Is this Functional? Is this Safe?
“Did it pass inspection?” That’s the most common question you’re going to hear when someone asks how your home inspection went. It’s also not really the right question. What percentage of a house needs to be functional and safe for it to pass inspection? What amount of defects make a home fail inspection? I honestly don’t know the answer to those questions. I can tell you the answer is not in the SOP for home inspections in massachusetts. Home inspectors look at homes for functionality & safety. They provide a report on the conditions of the home and any material defects that are noted during the time of the inspection. That doesn’t really translate into a pass/fail. Especially because what may not be a big deal to one person can be a huge issue for another.
If you’ve never had a home inspection before, you might also be tempted to ask that question at the end of your home inspection. Here are 10 questions that are better to ask instead and will help you get the most out of your home inspection.
Are you seeing any material defects?
Are there any signs of questionable building methods or materials?
How is the heating/cooling system functioning and what is the overall condition of it?
What is the condition of the attic, floor structure and foundation?
How is the ventilation in the attic?
What is the general condition of the roof?
Are there any electrical issues you found?
Are there any issues with the plumbing?
Are there any areas of deferred maintenance that are in need of immediate attention?
What professionals do you recommend I should follow up with?
If your home inspector is talkative during the inspection, these questions will help you stay engaged with them and get you the most information that is useful to you on the spot. That being said, if your home inspector provides you with a quality report, you should be able to answer these questions yourself after you have read the report. Over the next few blog posts, we’ll really break down these 10 questions and explain exactly how the answers to each of them are relevant and help you make the most of the information you are going to be provided.
Appraisal Vs Home Inspection
Despite what most people think, an Appraisal and a Home Inspection are two different things. Appraisals are done on behalf of the bank/lender. The appraiser is there to make sure the bank/lender is not giving out more money they should on a property. It is to protect the bank/lender and make sure they are not throwing money away. Essentially if you ever are in the worst case situation and are being foreclosed upon, will the bank/lender be able to recapture their investment by selling the house to someone else.
Why is this important? Well one of the more popular ways to see what happens when this goes sideways is the movie “The Big Short”. In reality though, the payments you make to the lender, does not just go back to them, it goes to other investments….like your new next door neighbors mortgage. The money continuously moves to other investments to allow more people to buy houses. If those mortgage payments you were supposed to make stop, then the flow of money is interrupted. When enough of those happen, the system can break down because there just is not enough stability to loan out more money. Banks/lenders become much more cautious about who they will give out the mortgages to and the housing market slows down, which can also cause a “run on the banks”. Think back to “It’s a wonderful life” when everyone was trying to get their money out of the bank and Jimmy Stewart was explaining their money is not in the bank, but in their neighbors houses. It wasn’t physically in their homes, but on paper, it was invested in order to allow the other neighbors to actually purchase homes.
A Home Inspection is NOT done for the bank, with few exceptions. It is done for the buyer in almost all cases. It is done to review the home for Functionality and for Safety. We don’t talk about cost for anything, we don’t talk about the home value or any other thing related to price. In Massachusetts, we’re actually forbidden from talking about how much something will cost to repair. We look at items and talk about whether they are functional and safe.
This is also different from an Occupancy inspection done by the city/town to review for code adherence. Why don’t we look at code? It changes from town to town. More than that though, there are things that are considered to code, but can be improved upon to make things safer for people. We discuss those. A prime example of this is some gas piping. There is yellow flex lines, CSST flex lines (Which is also yellow in most cases) and there is also black iron. Flex line is allowed in most situations, but it really needs to be installed correctly. Granted, all gas piping needs to be installed correctly. That being said, in virtually all cases we come across, we’re going to point it out and recommend consulting with a plumber about switching it to black iron. Simply because black iron is rigid. It takes more effort to break them and drill through them by accident. The yellow flex may pass a code and occupancy inspection, but we’re going to explain the dangers of it that may not have been gone over. We’re about function and safety. While it is functional, and technically it is safe, we as Home Inspectors, want to educate you about your home and how to make it as safe as possible. It does not mean you need to take action and change out all of your piping, but at the very least, you will now have knowledge that you did not have before.
Another example of this is basement well windows. Depending on how deep the well goes down to the ground, we may recommend a railing or guard in front of it. People could fall into it without protection. Things like this are common to come across during home inspection. It’s simply that we know where the dangerous items are found and can recommend ways for you to fix them and protect you as well as your loved ones from taking a chance that could lead to harm.
One final point to end this blog post with. By chance, I’ve met a good amount of people purchasing new construction homes recently. That is wonderful for them, it’s an exciting time and just like when you buy anything new, you assume there will be no issues that come up, because it's new. Most have told me they have not gotten a home inspection because they felt it was not needed, because it's a new home. They’ve passed occupancy inspections. That’s great, but new construction homes should still have a home inspection done. Things can be changed and altered after inspections take place. Not only that, but quite frankly, some of the new construction homes I’ve inspected have had some of the following issues. Again, past occupancy inspections, but here are some of the items found. Plumbing was run to fixtures but not connected to them, making the faucets not functional. AC condenser units that were visibly not level, making them run harder and shortening their life span. Attics with inadequate ventilation, which is a sure way to help mold growth and cause ice dams in the winter. Missing drip edge flashing. Light switches that were not connected. Visible moisture intrusion on ceilings. Doors that appeared to not have flashing installed properly, allowing water to already leak into the house and start damaging the door frame and the floor behind it. Missing caulking around tubs and showers. Lastly in one case that was a complete renovation, so not technically new construction, there was no heat source in the house at the time of the inspection.
In our last blog post, we talked about how Home Inspections are a function of consumer protection. The Appraisal is to protect the bank/lender, the Occupancy inspection is to make sure the building complies with the local city/town codes to protect the citizens of the town AND those who protect it in emergencies, IE firefighters. The Home Inspection protects you, the actual person that is going to live there. Buying a home is an investment. One of the largest you are ever going to make. We call out functional issues and safety issues. This helps you follow up with others on what it will take to maintain your investment. When you waive the home inspection, the bank/lender is not going to waive their appraisal. If it’s a new construction or being completely renovated, the town is not going to skip their occupancy inspection. The only entity not actually having representation at that point is the one spending their money on the home. While we as a company completely understand the current climate of real estate offers at this point, we 100% disagree that waiving a home inspection is ever a good idea. If you need to waive it in an offer to get it accepted, that is between you and your real estate agent. However, you should still get a home inspection as soon as possible to help identify areas that need addressing and to learn a bit more about how to take care of the investment.
Consumer Protection
Did you know that Home Inspectors are actually a function of consumer protection? It’s true, and I can tell you we’ve turned down more work than we’ve taken since opening as a company because of this.
Your real estate agent that represents you as the buyer, they are on your side. They have a code of conduct that they need to adhere to that obligates them to have your best interest at the forefront. Which is why they recommend a home inspection every time. To make sure you, their client, is protected as best as possible. Currently, they may advise you to skip the home inspection if you want your offer accepted, but that is not saying to skip the home inspection. They are being honest with you about things that make your offer more attractive to the sellers. This does not mean they don’t think you should get a home inspection though. There are alternatives in this situation, such as a pre-offer inspection, which is done before the offer, an information only inspection with the understanding it is not a contingency to get out of the deal, only to let you know what you’re getting, and a post-close inspection, which is again for information only, but we help you identify what you should get looked at or repaired.
So why is it a big deal that home inspectors are a function of consumer protection and they review the home? We’re not allowed to work with you in any other capacity after inspecting your home. Whatever we tell you may need to be fixed or further reviewed, cannot be addressed by us. It helps let you know that we’re really only there to help you understand what you’re looking at. This versus a contractor, who quite frankly, is dependent on your paying them to perform a service.
I stated earlier that as a business, we’ve turned away more jobs than we’ve accepted since we’ve opened. That is the honest truth. The reasons are simple, we as a company take consumer protection to heart. We understand the value of your dollar. We understand that having work done on your house can be an anxiety filled experience, since most times people don’t fully understand what is being done, why or how it truly impacts their home. Only they thought there was an issue, called someone who said it needs to be fixed, and then did work. We as a company are about customer experience and education. If we tell you something is not right, we’re going to explain to you why and provide it in writing and photographs to you, so you can have a direct conversation with the person you hire to fix said issue.
We’ve gotten tons of calls for just pest and mold inspections….In those cases we refer to exterminators and mold inspection companies. They are the absolute best at determining which it is and how to treat the issues. All home inspectors would do is tell you they see signs of these things and then refer you to and to these professionals anyway, so performing that service alone does not seem like the best way to protect consumers. Don’t get me wrong, we still look for signs of these during inspections and let our clients know we have seen signs of them if present, but you need further certifications and licenses in these fields to perform these inspections with certainty and treat said areas.
Consumer protection is why we recommend getting at least 3 quotes for services, and it’s not just about price shopping. The absolute best piece of advice we can give you is to always ask the scope of work to be performed. The scope of work tells you what they are doing, how they are going to do it and materials being used. There are many different ways jobs can be completed and not all of them take the same road to the finish. This includes home inspectors. There is no 1 standard for how an inspection report looks. There is a standard of practice document that tells us what we need to inspect and what is excluded, but nothing that says how each report needs to be formatted. Finding out how we are doing the job is just as important because you may believe something is included when it is not.