News

Home Inspection - What is the truth?

 Home Inspection is one of the most misunderstood and misguided activities in the sale or purchase of a home. It's critical to know what to expect and which Home Inspectors are qualified to do the job right. If you aren't aware of these things, it could negatively affect the value of your home.

Taking time to read the information on my website will help you gain a
comprehensive understanding about a Home Inspection and the selection process of a professional Home Inspector. Utilize this information as a foundation for making the right choices!

Why is it critical to have a Home Inspection?

 Answer:

Buying a Home is an emotional event. This makes it difficult for home buyers to remain completely objective about the property they desire, which may lead to a poor assessment. Even the most experienced home buyer lacks the knowledge of all components and systems of a building. Real estate is the largest financial investment in your life; you want to make sure it's a solid one. Home inspections are important and necessary for your own protection and future security. Essentially, they are visual (non-invasive) examinations of the physical structure and numerous systems in a home or building, followed by a comprehensive report.

Expectations during a home inspection must be kept in proper perspective by [website deleted by Zillow  moderator.  Please see our Good Neighbor Policy]

3 replies

I'm near the end of the process of purchasing a short sale.  The house was listed with the kitchen appliances: Dishwasher, Stove, Microwave.  The signed resale contract contains a paragraph that covers these items as included.  However, the seller took the appliances out of the house this weekend, and is refusing to return them when the selling agent contacted him.  I've already signed a contract, and paid for inspections that included these appliances.  My agent acts like there's not much we can do other than cut our losses and get back the earnest money, or go through with the sale.  Do I have any other recourse to recoop the inspection costs?

12 replies

I've run into this now twice already this year.  I am working as a buyer's agent on acquiring a Short Sale property through Bank of America (B.O.A.).  After the deal had been fully negotiated and the preliminary HUD statement approved along with the appropriate fees documented, B.O.A. changed their opinion on numerous fees on the HUD.  

They dictated that a brokerage fee that our firm charges with each transaction be removed.  This fee is paid by the buyer and the buyer had agreed to pay it.  Furthermore, B.O.A. also said that the fees associated with preparing the seller's documents for closing be removed from the HUD.  These fees were already agreed on by B.O.A.

There are two issues here.  1) B.O.A. is changing what is acceptable on the HUD statement as the transaction progresses through the system.  And 2) Why would they get involved in what the buyer agrees to pay?  This is in regard to our brokerage fee.  The fee has no consequence to B.O.A. or the seller.

I've considered contesting it, but every time that we ask any question at all with B.O.A., response time is lengthy.  Anyone else seen this?

8 replies

[self promotion deleted by Zillow moderator.  Please see our Good Neighbor Policy]

9 replies

If there are no issues with the home, zoning issues, square footage issues, condition or quality issues, nine times out of ten, the appraiser will have already selected the winning comparable sales to determine your home value. Only if they missed a major issue, will they select new comparable sales to bracket the new garage or additional square footage, etc.  

So with that said, would you pay for a desktop appraisal before you proceed with a home loan knowing that it may save you hundreds or thousands of dollars when buying, selling or refinancing your home?  A desktop appraisal is an appraisal completed at the desk of the appraiser. They do not drive by your home or go into your home. They will gather basic information about your home and assume that it is in average condition. The benefit is the price of the appraisal is less than a full appraisal and that the home owner can keep partial control over their loan process by knowing what the home value is and from this point, they are able to negotiate interest rates and terms of their loan based on the value of their home or the home that they would like to buy. What about a drive by appraisal? I used to complete some drive by appraisals, but most of the banks that I work for no longer want this product. What do you think?

9 replies

what is the process looks like buying a short sale 4 unit  multi family house for investment in D.C area ?

1 reply

I'm looking at a home that was put on the market 60 days ago for $350,000.  The Zestimate was $222,000 back in November and it has since made a sharp jump up to $317,000.  What would have occurred that would cause the Zestimate to shoot up so much higher in that short a time frame?  Would it have been a home appraisal the owners did or something of that nature that got logged with the city?

6 replies

8 replies

How does a home valued in December of 2011 is valued at say 650,000 now be valued at 1.2m. Seems like a huge jump in price in two months. Can you elaborate how the zillow home price index is reflective of what an offer should be on a home. thanks

6 replies

We have been watching a home on the market for 6 months now. They are asking 285,000. We only have $240,000 to spend, in cash. We were reluctant to make an offer seeing as how low we are, however, they deactivated the listing after recieving NO offers. We will be putting in our 240 cash offer tomorrow morning with their listing agent. We don't need representation, as our number is firm, we have zero contingencies, and will even skip a home inspection (gave the house a good looking over the two times we went through it and are confident and willing to take it 'as is' particularly if the sellers are willing to part with the home at our offer price.) Pretty much, they have the house we want, if they are willing to part with it for what we have to offer, this should be a very simple transaction. We will pay cash, and the sellers have no mortgage on the home to fulfill. Question is, what should we expect as far as the offer process, and how much earnest money should we consider giving with the offer?

14 replies

9 replies

Problem #1: 

I found a property on Realtor.com in my area for sale, read the full description and on the local Realtor's website, but there was no indication that the Realtor was also the investor.  We exchanged a few e-mails and he didn't bother to share this information with me until I actually drove out to view the property.  Had I known they were one in the same person, I would have got my own agent.  Was this a violation?

 Problem #2

While engaging in the transaction, I also discovered that over $60,000 worth of work was completed without a building permit on the home by the Realtor's investment company.  Yes, they are required in this area.  He didn't admit to not having them until I asked for copies, which I feel was like a willful omission of a material fact. When I called the city to inquire about the permits, they confirmed none had been taken out...ever for the project.  Am I right?




6 replies

Short Sales are they worth your time?

5 replies

Please rate what is more important in an Agent to you:
1.  Knowledge of the Area
2.  Knowledge of the Market
3.  Knowledge of the Contract process

4 replies

savings.   I am currently looking for full time employment.  Is there anyway I could qualify for a loan?

3 replies

0 replies

4 replies

hi everyone! 
I need some advice. There's a property that i am interested in and i have spoke to my agent about it. He has tried multiple times to contact the selling agent but there has been no response at all. I also did some research and my agent did likewise and it turns out that the seller had put the home up for short sale just a few months ago for 3 months and now it up for short sale again. My agent said that it seems like they are not interested in selling the property like just want to put it on a short sale so they don't have to make your mortgage payments. Does this sound right? Is it even legal to do? 

1 reply

An important step when taking the plunge into homeownership is determining exactly how much home you can afford. Setting a budget helps you narrow your house-hunt to only homes in your price-range so you avoid falling in love with a home you can't afford. Have you set a budget? How did you arrive at that magic number?

3 replies

What does it mean that you have so many sold home listed as sold for $561?????

2 replies