Posts in category: Inspection Philosophy

Some buyers are purchasing real estate without having an inspection. This, of course, is brought about by such a tight market and competition for homes to purchase. It’s understandable! Especially since buyers have lost several transactions to better cash offers.

Over the past few years, we have had countless inspection appointments canceled because the sellers received a better offer. Then, on the next house, they elected to forgo the inspection completely. Some of these buyers have called us back after they closed on the house without an inspection because serious surprises popped up. They called us after the fact to help them deal with defects. In some cases, the defects involved structural issues. In one case, the house had aluminum wires, mold, and asbestos throughout, and several galvanized and cast-iron plumbing pipes that needed to be replaced due to leakage.

Other buyers are making their offer without an inspection contingency, but they are still doing the inspection just so that they don’t get surprised after they close. If there is no inspection, buyers should understand that there may be unexpected substantial defects.

Of course, everything circles back, and eventually, the market will soften, and buyers may not feel the need to skip the inspection.

For more related information click on this link:

https://safeharborinspections.com/blog/

Seller’s Inspection Benefit

Most people don’t realize how beneficial Seller’s Inspections (Pre-Marketing Inspections) can be.

We feel it’s beneficial for the seller to understand the following two options after a seller’s inspection:

1. First, the seller has the opportunity to disclose defects upfront and state that they are selling as-is. Buyers will have a hard time negotiating inspection items if they are told about the defect before making their offer. For example, if the buyer has been advised the roof needs replacement, they would have difficulty trying to negotiate the roof issue after their inspection.
2. Secondly, the seller can deal with certain defects before they cause a problem with the sale. For example, buyers get concerned about termites. So, if we find termites, we recommend a termite treatment; as a result, the termite issue goes away before the buyer gets involved. Similarly, other items may come up during a home inspection that may cause problems with the transaction unless they are dealt with before the house goes on the market.
3. Here’s a short YouTube video that explains the benefits. https://youtu.be/tNeDhhfvQVg

Based on the above, we feel that Seller’s Inspections provide substantial benefits that most people aren’t aware of. So, if you are a real estate agent or real estate attorney, would you want to advise your clients about Seller’s Inspections?

For more related information click on this link:

https://safeharborinspections.com/blog/

As I’m sure you know, there is an entire industry around investing in real estate, improving it, and then selling it. Commonly known as “Flipping”. Oftentimes, flipped homes are in very good condition and were properly improved with licensed contractors and an investor with the intent to do “the right thing”. New appliances, bathrooms, kitchen, HVAC, flooring, driveway, electrical etc. etc.

However, often the flippers major priority is to maximize the return on his investment. This can lead to hiring unskilled and unlicensed contractors to save as much money as possible. At first glance the house may look impeccable because of the new cosmetics and appliances. But upon further examination, shortcuts may show up.

As an example, we did an inspection which revealed substantial structural defects in the crawlspace. Consequently, there was a substantial concern in the structure. As usual, we took pictures of the situation and offered to show the investor (flipper) the pictures to help explain what we saw. The response from the flipper was “no thanks, I just hope the next buyer doesn’t hire an inspector”.

Sometimes defects are purposely hidden with sheet rock, ceiling tiles, and carpeting etc. So, during the inspection defects are impossible to see without dismantling (which does not occur during an inspection). If you walk into the basement and everything is covered up, perhaps there are defects that cannot be seen by you, or an inspector or anybody else for that matter.

Sometimes we see signs of a bearing wall having been removed to create a “great room” and a sagging ceiling develops.  When bearing walls get removed, structural modifications must be made in order to support the weight above.

The bottom line is in the adage, “buyer beware”. Make sure you hire a very thorough inspector and read the inspection report very carefully. It’s also not a bad idea to check with the building department to see if the contractors procured and finalized building permits during the upgrade process. This can be accomplished by an “expediter”.

Please don’t misunderstand us. Usually the improvements were well executed, and the home is in great condition, and will serve its purpose nicely for years to come without major unexpected repairs.

For more related information click on this link:

https://safeharborinspections.com/blog/

Inspecting large luxury homes and estates versus more modest homes

Large luxury homes and estates are typically much more complex and time-consuming to inspect than more modest homes. Smaller homes typically have one electrical panel, one heating system, one air conditioner unit etc. Larger luxury homes and estates may have 10 or more electrical panels, several heating systems, several air-conditioning units, several attics, etc.

Larger homes and estates may take a single inspector more than a full day to inspect. It can be overwhelming, which may cause the inspector to get tired and gloss over important items. Whereas smaller homes can typically be inspected in a few hours by one inspector.

We at Safe Harbor inspections Inc. feel that large homes and estates should be inspected by a team of inspectors, each focusing on a different aspect of the home. We typically bring three or four inspectors to a large home or estate. The inspection can be done efficiently and completed within a few hours. Buyers, sellers, and agents all appreciate the faster and more efficient inspection. And believe me, the inspectors appreciate it too!

If you are interested, all our previous newsletters are available on our website blog. Click on the following link and it will take you right to it.

https://safeharborinspections.com/blog/“

The most important goal of our inspections is to help our client understand the subject property. One of the most effective ways we do that is to review our findings with photographs on site at the end of the inspection.  This process enables us to clearly convey our findings to our client.

If the seller is there, and/or the listing agent, and, if everything is friendly and copacetic, and, very importantly, if our client agrees, often we invite the seller and listing agent to see our photographs and hear our summary. This enables everyone to be on the same page and expedites the inspection part of the real estate transaction. It can also greatly assist in negotiations (if there are any). Our summary is done with a cool, calm, collected, non-alarmist approach. When we are done, everybody leaves the inspection pleased that they know and understand our inspection findings.

If you are interested, all our previous newsletters are available on our website blog. Click on the following link and it will take you right to it.

https://safeharborinspections.com/blog/“

Safe Harbor Inspections Inc. is dedicated solely to being the best building inspectors and providing the best Long Island and New York home inspections the area has to offer. We are a full-service Long Island and New York home inspections company focusing on high quality residential home inspection services and commercial property inspections with state-of-the-art photographic reports.

This report is available shortly after the inspection on a secure website for your viewing 24 hours a day seven days a week from anywhere in the world and will remain there indefinitely.

We encourage our clients to accompany their home inspector during the home inspection service because our goal is to enable you to truly understand the inspection findings. We want you to know more about that real estate than anyone else. We accomplish this in 3 ways:

1. Firsthand during the inspection: You join the inspector during the actual inspection and see things firsthand (along with explanations from the inspector). We take photos of all issues.
2. Verbal Summary with photo review: At the end of the inspection, we will load all the photos we have taken during the inspection into the laptop computer (right there at the inspection) and review them with you. This serves as a great summary for all present and is unique to Safe Harbor Inspections Inc. According to NY State home inspection law, the findings of the inspection are your confidential property. However, our clients often want us to share this information with the agents and the Seller for negotiating purposes.
3. The Inspection Report: all the photos will be in the report along with concise explanations. This gives you a third look at the findings of the inspection. Our report is designed to be easy to understand and fast to read (the photos really help!)

Our Mission:

Create such positive relationships and make our clients so happy with our services that they will want to refer Safe Harbor Inspections Inc. to their friends and family.

Provide the best property inspections and inspection reports on Long Island and New York.

Use the highest level of technology available to provide timely, easily accessible, and accurate information to our clients.

Put our inspection findings in the proper context through thoughtful and concise explanations and reports.

Continue our reputation for responsiveness, reliability, and honesty in all our dealings with clients, associates, and other professionals and the general public.

If you are interested, all our previous newsletters are available on our website blog. Click on the following link and it will take you right to it.

https://safeharborinspections.com/blog/”

Multi-family home inspections are typically done for property investors.

Depending on the size of the structure(s), representative sampling plays a big role in determining the degree of detail in terms of items to be inspected. For example, representative sampling of the electrical outlets, windows, doors, and plumbing systems will be inspected.

This type of inspection is typically performed on behalf of the client to get a “big picture” perspective on the investment property. The degree of representative sampling will be discussed and agreed upon between the investor and Safe Harbor Inspections during the scheduling process.

If you are interested, all our previous newsletters are available on our website blog. Click on the following link and it will take you right to it.

https://safeharborinspections.com/blog/“

Luxury home inspections include the systems and components of a typical home inspection plus other items as follows: 

• swimming pool
• cabana
• landscape irrigation
• Guesthouse
• Wood destroying insect inspection (termites).
• indoor air quality, including asbestos, and mold.
• Because of the size and complexity of luxury homes, we usually assign an inspection team: 2, 3,or 4 inspectors normally make up the team.

If you are interested, all our previous newsletters are available on our website blog. Click on the following link and it will take you right to it.

https://safeharborinspections.com/blog/”

Usually sellers leave on their own before the inspection, often at the suggestion of the listing agent.  Most inspectors are fine either way, whether the seller is there or not.

We feel that it is better for all concerned if the seller is present.  Why?  Because there are often questions that can easily be answered by the seller if they are present.  For example, we can’t get the gas fireplace to operate because we can’t find the remote control.  The seller knows exactly where it is and can turn it on to demonstrate that it functions.  Sometimes there are multiple thermostats throughout the house, some of which are air conditioning and some of which are heat.  The seller typically knows exactly how they’re set up.

Let’s say there is a stain on the ceiling that may be a plumbing leak.  We ask the seller who explains that yes, there was a leak, but they had a plumber fix it.  There is a depression in the yard which looks like it may be a cesspool issue, but the seller explains that they had a tree stump removed.  We suspected inground oil tank because oil feed lines go through the foundation wall near the boiler.  The seller explains that they had the oil tank abandoned and they have the paperwork.  We see signs of old termite damage; the seller explains that they had it treated and it’s under guarantee.

Sometimes there are issues that we discover that the seller wasn’t aware of, for example a leak developing in the water heater.  We bring it to the seller’s attention, and they get a new water heater because we explained that it could get worse quickly and even flood.

If the seller is not present, all these questions will likely end up in the inspection report which can make the report longer and more concerning than it needs to be.  Conversely, if all the questions are answered during the inspection it’s better for the seller, the buyer, and the agents!  We regularly see transparency between the buyer, seller and agents.  Often, everybody leaves the inspection on the same page, which is obviously a good thing!

These are just our observations over the years for your consideration.

For more related information click on this link: https://safeharborinspections.com/