections in California are used as supplement disclosure and given to buyers as part of the disclosure process. You are actually writing a report for a buyer you may never meet.
The seller will likely only retain that report for the escrow period. The buyer will retain for as long as they wish however the liability for the inspector is 4 years. It can be also 4 years from date of discovery of the undisclosed defect.
I have been an inspector for 27 years and many thousands of inspections. 95% of my inspections are sellers inspections. Have done powerpoint presentations at chapters, conferences for the State Associations and have been a state certified presenter for the California Department of Real Estate in Realtor education.
My advice; do an inspection as you would for a buyer as if you were to be followed by the best inspector in your area.

Wow.

Good advice Steve, but I would question as to why a professional inspector would perform a home inspection any differently, regardless of whether the client is a buyer or a seller. Surely we are inspecting, and reporting on, the condition of the house, not the desires of the client.

One difference is that you are doing an inspection for the person who owns the home, opposed to being in a home that does not belong to you or your client and the owner is absent.
You can say things to the owner you might not say to a buyer. The buyer wants the inspection to go well because he or she really wants to buy the house, the seller really wants to sell the house, but the bloom has left the rose as far as the house is concerned, so you can communicate more directly, if that makes any sense.
And if the home owner is there, you can ask permission to do stuff that you would not be able to do without permission.

So you admit to being a ‘soft’ inspector. Busted!