Tuesday, July 08, 2008
Inspecting Foreclosures
Half to two-thirds of the inspections HouseMaster is performing in the Phoenix area, as well as northern Arizona, are foreclosures. Foreclosures take HouseMaster on average a third longer to inspect, because of the general rough shape that they’re in. Often times, they are vacant and have the attendant problems of getting the utilities back on in time for the inspection. Sometimes the plumbing pipes and valves have become immovable or broken due to prolonged time being shut off or “winterized”. Administratively, our local HouseMaster office must make three times as many phone calls to insure a foreclosure appointment is on and the house is ready for inspection. Banks are impersonal and do not take the lead on getting the utilities turned on. Banks hire listing real estate agents who normally take on a huge load of foreclosure properties to sell, and thus have no vested personal interest in the seller whom he normally would have to please and with whom he would have to sustain an ongoing rapport and relationship into the out-years.
Buyers need to understand they are “on their own” to a great extent in purchasing these types of properties. It is critical the buyer hire a seasoned veteran real estate agent and obtain a comprehensive and detailed home inspection of the property. Oh, the things we FIND on a home inspection of a foreclosure! The buyer needs to make sure his buyer’s agent is the type of agent who wants ALL the data on the house and is not afraid to hear the “bad news”. Sometimes we later hear that the buyer didn’t buy the house HouseMaster inspected for them, so they call us again to have us inspect another. This is better than buying the Money Pit and being very sorry one did. If the buyer’s agent negatively reacts to this process because the inspector has “found things” and supposedly “broken the deal”, then the buyer needs to find another agent.
HouseMaster has seen extreme examples of wear and tear in foreclosures to the extent of walls being bashed in. Background: Some tenants may have been paying the rent on time, but are forced to leave because their landlord couldn’t afford the house payments. This makes them angry. Some owners rip out everything conceivable and take it with them. One of my inspectors became extremely ill in April. He couldn’t work for a few days because he was so sick. Normally he is a health food eater and is trim and fit. In fact, he was the 2007 HouseMaster Inspector of the Year for all of North America. His doctor ran all kinds of tests and blood work and treated him with an exceptionally heavy dose of antibiotics to cure him. He and his doctor could only ascertain that he’d “picked up something” while inspecting foreclosures. It is getting so that you need to wear a “bunny suit” to inspect some of these foreclosures.
Buyers need to understand they are “on their own” to a great extent in purchasing these types of properties. It is critical the buyer hire a seasoned veteran real estate agent and obtain a comprehensive and detailed home inspection of the property. Oh, the things we FIND on a home inspection of a foreclosure! The buyer needs to make sure his buyer’s agent is the type of agent who wants ALL the data on the house and is not afraid to hear the “bad news”. Sometimes we later hear that the buyer didn’t buy the house HouseMaster inspected for them, so they call us again to have us inspect another. This is better than buying the Money Pit and being very sorry one did. If the buyer’s agent negatively reacts to this process because the inspector has “found things” and supposedly “broken the deal”, then the buyer needs to find another agent.
HouseMaster has seen extreme examples of wear and tear in foreclosures to the extent of walls being bashed in. Background: Some tenants may have been paying the rent on time, but are forced to leave because their landlord couldn’t afford the house payments. This makes them angry. Some owners rip out everything conceivable and take it with them. One of my inspectors became extremely ill in April. He couldn’t work for a few days because he was so sick. Normally he is a health food eater and is trim and fit. In fact, he was the 2007 HouseMaster Inspector of the Year for all of North America. His doctor ran all kinds of tests and blood work and treated him with an exceptionally heavy dose of antibiotics to cure him. He and his doctor could only ascertain that he’d “picked up something” while inspecting foreclosures. It is getting so that you need to wear a “bunny suit” to inspect some of these foreclosures.
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