Home inspections: “walk and talk” vs written report

[Anonymous]

I have never not received a detailed report.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We also did only a walk and talk. I took excellent notes and pictures. I even took video (with the inspector's agreement).

I'll also add I reviewed and added to my notes immediately after getting home. There was an item I wasn't clear in on, I called the inspector and had him clarify.

[Anonymous]

If you're making a pre-offer inspection, you're likely going to not win the bidding war anyhow, so don't waste the money. You're looking to see if there is anything major. A report won't turn up anything that a good home inspector won't see in the first 30-40 minutes. Just audio record the walk and talk on your phone.

Also, if you're getting a walk and talk for $300, that's a steal. Most good inspectors in DC will charge $600 for that, then $1000+ for the full inspection, depending on the size of the home.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’ll be the dissenting opinion. We just did the walk and talk before making an offer on our home knowing we would be waiting the home inspection contingency so that having a written report to give the seller for repair requests wouldn’t be an issue. DH took really good notes (and a few photos) during it and as soon as we moved in we addressed the immediate noted issues. There are a few things we need to replace on the horizon that other contractors have told us about that are all in line with what the pre-inspection revealed.

I guess it really just depends on whether you’re the type of person that can process stuff by listening and taking notes or if you need to see it in writing.

Depends on how old your house is too. We are looking at prewar colonials and the little issues are endless

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m putting an offer on a house soon and planning a pre-inspection. My realtor suggested an inspector for $300 that does “walk and talk” where we go to the house with him and basically he walks around and tells us about all the issues. I asked if they did a written report and the realtor said this would be closer to $500-600, and most people do walk and talk for pre-inspection.


Is this true? Anyone have a good or bad experience with it?

Never use your realtors rec for an inspector and always get a written report. We did this twice for preinspections

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you're making a pre-offer inspection, you're likely going to not win the bidding war anyhow, so don't waste the money. You're looking to see if there is anything major. A report won't turn up anything that a good home inspector won't see in the first 30-40 minutes. Just audio record the walk and talk on your phone.

Also, if you're getting a walk and talk for $300, that's a steal. Most good inspectors in DC will charge $600 for that, then $1000+ for the full inspection, depending on the size of the home.

Why would you say that? With a pre inspection they can waive the inspection contingency and factor any needed repairs into their offer price. I won a bidding war with a pre inspection and also picked an offer that pre inspected when I sold my house and had 4 offers

[Anonymous]

If you're doing a pre-inspection, what benefit does the written report serve you? An inspector will have you sign something that protects them against anything they may have missed. I would take good notes and pay very close attention during the inspection. Ask questions about everything as you're going around with the inspector. The ONLY reason you would do a pre-inspection is to be able to make your offer more attractive by removing the inspection contingency. An inspector is not going to find more problems simply because they are writing up a report. In fact, many sellers will limit pre-inspections to 1-2 hours. I would personally rather have my inspector focused on finding issues than worrying about writing a report and noting minor issues that come up in every house. I would be concerned with them identifying major concerns.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Both. The walk and talk can be very useful for your information and the inspector can often give you tips about how things work and maintenance that are very useful. However, you should still get a written report for purposes of negotiations over fixes with the seller.

If you are getting a preinspection in DC, you aren’t negotiating with the seller. You are preparing to waive the inspection contingency.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you're making a pre-offer inspection, you're likely going to not win the bidding war anyhow, so don't waste the money. You're looking to see if there is anything major. A report won't turn up anything that a good home inspector won't see in the first 30-40 minutes. Just audio record the walk and talk on your phone.

Also, if you're getting a walk and talk for $300, that's a steal. Most good inspectors in DC will charge $600 for that, then $1000+ for the full inspection, depending on the size of the home.

Why would you say that? With a pre inspection they can waive the inspection contingency and factor any needed repairs into their offer price. I won a bidding war with a pre inspection and also picked an offer that pre inspected when I sold my house and had 4 offers

I meant don't waste the money on the report. Just do the walk and talk pre-inspection. I agree that it's valuable. But there is no one in DC that is factoring needed repairs into a home offer when it's so competitive that pre-inspection is necessary (which is most homes for people on this forum). Sellers don't care about the repair issues you found. You're just making a list of stuff you'll need to fix because they are not coming down on price.