My partner and I had a discussion today after one of the deals we had feel thru (for financial reasons) and another buyer was looking at the house. The buyers asked about some structural issues which we knew had been addressed in a prior inspection that were a non issue. Of course we only had what we heard as something to go on (the engineer wanted us to hear all he had to say). And we said it is too bad that the report was not there for us to refer to when answering such questions. Now I know the previous buyer paid for this and therefore has the right to own the report, but we were wondering if there would come time in the future that this report would be required to be available to all to see or maybe have a copy include with the papers.

I know some seller will have pre inspection, but I am sure buyers will not believe that is all there is and request their own inspector, but it all does seem waste when a house seen and bid on by multiple buyers and when the deal falls thru that report goes to waste.


Also on a second issue: a home that is sold as is, aside from the things that are required by law to be corrected, what are the options of the buyer or even the seller if some other things ( like needing regrading or a brick facade is coming lose but the integrity of the structure underneath is not affected) comes up?

The report and all the information included in the report belongs to the person who paid for it. Whether they decide to share is up to them.

AS-IS property listings tells me that the seller either has never been an occupant (bank owned, trust-held, etc) or it is a distressed seller. Any required repairs are negotiable, more so in the first case and highly unlikely in the second case.

That depends on what state one is in.

Here in California any inspection reports for the buyer "shall" (a legal word) be provided at no charge to the sellers. It then becomes part of the disclosure process in this state. As much as we home inspectors in California want our reports to be confidential documents which either the buyer or the home inspector own, it just simply isn't so, notwithstanding anything in our home inspection contracts with our buyers. See the Leko decision from January 2001.

There's one more definition of "as is" here in San Diego: "I don't care what's wrong with the house. If it's not legally required to be fixed (working smoke alarms, seismic strapping at water heaters), I'm not fixing it. So don't send me a list of requested repairs because they're not going to get done."

I learned something new today
Thank you Russell.

[quote=RealtorBarbaraT] I know some seller will have pre inspection, but I am sure buyers will not believe that is all there is and request their own inspector, but it all does seem waste when a house seen and bid on by multiple buyers and when the deal falls thru that report goes to waste. [/quote]

But the report does not go to waste. It was used by the buyer that passed on the deal to determine it was not the right choice for them. Home inspections are a snap shot in time. Often sellers will make changes and repairs to a home based on input from agents and the cancelled offer. The last home inspection is no longer valid because the house has changed condition.

Different home inspectors will find different defects due to training, experience, and diligence. Multiple inspections, and consequently reports, will provide a more indepth picture of the property. If 2 buyers hired me to inspect the same home, one in the morning and one in the afternoon, I would inspect the house twice and write 2 reports. It is likely I would find additional items at the afternoon inspection that I overlooked in the morning.