BAH Humbug (non Valk Just Ranting)

[Ice]

Ya know this Christmas is really starting to suck with a capital "S". In November I spent close to $3K on some expected but mostly unexpected home repairs. Now thinking thank god that all the bad stuff is done, I look up the other night while watching TV and what do my eye see? a big fat stain  on my Family room celing. So I call the insurance and they send a company out to check the roof leak, as it turns out my entire roof is FUBAR and has been that way for some time now, ( Keep in mind I just moved here 2 years ago from Germany) the guy askes me if I did not have a home inspection, and I said yes we did, he says the guy never checked the roof then, because this is a disaster and we were lucky it had not leaked in the house earlier, the home inspector sure was not looking out for my interests when I paid him $550 to check the house, seeing that in the past two years I have found numerous (too many to cout) things that a blind person would have noticed if they were inspecting. So here I need to wait and see how much of the $5-7K Roof repair and celing repair the insurance will cover if any. I say if any because my policy does not cover half assed fixes which I found and saw a mess of on that roof, shingles missing, window caulk on the flashing, flshing inproperly installed, etc. etc. etc.
Where is Mike Holmes when you need him? Just for all that want to buy a house in the near future, do not let the realtor recommend the home inspector, nor trust what he says, I know I never will again, what was missed I could have see if I were expecting the guy not to be working in my interests. My mistake.

Just my rant for Christmas, thanks for listening.

So to all A Merry (Bah Humbug!) Christmas, I know mine sure wont be.

Yuri

[czuch]

Trust but verify.
Sorry ya wasted $550 but when I got mine pre-purchase inspected I went around with him. I pointed things out and told him it was $50 every time he missed it and I caught it. After I reduced his price by $150 he got real serious,,and pissy. I didnt tell him I was a Maintenance Supervisor at an apartment complex with 750 apts. before.
Happy HanaChristmaKwanzmas.

[bscrive]

Unfortunately, these home inspectors do not need to have any real training.  I know where I live, pretty much anyone can start a business as a home inspector.  These inspectors should have to pass tests to make sure that they know what they are doing and be held responsible for their mistakes.  For me, I grew up working on houses since my father was a contractor.  When I got my home inspection I was over the guys shoulder asking about this and that.  I felt that the dude didn't really know what he was doing even though he said he has been a home inspector for over 10 years.  The other thing I found out is that they don't even check for possible mold and even if he sees it he will not put it in the report because that is not part of the inspection.  WTF.  Next time I will save the money and inspect the house myself.
You put your trust in these guys and all they care about is getting your money.

[Tx Bohemian]

Sorry to hear about your troubles, and you're right, that does suck!

I know what you mean about the house inspectors. The guy we used in '06 I would not use again. To me there was alot that I found that he should've and either didn't see or didn't report.

One thing that gets to me about the "house inspection" business; (and this happened to us a couple of years ago)

We were interested in a house and had an inspector inspect it.  Probably for the $550 you talk about. But then we didn't buy the house so we're out of $550.  
Say then a week later someone else is interested in the house and has it inspected by the same guy.
Does he charge the same $550? Or does he give a discount?  Or is this a "perk" of being an inspector? (getting paid double for the same work)

To me the selling realtor should have the house inspected by a third party as soon as it gets listed, passing the cost to whoever buys the house eventually. Kind of like a "Carfax" thing.

This particular house I'm talking about we also had a termite guy inspect it and a Plumber/water well guy inspect the well and sewer (it was in the country) so we spent probably around $900 then couldn't settle on a price.

[DIGGER]

years ago my brother was a home inspector.   He got sued several times for missing high dollar stuff that needed repair.   In several of the suits he got blamed for missing stuff wrong with the slabs that you can't visually see.   He would even dig down several inches all around the house to look for cracks but still there are some slab problems you can't see.      Point is.......you may have the option to take him to court if he missed something that was easily visual.....and it cost you a lot of money. 

[DarkMeister]

"To me the selling realtor should have the house inspected by a third party as soon as it gets listed, passing the cost to whoever buys the house eventually. Kind of like a "Carfax" thing."

Excellent idea, TX Bohenian! 

[old2soon]

I know we don't need more gubmint. But the home inspection businees should have national standards. You have national standards for plumbing eletrical and other things i'm most likely missing. We have S A T tests for college bound high school students. Sounds to me like a standard test and most important LICSENSING might not be a bad idea. And some sort of insurance or bonding to protect the homeowner and the inspector. Point i'm trying to make-someone or somebody NEEDS to be held accountable for these type of shortcomings. Didn't mean to rattle on but you should NOT have been f-d over the way you wuz. RIDE SAFE.

[98 T]

I'm a Realtor in Wisconsin.. have probably been to 400 + home inspections in the past 15 years.. Were not required to go, but I usually do.. learned a lot. Back in the 2000-2006 time frame (just like with loan officers, Realtors) there were lots of people getting into the inspection biz who were NOT qualified.  Wisconsin has a state licensing requirement now.. the inspector must conform to the American Society of Home Inspectors (ASHI) standards and take continuing education to keep his license... this system ain't perfect, but it helps. I have seen some bad inspectors leave the biz because of this.  After this many years of doing this, I have a list of 8 -10 good inspectors I recommend to my buyers = a typical inspection on a 3 bedroom home (we have basements here in Wisconsin) should take at least 2.5 hours to make sure they see  everything  that can be seen.  It's also best if the buyer is right there with the inspector as he/she is walking around pointing stuff out. 

Having said that, Ice, your inspector should have gone into the attic to look for signs of leaks (old or new leaks), should have at least looked at the roof (especially the flashing) if not walked the entire roof if possible.  They never tell you IF you should buy.. their job is to tell you any bad stuff or potential bad stuff found and the buyer decides if they want to go forward.

AS for double dipping.. IF one buyer has an inspector do an inspection, that info belongs to that buyer. If that buyer backs out of the deal as a result and passes a copy of the inspection to another buyer, that inspection report considered "hear-say"...but if a new buyer calls that same inspector back for a "refrehsher"  look, they might charge half or maybe less to write up a new, updated report for the new buyer... they don't all double dip- but some will. 

Just like what was said above... trust, but verify... follow the inspector around, ask lots of questions, and if a buyer or the inspector has a doubt about a particular area of the home, if there's still time in the buyer's inspection contingency time frame, have an expert take a look...    in this case, have a roofer take a look- their word trumps a home inspector on that subject... Home inspectors are sort of a Jack of all Trades.

Even the best inspector can miss some things... but sounds like they should not have missed your roof problem if your inspector knew anything about how roofs are installed.

sorry to hear about the roof problem, Ice... knowing it could have been caught 2 years ago makes it even more painful now.