Home Inspections Kill Deals

Four Reasons Why Home Inspections Kill Deals:

buyer, seller and estate agent home inspection for houses — A buyer, a seller or an estate agent blames the house and the home inspector when a house sale falls through! Why?

A buyer may cancel a transaction after a home inspection! Sellers and agents may be tempted to blame an overzealous home inspector when a transaction falls apart after the inspection of some houses.

But there’s more to that situation than meets the eye.

Estate professionals know there are many ways that deals can fall apart, from credit, financing, appraisals to plain cold feet. But certainly, one of the more common deal killers is the home inspection.

But it doesn’t have to be!

Houses and Home Inspectors Do Not Kill Deals

Four home inspection situations lead to a cancelled transaction. Two things which are not on this list are the house and the home inspector. Some estate agents blame the home or the home inspector. However, let’s consider what happens in these situations.

Problems are caused when the home inspection report significantly alters the buyer’s expectations about what they thought they were buying. The client may say, “Gee, I thought I was buying a well-maintained home, but now that we have looked closely, I see the house requires a lot more maintenance than we expected”.

Therefore, the cancellation has everything to do with the client’s expectations coming into the inspection! Agents may wish that the home inspector had been less forthcoming about the condition of the house but this is not the solution! The solution to this problem is buyers having more realistic expectations before they sign the contract. My website and blog attempt to teach people skills that will help them look at houses and evaluate risk so they are more prepared to make an offer on the right house.

Here are the top four reasons buyers cancel a deal after the inspection.

1) Unprepared buyers

There are no classes in university or high school to teach people how houses work or where the risk lies in a residential building. Even professional estate agents have little or no training to help them understand how to look at houses and identify issues. A new generation of homebuyers, many of whom who did not grow up working on their houses with their parents, compounds this problem.

31/12/201813/05/2020

Walk-Through Inspections

About Walk-through Inspections

A walk-through inspection is not a comprehensive home inspection with a report! It is a much more informal inspection than my usual property inspections. As a result, I perform a visual inspection the same as for a comprehensive inspection of the home/building and provide you with comments summarizing my observations. However, I do not provide you with a written report with photographs as I would do with a comprehensive inspection.

Most Affordable Inspection

A walk-through is also very affordable. This type of inspection is mainly for a client who does not (at this point) want a full home inspection. Because a walk-through inspection is less formal, I do not adhere to the InterNACHI Standards of Practice. You will need to be present at the walkthrough because I do not generate a written report. I communicate my observations orally to you.

If you cannot attend the inspection

However, if you can’t be present during the walk-through, I will generate a checklist during the walk-through by using specialised software for your information.

Agreement

However, we will need to have a Walk-through Inspection Agreement with each other. This is to protect me against liability as a result of deviating from the requirements of the InterNACHI Standards of Practice.

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THE HOME DETECTIVE » buyers inspection

14/12/201809/02/2021

Consumers and the Property Practitioners Bill

Has the Property Practitioners Bill missed the point?

Are consumers offered more protection?

Parliament passed the new Property Practitioners Bill on Tuesday 4^th December 2018. This bill has been on the cards before 2011!

The Bill was supposed to finally provide buyers (consumers) more protection in the secondary housing market.

However, it appears the Minister of Human Settlements and his staff and the National Assembly totally missed the point!

Here is that portion of the Bill:

CHAPTER 10 CONSUMER PROTECTION

Mandatory disclosure form

A property practitioner –
1. may not accept a mandate unless the seller or lessor of the property has provided him or her with a fully completed and signed mandatory disclosure in the prescribed form; and
2. must provide a copy of the completed mandatory disclosure form to a prospective purchaser or lessee who intends to make an offer for the purchase or lease of a property.
The completed mandatory disclosure form signed by all relevant parties must be attached to any agreement for the sale or lease of property and forms an integral part of that agreement, but if such a disclosure form was not completed, signed or attached, the agreement must be interpreted as if no defects or deficiencies of the property were disclosed to the purchaser.
A property practitioner who fails to comply with subsection (1) may be held liable by any affected consumer.
Nothing in this section prevents the Authority from taking action against a property practitioner or imposing an appropriate sanction.
Nothing in this section prevents a consumer, for his or her own account, from undertaking a private property inspection to confirm the state of the property before finalising the transaction.

This is the protection this Bill offers to buyers (consumers) who buy properties from sellers.

So what has changed? Continue reading “Consumers and the Property Practitioners Bill”

26/07/201825/09/2023

Home Warranty

Is a Home Warranty worth the money you pay?

A new way to “protect” home buyers and enrich insurance companies is available in South Africa in the form of a “home warranty” which will protect home buyers against future defects for 2 years!

The “Voetstoots Clause”

Thousands of homes are sold without any guarantee that the homes are free of defects. These homes are all older homes sold with the “voetstoots” clause in the “offer to purchase”. The Consumer Protection Act does not protect you, the buyer, in this case. Selling his home is not the seller’s normal course of business.

The seller’s disclosure is required to declare all known defects. Can you trust that document?

I would not!

You have to prove that the seller was aware of the defects and did not disclose them!

The defects could be maintenance issues or latent defects that the seller knows about, but that are hidden from view. Such defects can cost a lot of money to fix. Furthermore, the legal process is expensive and frustrating if there’s any doubt that the seller did not disclose known defects.

About the home warranty

An insurance company is offering a “home warranty” to protect you from issues and defects for two years. In addition, the premiums are determined on an individual basis according to the insurer. However, the cost of this home warranty ranges from R12,000 for a one million Rand home to R28,000.00 for a five million Rand home!

The seller can include the cover as a feature of the sale, or the buyer may insist upon the home warranty as a condition of the sale. In both cases, payment for the warranty forms part of the offer to purchase.

There are costs like certificates of compliance, levies and rates clearances, bond cancellation fees and the estate agent’s commission on the sale that all come off the selling price. Then there are the costs the seller has of buying a new property and moving to it as well!

I can only wonder how many sellers will want to cough up such a large amount of money.

This leaves you, the buyer, to protect yourself by buying into the home warranty!

But what does the “home warranty” work and protect you against?

The key benefits of the home warranty are a cover against:

Roof, structure or workmanship defects.
Defects with foundation design, structure or workmanship.
Faulty electrics, plumbing, drainage, sewerage and gas installations.

If you have a bond on the property you want to buy, your bank will insist you have a homeowner’s insurance. Furthermore, except for the foundation and structure, homeowners insurance will cover most of the defects mentioned above. This includes flood water or storm damage to the structure.

In addition, the insurer’s home warranty includes a property inspection beforehand!

Why buy a home warranty?

A home warranty will provide a professional inspection report that lists any exclusions or defects so you know what you are dealing with when it comes to negotiation time.

18/07/201810/08/2019

100 things to do in South Africa

A very interesting and informative website

I thought I would travel to a different topic for a change!

I suggest you have a close look at the website called Jen Reviews. Amongst other very interesting sections, it has a travel section with the “100 Best Things to do in South Africa“!

I have been to most of the entertaining and interesting things in South Africa. However, I now see that there are some that I have missed! Before I left for my trip, thankfully, I went through multiple reviews of various products, as doing that really helped me grab all the best essential products or the trip.

The Swartberg Pass, Ukhuthula in Brits, the daisies in the Namaqua National Park and Tswaing Soutpan Meteor Crater are a few that I still must visit.

Have a look at Jen’s website. You will find places in that list that you will need to put on your bucket list!

There’s a lot more than just travel!

Continue reading “100 things to do in South Africa”