Rescue my renovation

Just caught this show on HGTV.

This one couple appeared to have bought a house that has no insulation.

How does this happen?

In other states do they not require inspections?

I caught the tail end of an episode where they hired a contractor who took their money and just left in the middle of the reno, leaving the house wide open.

Rescue my renovation

There are steps to take when buying a house.

IMHO they should NEVER EVER be ignored. I dont know about YOU but I have seena TON of shows that they always say "why do we really need to spend the money on an inspection?".

In peoples desire to buy a house they will skip things to save money.

I say "penny wise...".

Rescue my renovation

I honestly feel the inspection doesnt do much. I mean unless you cut out a piece of the wall how do u know there's insulation? Great u flush a toilet and the water goes down, unless you look at the inside of a pipe u don't know how corroded it is. When we got our inspection the inspector found termite damage in the garage. Ok the previous owners had the termite killed and had service coming in - when we finally demoed the house, under the bathroom window, there was hardly any wood left- don't even know how it was holding itself up!!! It's all bs and things on the outside are a lot diff than the inside!

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Rescue my renovation

No insulation is common in older houses. My house was built without it. The old owner had it blown in. My ILs house doesn't have it.

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There's a show called "Holmes Inspection", where Mike Holmes fixes major problems in houses. The vast majority of those homes HAD a "professional" home inspector come through the house. If you hire someone for a few hundred dollars, and they say they are a home inspector, you expect that they know what they are doing. Not always. I'm not saying all inspectors are bad, just that there enough bad ones to make a long-running TV show about them....

Re: Rescue my renovation

Posted by MorningCuppaCoffee

Posted by Paramount

There are steps to take when buying a house.

IMHO they should NEVER EVER be ignored. I dont know about YOU but I have seena TON of shows that they always say "why do we really need to spend the money on an inspection?".

In peoples desire to buy a house they will skip things to save money.

I say "penny wise...".

I agree. I think our inspection was around $400. We were out that for the first home we looked at, because the owner decided to take it off the market. I remember being pissed because I thought it was "so much money" but in the grand scheme of things, if you are buying a $300K+ house and major repairs can start at around $4000K on up..........I don't understand why one would skip it either.

This may not be the popular opinion, but if you are pinching pennies that much, maybe you cannot afford to buy a house then.

And I say this, probably being as cheap as they come.

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Re: Rescue my renovation

BabyBearA has a good point.

While I think home inspections are VERY important and would never advise anyone to waive their right to do a pre-contract inspection, I think buyers have to understand that there are limits to what a home inspector can do, and therefore limits on what they can tell you.

A lot of people think the home inspector will either endorse the house, and say it's ok to buy, or say it "fails inspection." But there is no pass or fail. The home inspector basically comes in on a fact-finding mission, pointing out everything he can see that he thinks the buyer, who hired him, should know.

It's very common to get a lengthy report (I've seen 30+ pages), often with pictures, but some sort of written report is a must. Sometimes inspectors points out something that needs to be repaired or should be upgraded, but a lot of times he is just telling the buyer things for their own knowledge (such as the age of various things within the house) and suggesting preventative maintenance.

But an inspector or engineer, no matter how good they are, cannot open up walls to see wiring, piping, etc. They aren't even supposed to move furniture without the homeowner's permission. That's why there are advantages to having an inspection in a vacant house and a house with an unfinished basement (when it comes to things like termite inspection). But there is no way that any inspector could tell you everything about the house, because so many things are not visible for inspection.

Also, inspectors are generalists - If an inspector finds a potential area of concern, he usually can't give a definitive diagnosis of the issue. If the inspector spots something troubling with electrical, he will recommend having an electrician come in to check it out. If he finds a potential structural problem, he may recommend having a structural engineer come in. I've had many instances where a home inspector will raise a red flag, only to have a "specialist" come in and it's nothing.

The other things to remember is that homes on LI are generally older. And a 1950s home was built according to 1950s building codes, and doesn't have to be rebuilt to current codes. So the lack of adequate insulation, as someone pointed out, isn't necessarily something the seller is obligated to take care of or a defect with the home. The inspectors will point it out, so the buyer is aware and can address it, but it doesn't mean the house is "bad." (They usually see lack of insulation when looking in attics or, in capes, knee walls/crawl space).

As a professional realtor, I 100% recommend that every buyer get a home inspection from an inspector they have researched and trust (preferably someone recommended by a friend or family member). But I also try to give my clients perspective on what the inspector can and cannot do, so their expectations are appropriately set. Inspectors can be helpful and can point out a lot of things a buyer should know, but they aren't all-knowing and all-seeing (no x-ray vision!).