resource for lousy home inspection? heads up to the realtor or inspector?

[Anonymous]

Is there anything to do about a home inspection that overlooked several issues? Most of our appliances have failed or never worked and now three months into our house, I wonder if there is any reason to share this with our realtor or home inspection.
I know buying a home is always 'buyer beware' and I'm not demanding anything... just wonder if there is any reason to contact either the realtor or inspector to let them know how many items have failed.
I am in Virginia.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is there anything to do about a home inspection that overlooked several issues? Most of our appliances have failed or never worked and now three months into our house, I wonder if there is any reason to share this with our realtor or home inspection.
I know buying a home is always 'buyer beware' and I'm not demanding anything... just wonder if there is any reason to contact either the realtor or inspector to let them know how many items have failed.
I am in Virginia.

Failed? They are not fortune tellers. They can, in many cases, tell you how old something is and what the expected lifespan is, but they are not soothsayers. If something never worked at all, on the other hand, you'd expect that to be in the report.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is there anything to do about a home inspection that overlooked several issues? Most of our appliances have failed or never worked and now three months into our house, I wonder if there is any reason to share this with our realtor or home inspection.
I know buying a home is always 'buyer beware' and I'm not demanding anything... just wonder if there is any reason to contact either the realtor or inspector to let them know how many items have failed.
I am in Virginia.

There is a problem if they were in working order at time of inspection, but not in working order at the time of closing. If that was the case, you needed to report that to the closing lawyer immediately saying that the property was not delivered in the same condition as it was when it was inspected (thus, the seller's problem). If they worked at the time of closing, but have since failed, then there is nothing to report. Usually the inspection will notate any appliance that needs work (e.g. has noticeable problems that are likely to cause failure), but they are only required to determine if things are in safe working order. They have no way to guarantee durability.

If you were at all concerned about the appliances, you should have requested a home warranty package from the seller. If you didn't, then you assumed the risk that they would fail. I usually make sure that appliances are either new and hence covered by a manufacturer's warranty or request a home warranty package. Since you can get many of them for under $500, it's usually something that a seller will accede to (I did it automatically before listing my last house and advertised it as a feature of the sale so that buyers wouldn't be niggling me for appliance coverage).

[Anonymous]

And they don't test out of season appliances if it could damage the appliance.

[Anonymous]

I hate to be cynical, but do you really think that your realtor cares. If those items came up you may not have purchased the house.

If the inspector pointed them out, the realtor would probably never again have used them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I hate to be cynical, but do you really think that your realtor cares. If those items came up you may not have purchased the house.

If the inspector pointed them out, the realtor would probably never again have used them.

And that's why you get your own inspector instead of the realtor recommended one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I hate to be cynical, but do you really think that your realtor cares. If those items came up you may not have purchased the house.

If the inspector pointed them out, the realtor would probably never again have used them.

OP, I don't know the quality of the people you surround yourself with, but in my experience, my real estate agent took the list provided by home inspector seriously and negotiated the hell out of it with the seller. Got us a new electrical box and closing costs to cover a few other things.

And yes we chose a home inspector from the list of vendors she recommended.

I suppose you can find the principal-agent problem in all its glory here, but I never had a real estate agent poo-poo the findings of a H.I.

[Anonymous]

Something similar happened to us, and yes, our realtor took it very, very seriously. She spoke directly to the inspector about the situation, as it was someone that she trusts and has a longstanding relationship with. She asked for our honest assessment of the situation -- was it something the inspector overlooked, missed, or was it beyond his ability to see/predict what would happen. In the end, we didn't fault the inspector, but I appreciated our realtor being so concerned. And I was annoyed about the repairs we have to make, but the inspector doesn't have a crystal ball...

[Anonymous]

Something similar happened to us, and yes, our realtor took it very, very seriously. She spoke directly to the inspector about the situation, as it was someone that she trusts and has a longstanding relationship with. She asked for our honest assessment of the situation -- was it something the inspector overlooked, missed, or was it beyond his ability to see/predict what would happen. In the end, we didn't fault the inspector, but I appreciated our realtor being so concerned. And I was annoyed about the repairs we have to make, but the inspector doesn't have a crystal ball...

[Anonymous]

Sorry for the double post...