topic Requesting prior home inspection reports in Mortgage Loans

Requesting prior home inspection reports

Anonymous — Thu, 31 Mar 2016 12:49:37 GMT

I have read mixed reviews on this, I'm considering making an offer on a house that has been on the market for about 60 days and during that time it had two pending offers but has ended up back on the market. I would like to see the prior inspection reports before even making an offer.

Here are some assumptions I'm making:

- The asking price is fairly consistent with area comps so I don't believe the prior offers fell through due to appraisals being too low

- Prior offers could have fallen through because buyer couldn't secure a mortgage, lost his job, etc

- Prior offers fell through because something significant was revealed during house inspection

The last assumption makes me want to look at prior inspection reports so that I don't make an offer and waste money on an inspection that will likely reveal findings that have been previously identified and reported.

Re: Requesting prior home inspection reports

mynameainttracy — Thu, 31 Mar 2016 13:46:03 GMT

I would think that if nothing is wrong they would offer them up. If not I would be suspicious.

You should get your realtor to inquire.

Re: Requesting prior home inspection reports

Anonymous — Thu, 31 Mar 2016 18:39:32 GMT

@mynameainttracy wrote:
I would think that if nothing is wrong they would offer them up. If not I would be suspicious.

You should get your realtor to inquire.

so my realtor also thinks that based on the timing, both offers fell through during the inspection contingency period but she will ask the seller's agent to confirm.

The seller in this case, is "disclaiming vs disclosing", selling as-is with inspection contingency, owner has not lived in that house for at least the past 12 months so it looks like it was rented for some time so no utility info is provided.

We drove by that house this morning, it looks in decent shape from the outside (other than the mini blinds torn in some rooms) but we'll have to keep looking

Re: Requesting prior home inspection reports

ezdriver — Thu, 31 Mar 2016 19:03:54 GMT

You are looking to buy a house being sold in as-in condition so do your due diligence as the prior buyer prospects did ... make your offer and take your chances. Someone else paid for those reports and may not have even shared the reports with the seller. Sorry but you are not entitled to copies of those reports. If you do not want to risk your money, do not attempt to buy a property being sold in as-is condition.

Re: Requesting prior home inspection reports

StartingOver10 — Thu, 31 Mar 2016 20:19:07 GMT

Most of the homes in our area are sold "As Is" and the inspection period is extremely important. The buyer can cancel during the inspection period (in our contracts) at their sole discretion. So if there is an issue this is the time to address it or cancel the deal. With two people walking, there must be some item that is expensive (roof, HVAC, or something else).

If you can get the prior inspection reports from the listing agent, then do so, but hire your own inspectors to complete a detailed inspection. You don't know if the inspector on the prior reports was competant or not. Your inspector works for you - not the seller.

It is common to renegotiate after the contract if there is an issue that was not disclosed prior to the inspection.

An example: had an inspection yesterday and the a/c is under sized for the house, which is a problem. House is 2700 sf living area (under air) and the a/c is a 3-1/2 ton unit and there is only one unit. So we are getting the proper HVAC expert in to perform a more detailed analysis and quote a price to properly size the unit (or add one) as appropriate before we bring it to the sellers attention tomorrow. You have to do your homeowork on the entire property - and HOA if applicable - to make sure the property is the right fit for you.

Nothing wrong with an AS IS house, as long as you have done proper due diligence. Some markets don't have AS IS sales - here they are the standard. So look to your agent to see what is standard in your market before you decide to buy AS IS or not. Be especially diligent if it is AS IS.

Re: Requesting prior home inspection reports

Joteism — Thu, 31 Mar 2016 21:13:37 GMT

Just thought that I'd chime in, because I'm in a strangely similar situation right now.

The house that I'm currently under contract with had a previous contract that fell through due to the inspection report. While the prospective buyer did not share the report with the seller's agent, the fact that there was severe termite damage and damaged floor joists did apparently come up in a conversation between the two agents.

Fast forward to my contract (As Is with an inspection contingency)... First thing I did was order a home inspection. Since the sellers agent had mentioned to my realtor about the damage in the crawl space (termites and joists), I already expected to find something bad there. Inspection reports indeed revealed some serious damage and seeing as the cost of repairs would be well over $20k, and since I had initially planned to go with a standard 30 yr conventional, my realtor typed up an amendment to the contract, that would add another 15 days to the inspection contingency and move the final closing date by a full month to accomodate my Homestyle renovation loan. I've now scheduled a HUD inspector to come give cost estimates for the repairs, which I will use to renegotiate the final sales price.

Standard home inspection cost me $500, Termite guys $60, and the HUD consultant another $400 (plus each draw at $100). But I rather pay now, than move in and a few months later find myself laying in my own crawl space because the foundation collapsed.

By the way... While I was at the home during the inspection, a next-door neighbor stopped by and provided a lot of valuable information. Owner hasn't lived in the house for over 10 years. The house has been occupied by renters for the past four years. He even gave me the phone numbers of the previous tenants so I could call them and ask them about things that were wrong with the house. I also found out that the owner is currently in China and won't fix anything on the house because of the hassle to deal with contractors remotely.

Pardon the rant!

Re: Requesting prior home inspection reports

Anonymous — Fri, 01 Apr 2016 11:46:47 GMT

So I am now wondering if the seller should have been required to include in the disclosures the termite and floor joists problems that were identified during a previous inspection?

Re: Requesting prior home inspection reports

StartingOver10 — Fri, 01 Apr 2016 11:52:38 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
So I am now wondering if the seller should have been required to include in the disclosures the termite and floor joists problems that were identified during a previous inspection?

Yes. They are required to disclose known defects, They can amend the Sellers Disclosure when something else is discovered.

Re: Requesting prior home inspection reports

Anonymous — Fri, 01 Apr 2016 15:36:40 GMT

One very important thing that I've learned so far is to read through the seller disclosures with a microscope.

These disclosure documents allow for more in-depth research.

In one case, I read the seller disclosures and googled the owner/agent's name listed in the disclosure documents. The owner/agent turned out to be a shady attorney that had been reprimended by the MD bar association at least twice, plus his name also appeared in a Washington news site as a shady player in the housing market.

We ran away from that propertyvery fast!