HOME INSPECTION QUESTION

[miz]

I was told this would cost $450!!!  How many people actually have a home inspection before they buy a property? 

[BungalowMo]

$450 is normal..  You wouldn't want to buy a home without getting one.

[Anonymous]

You need an inspection. There's a lot more to a house than what you see on the surface, and you need to know what you're getting into before you sign a contract.

My inspection was $400. Call around and compare prices, but expect to pay at least a few hundred.

[Anonymous]

Shop around, but choose someone based on referral if you can. We got ours for $180 from a reputable company, which was a great price. I believe the company's rates vary depending on the purchase price. The size of your house also comes into play, I believe. But you should definitely get one, unless you know someone who has a lot of knowledge about homes who could do it for you. If you go that route, though, your chances of negotiating repairs with the seller will be very slim. I would say it's worth it, but you might be able to find a better price.

[Anonymous]

Ours is scheduled for tomorrow and will cost $300. We were told our price was based on square footage. (1850 sq ft in our case)

[Anonymous]

I was lucky to have a friend who is a home inspector, and who owed me a personal favor, so I got mine done free (and he spent 3 hours on-site!). But, his usual fee is $375, which would translate to $450 or more in some markets, I'm sure. Several of the items he noted wound up as contract contingencies that were fixed before close, so it's hard to imagine it wise not hiring one done prior to purchase, or even before finalizing a contract. Heck, I figure I'll probably pay him to re-inspect my now-50-year-old house every five years or so. Write it up to general maintenance, like changing the oil in your vehicle.

Message Edited by oldhack62 on 08-11-2009 10:14 AM

[Anonymous]

Yeah, we're easily getting several hundred dollars in repairs done based on the inspection, so it ultimately pays for itself, and then some. Or worst case it would show you some major deal-breaking flaw, which would save you from buying a lemon!

[Anonymous]

For those paying less than $450, did those inspections include radon and pest inspections as well? For me, it was $285 for the actual home inspection, but adding pest/radon bumped it up to almost $500.

[Anonymous]

We are planning to buy a brand new house.  It has been sitting for a couple years but never occupied.

Our builder and his agent kept saying on how the house was built so great and it had a lot of features that other builders don't do.

Our lender required a home inspection.  It cost $350.

It was so worth it.  

The inspector found several things that needed to be done.  

They were all minor details.  For example, in our crawl space, there is a pipe that is not clamped to the wood to keep it from sagging, in a couple years, there will be leaks.  The plumber didn't fix the vapor barrier in the crawl space.  There are a couple lights that were not grounded and some walls in the attic space that needed barrier installed, couple cracked tiles in the master bath from when the painter dropped a can of paint.

One biggie was the master shower did not have any hot water.  That's something I may not have noticed until I moved in to the house.

Like I said, these things are pretty minor, but I feel much better getting them fixed before I buy the house.  That keeps the seller motivated to get the repairs done.  If I was in the house, they'd have to make an appointment to come to the house and may take forever.

Just my opinion, but I think every buyer should get a home inspection.  It's to protect the buyer.  

Good investment.

[Anonymous]

Our whole house inspection was $180, and it was $30 for the termite inspection, which was done at the same time but by a different company. The termite inspection was required by the lender; the whole house was optional.