Nearly all home buyers or their real estate agents hire a professional home inspector to take a close look at their new house before closing.
Nationwide, about 8 out of every 10 homes on the resale market are inspected before the purchase is finalized, according to Ken Benson, a Pleasanton home inspector who owns and operates Advance Look Building Inspections. But in California, it’s closer to 10 out of 10, with the most recent figures for 2004 showing a 95 percent rate in inspections.
“About the only time you won’t see a home inspected is when the house is new and still covered by a comprehensive warranty by the builder,” Benson said. “It’s definitely the buyer’s call, although the Realtor is the one most likely to give me a call to do an inspection.”
Home inspections cost from $375 for a 2,000-square-foot home to $425 and more for homes 3,000 square feet and larger. Inspectors focus on anything that is accessible and visible, going into attics and in the crawl space beneath the home if there is one. Generally, roofs, chimneys, swimming pools and yard sprinkler systems are left to professionals in those fields, who are also better able to make repair cost estimates that buyers want to have for their purchasing negotiations.
“Having your house inspected is much like taking a used car you are considering buying to a mechanic for a diagnostic test,” said Jim Mello, owner of Pleasanton-based Professional Real Estate Inspections (PRI). “The mechanics can give you a pretty good report on how the car performs, but they don’t strip down the engine to check out the valves or other details.”
“We do the same, coming up with a punch list of what we think is wrong with the house, and then recommending professionals who can handle the repairs,” he added.
Mello and his team make about 3,000 home inspections each year throughout the East Bay, and into the San Joaquin Valley. Last week, he even handled inspections in San Francisco and Palo Alto for Realtors who knew his reputation.
Although most inspectors are called to check out older homes, some, like Mello, inspect new homes, as well.
“You’d be surprised what we find in new homes that the builders and city building inspectors missed,” Mello said.
He cited two new homes in a Livermore development where gas ranges had been installed and passed code inspection, but lacked upper combustion areas.
“The homes were beautiful with all the amenities, but these two mistakes could have proven dangerous for the new occupants,” Mello said.
He said most problems identified in home inspections are electrical wiring and plumbing. Hot water pipes often are corroded near the water heater output valve, with galvanized pipes the worst because they rust from inside out, making any deterioration hard to find. Many older homes also have frayed aluminum wiring at their 220 volt connections because the endings that are wrapped around the connections lacked an antioxidant coating. Over time, that allowed the frayed ends to arc electrically, which could cause a fire.
“We don’t see that today, but if your home is 15-20 years old, you should check how the 220v. lines are wired,” Mello said. “An electrician probably would charge $60-$80 to inspect the wiring, a pretty economical price to fix a high hazard problem.”
Mello is celebrating his 20th year in business, starting out earlier as a custom home builder. That experience gave him first-hand knowledge about what can go wrong in a house as it ages as well as close contacts with many Realtors, who now call on him for inspection jobs.
“What inspectors are really looking for are safety and welfare items that should be disclosed to a prospective buyer,” he said.
By law, sellers are required to disclose the condition of their property in a Transfer Disclosure Statement (TDS) as specified in section 1102 of the California Civil Code. On the form, sellers must note the operating condition of items in the house such as the range, dishwasher, central air conditioning and oven. They must also detail any significant defects or malfunctions in areas of the house, such as the foundation, floors or exterior walls, and report other items such as any neighborhood noise problems or major damage to the property from fire, earthquake, floods or landslides.
But as Mello pointed out, “if it’s normally repairable, it doesn’t need to be disclosed,” such as a furnace motor or air conditioner compressor that are working when the sale takes place. “If it isn’t normally repairable, and the seller knows that, then it should be disclosed,” he added.
This could include an older model air conditioner compressor that requires Freon, a substance now banned under new environmental laws. If the seller knows that, or has been turned down on a service call, that has to be disclosed.
Also new is a compliant air duct testing law that went into effect last Oct. 1. Owners must have their home ducts tested for leaks when they have a new central air conditioner or furnace installed or replaced. Ducts that leak 15 percent or more must be repaired before the contractor or city inspector can sign off on the work.
Benson said the average home’s ducts leak around 30 percent, “which means that 30 percent of every dollar you spend on heating or cooling your house is wasted.
“I estimate that homeowners could save about $350 a year on their heating and air-conditioning bills if they were to have their ducts properly sealed,” Benson said.
He said there has also been a growing concern over mold, and that many buyers now want a mold inspection before buying a house.
Who pays for the inspections and any repair work? Both Mello and Benson said that’s usually left to the Realtor to handle. In a sellers’ market as seen in Pleasanton for the past several years, where there have been multiple offers on homes for sale, buyers would often agree to accept the house “as is,” and make any needed repairs themselves. Today, with housing inventories climbing, it’s become more of a buyers’ market, with Realtors often suggesting that sellers pay all the costs. Jim Mello of PRI can be reached at (925) 519-9777. Ken Benson can be reached at (925) 989-8898.
