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Buying and Selling Homes

Multiple Home Inspections on Million Dollar Home

9 years ago

We are about to buy a million dollar home built in the 60's. Usually we only have a general inspection done on the home. We got burned the last time with a realtor referred inspector who never found mold growing in a crawl space.
On this go around, due to the price of the home we want to have:

General Inspection

Heating/AC Inspection

Electrical Inspection

Pool Inspection

Roof Inspection

Termine Inspection

So, 6 different people inspecting our home -- all specialized in one area with the exception of the general inspector.

Anyone have any advice or experience on performing multiple inspections on a high end home? Am I missing an inspection?

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Comments (5)

jewelisfabulous
9 years ago
Fireplace/chimney -- big expense if the flue is falling apart. Plumbing? Septic?
hollynla
9 years ago
I like this idea myself, and plan to use this logic on the house we will buy next. However, as long as you are being realistic about the inspection reports since it is a house from the 60's. I'm sure there will be long reports of "issues" that aren't necessarily issues or not big things. In other words, you know you aren't buying a brand new house (and they can have long inspection reports as well) and there will be lots of little things.
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I kinda know what you're getting at - around here its a hot market and a lot of houses with what's euphemistically called "deferred maintenance" . (I call it letting your place deteriorate and become a dump.) Sellers of these dumps, often investor slumlord types, often seem to try to get top dollar based on what a renovated, well maintained house is worth and I wanna tell them "uh, no the person WHO DOES THE WORK should get the sweat equity, NOT YOU!!!!" Still the bottom line as others have said is - what is it worth to you? What would let you get the house and feel like you got if not a great deal, at least one that you're OK with? A good inspector should be able to come up with various options and ball park numbers for how you can address issues - he/she should be able to tell you costs for DIY as well as hiring someone. I don't think your under any obligation to explain or itemize costs for the seller - just give a lump sum and put it all under the heading of "necessary repairs" The inspection contingency is there just for this reason IMHO - for you to get a closer look and spot things you would not have otherwise seen and you've established there are a significant amount of those. Its not like youre just trying to whittle down the price with some lame excuse. The inspection has revealed more things and now you're repair budget looks much different than it did. What you were willing to accept before the inspection doesn't necessarily apply to what the priorities look like on your repair list now. Just do the math and see what number you come up with, decide if you want to bother with it or not, and then decide what price reduction would make it worth your while. Good luck!
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User
9 years ago
Yeah, as a seller I echo what hollynia wrote. I get inspected today. The way I look at it you can inspect all you want but its not a new house and get this done quickly because I have other buyers in line. You only get so many days to get it all done. If there's something big I will fix it but I am not going to do a hundred tiny little things.
lascatx
9 years ago
I've had all but one of those, but all started with Structural/mechanical and pest (termite and mold) plus a pool on the one home that had a pool. The others were scheduled after the S/M noted issues. I don't know that roof and HAVC would be needed unless the general inspection noted problems, but with the age of the home and the money you are investing, it isn't a lot of money to feel more secure and sleep better at might.
marie_ndcal
9 years ago
Knowing what state you are in, county or city might help. You might go to your local building dept and talk to them. Even though most cannot (and should not) recommend a inspector, some do have information who NOT to use. Ex: Los Angeles county does what they call a occupancy inspection done by their building inspectors which are trained in most of what you cover. When we sold, the inspector picked by the buyer was at first reluctant to go around the property as it was rural mountain property. DH was a retired LA county inspector, introduced himself, ( I was not evolved), as we had built the house ourselves. Within a short period of time many of the questions were answered and we only had a few minor things to correct and the inspector was very grateful and appreciated any information DH gave him. In fact he thought he might look into changing jobs. Check the internet to find out more about home inspectors, some fair, but many not trained well as many are general contractors. Just do your homework.

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