Help with a Fannie Mae question, house value plumeted.

[Anonymous]

Something else to consider about home inspectors, in our State, the amount of time required to become licensed is something like a month in school, costs something like 1500.00, and they earn, 250.00-500.00 per inspection.  Most of their clients come from referral  Usually real estate agents, and bankers, if they find problems, they create problems with closing the deal, banker doesn't make the loan, agents don't close the deal.  Our agent was doing so much business, like 1300 inspections in the first year, when we got to arbitration his buisness had tripled. 

I know there are inspectors out there that do think they aren't swayed by this sort of pressure, all I'm saying is IS IT REALLY WORTH THE GAMBLE?

We can't sell the house to someone and hide the defects, we're not theives.  So we're stuck making it right out of our own pockets. 

Hey ARMY- thanks for your service!

[rockymtngrl]

I can sympathize because we went thru something very similar. Bought a house about 6 years ago. Had it inspected, only house in 6 that we've owned over the years that we ever had inspected. Other than the chimney needing cleaned inspecter really did'nt find anything. I had specifically asked him to check the plumbing and for P traps, which was the main reason we hired him. He said plumbing was fine.

Long story short plumbing was'nt fine, neither was foundation and a host of other things. No P traps or plumbing vents in the house, plumbing ran uphill etc.. 3 bathrooms. We spent about $25,000 over the next year having plumbing redone and foundation fixed and various other things. Still it needed so much more and we were running out of money and our marriage was falling apart and we were close to divorce (similar to the movie The Money Pit). We ended up selling it at an auction for less then we bought it for. Fortunately we had put 20% down. Took a loan from 401k to pay the difference.

We spoke with a lawyer who thought we had a really good case and would probably win, but the amount we would win he said would be about equal to the amount it would cost to pursue, so we did'nt follow thru with it.

We are just now getting back on our feet after that mess and are getting ready to buy again but I'm not sure if we will have an inspection or not.

[Anonymous]

See what I mean?  You hire one, and rest your decision on his oppinion, then maybe don't look harder at the house.  In our case it was our first house, and had absolutely not a clue what made a sound house and what didn't.  Never-the-less we saw issues, and actually pointed out our concerns, and he passed them all as okay. 

My husband and I actually had to recognize that the stress from it was effecting us, and made an effort to work as a team through it.  I don't think it hurt that he was fighting in Iraq while I pursued this in court. 

When we build we will hire an archetect (I know I keep spelling it wrong) and If it looks wrong, address it.

I hope your marrage works out, good luck.

[Anonymous]

Wow, I am so sorry you have to go through all of this. I just wanted to comment on the Home Inspector issue. If you hire one, make sure they are ASHI certified as they must take continuing education courses and swear to be ethical etc. They pay big dues to this organization to belong and they command more when they inspect as they are licensed and they receive a lot of continuing ed. Our home inspector was so good, he caught every single defect in our BRAND NEW home last year. It cost the builder a lot of $$ to fix everything but we would have backed out if they didnt. Everyone buying a home should make sure their inspector is ASHI certified first. ASHI stands for American Society of Home Inspectors. They do no accept inspectors that do not pass their stringent guidelines. Our home inspection cost us 450 bucks but it was worth every dime. Those bargain guys are not worth it as you found out. Most people dont know this so I am hoping I save someone the heartache you are going through. Good luck....I feel for you.

[Anonymous]

And I also want to add a thank you to your husband for serving our country. May god bless you both.

[Anonymous]

Thank you aprilangel, I have become highly consumer educated on home inspectors, and although ASHI is a home inspector organization, they do not represent the homebuyer, nor do they protect the homebuyer.  They collect dues, set GUIDELINES, and STANDARDS.  They also sell the contracts home inspectors use.  And provide consumers a list of members to choose from. 

The contracts provide :  The homebuyer pays the inspector a fee of 250.00-500.00 to get an inspection the inspector looks around and decides to pass or fail everything he looks at.  If he sucks the homebuyer has to pay for arbitration 25.00-1500.00 lawyer and the most he can get back is that inspection fee. IF YOU PAY FOR A HOME INSPECTOR, AND HE SUCKS YOUR STUCK WITH WHATEVER YOU BOUGHT, YOUR RESPONSIBLE! NOT WORTH THE GAMBLE.  If all he faces losing is his fee, his risk is extremely low because the industry has lowered the exposure with these contracts.  Insurance companies are delighted to provide nice policies for them knowing this. 

Our inspector was/is an ASHI member, a lifetime member.  He also is a home inspector INSTRUCTOR licensed!  ASHI in fact set up the contracts alot of inspectors use, that although appears to provide protection for the homebuyer, actually does more to protect home inspectors should they fail to do as contracted.  If you are an ASHI member ( not required for becomming a home inspector) providing the option to purchase these self serving contracts.  The arbitration clauses keep them from court.  Keeping the contracts from being tested, causing a gross injustice for harmed homeowners. Imagine the industry if they are actually held financially responsible for their mistakes. 

First, the inspection would cost consumers far more than it does. 

Second, the inspectors would have to pay higher insurance premiums. 

Third, the inspectors would have to obtain better education.

The laws in most states don't actually protect the consumer.  The only case we could find for court was out of New Jersey, where better protection for homebuyers is finally being addressed. 

As far as home sellers,  in Illinois, you only have one year to find anything wrong, and get the case in court.  Beyond that you eat it.

The insurance company paid alot of money to protect this slimeball in court.  The implication of him losing had a panic going for them.  Our case would have set a legal presidence for future cases, and would have changed the industry for the good of the consumer, in Illinois. 

[IOBA]

So....have you given thought to finding other disgruntled homeowners that this guy might have short changed?

I am sorry you have had these challenges.  I always try to find my own inspector, versus going through the ones the bank recommend.  I also try to go through the inspection with them or have my agent go with them.

I want to know, ya know!

I have a bit to go before I purchase.  Your experience is good to know.

Thank you for sharing.

PS - when I went to do the loan Shane was talking about, on a new purchase (old house) they told me that I had 30 days to complete everything and be reinspected. 

[Paxx]

Please keep us update regarding this. I feel horrible and am extremely interested in anything that develops. We just closed on our house on Wednesday and thankfully we had a real good inspector. She found numerous things that were of poor quality on a brand new house and the builder fixed them. She even went as far as to meet me at the house and I jumped up on the roof with her to see what she was talking about. It's too bad that there are so many bad inspectors our there...it really makes the good ones hard to find.

Please give your husband my thanks for his service to our country. 

Message Edited by Paxx on 09-25-2009 07:43 AM

[Anonymous]

If you feel you have exhausted all options, you might consider telling your story to Holmes on Homes.  It is touching enough to say the least.  The show is on HGTV on Saturdays @ 8:00 a.m. (check listings for time zone).  Holmes is a former, disgusted, home inspector that pulls victims from the brink of disaster while ripping poor inspectors and contractors to shreds.  He seems to have an "agenda" similar to yours:  exposing the vulnerability of innocent people that seem to have no recourse against substandard workmanship, inspectors, and poorly written laws.

[Anonymous]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

Thank you aprilangel, I have become highly consumer educated on home inspectors, and although ASHI is a home inspector organization, they do not represent the homebuyer, nor do they protect the homebuyer.  They collect dues, set GUIDELINES, and STANDARDS.  They also sell the contracts home inspectors use.  And provide consumers a list of members to choose from. 

The contracts provide :  The homebuyer pays the inspector a fee of 250.00-500.00 to get an inspection the inspector looks around and decides to pass or fail everything he looks at.  If he sucks the homebuyer has to pay for arbitration 25.00-1500.00 lawyer and the most he can get back is that inspection fee. IF YOU PAY FOR A HOME INSPECTOR, AND HE SUCKS YOUR STUCK WITH WHATEVER YOU BOUGHT, YOUR RESPONSIBLE! NOT WORTH THE GAMBLE.  If all he faces losing is his fee, his risk is extremely low because the industry has lowered the exposure with these contracts.  Insurance companies are delighted to provide nice policies for them knowing this. 

Our inspector was/is an ASHI member, a lifetime member.  He also is a home inspector INSTRUCTOR licensed!  ASHI in fact set up the contracts alot of inspectors use, that although appears to provide protection for the homebuyer, actually does more to protect home inspectors should they fail to do as contracted.  If you are an ASHI member ( not required for becomming a home inspector) providing the option to purchase these self serving contracts.  The arbitration clauses keep them from court.  Keeping the contracts from being tested, causing a gross injustice for harmed homeowners. Imagine the industry if they are actually held financially responsible for their mistakes. 

First, the inspection would cost consumers far more than it does. 

Second, the inspectors would have to pay higher insurance premiums. 

Third, the inspectors would have to obtain better education.

The laws in most states don't actually protect the consumer.  The only case we could find for court was out of New Jersey, where better protection for homebuyers is finally being addressed. 

As far as home sellers,  in Illinois, you only have one year to find anything wrong, and get the case in court.  Beyond that you eat it.

The insurance company paid alot of money to protect this slimeball in court.  The implication of him losing had a panic going for them.  Our case would have set a legal presidence for future cases, and would have changed the industry for the good of the consumer, in Illinois. 

---

Wow, you should be an attorney! You certainly make lots of good points here. Most states do not protect people from unscrupulous builders either. Also, many city inspectors are terrible as well. Ours gave the thumbs up on things that were totally against code and unsafe! The lally column in our garage was not bolted into the concrete floor nor was it imbedded into is as required by code to prevent kick out. One little knock with a bumper pulling in to the garage and the ceiling could have fallen down on the car! Also, the passed our deck...another joke since it was a mess and unsafe. The builder had to practically rebuild that sucker..cost him a pretty penny too. But the house was given a CO with lots of other things wrong too. The main support beam in the basement that goes across the whole length was shimmed and could be moved by hand! More shoddy stuff. But our inspector was great...he found everything (he was there for 4 hours) and he gave us a detailed list and what needed to be done. There were three pages two of which were important enough to make us think about backing out of the deal.

Often people skip inspections altogether on brand new construction. This is a HUGE MISTAKE. Thank goodness we didn't listen to the realtor who said "you really dont need to spend the money since the house is brand new" By the way, her hubby was the builder...no surprise there. I think states need to protect people from what you are going through. Also, the poster that mentioned "Holmes on Homes" from HGTV had a great idea. This guy would probably love to take on your project, especially since you got no relief from the sellers or the courts. He eats that stuff up. I dont know if they use the shows money or yours though but it is worth checking out.

You gave a lot of valuable information here and hopefully saved some people a lot of heartache! I wish you peace and some type of closure on this nightmare.