The Best Investment You Can Make When Buying A Home
We always recommend that when buying a home our clients perform, at a minimum, a pest inspection and a contractor’s inspection. These two inspections then help determine if further work is necessary, such as a structural engineer’s report, or even in one case - a spiritualist.
One case we had recently really brought this to light. Our clients were in contract to purchase a new home, and the prior owners had only been in the house one year. When they bought the home, the seller had done a pest report, and they used that pest report as their basis when they bought the home. I’m not sure why - whether they were in a hurry, trying to save money, or didn’t want to know, but they accepted the seller’s report, which was pretty clean.
They suggested our buyer do the same. We, of course, strongly recommended a pest and contractor’s report (both combined usually cost around $800).
The pest inspector we hired found significant issues. In fact, his recommended cost to repair these issues was $30,000! Needless to say, the next week was very intense, as everyone tried to negotiate a settlement. Our buyer did not get the full $30,000, but they got a significant amount, as well as work completed that had not been done. Their investment in reports that cost less than $1,000, along with some skillfull negotiation on my wife’s part, resulted in a more than tenfold return on the investment. And you can’t put a price on the peace of mind they now have, knowing that the house is pest free, water-tight, and secure.
The form you’ll sign says, “Get an inspection.” I say get several!
[…] Getting a home inspection when you’re thinking of buying a home in Marin County is about the smartest money you’ll spend. We always recommend a pest and contractor’s inspection, for starters, and then decide where to go from there. Termites can be a problem in Marin’s temperate climate, but often there are many other issues, from inadequate electrical panels to out-of-code sewer hookups… But it’s more than just getting an inspection, I really believe it is getting the right inspector for the job. As in any other business, the levels of quality and cost vary. We work only with licensed inspectors that we know, or have been referred to by people we trust. […]