Email Elizabethhome inspections
Why There is No Such Thing as a Licensed Home Inspector in California
A licensed home inspector in California does not exist in Sacramento.
It comes as a shock to many people that home inspectors are not licensed in California. When you hear Sacramento Realtors say they are referring a licensed home inspector in California to a home buyer, the agent is using the wrong words. You will not find a licensed home inspector in California. Because the state of California has no licensing division nor requirements for that career.
That guy behind you with the back yard that looks like a place where Sanford and Son run a junk yard, that guy could print business cards and call himself a home inspector. Nothing stopping him. He could be a baker, a shaker, a candlestick maker or she could be a new mom looking for extra income to buy diapers. Doesn’t matter.
There are no requirements apart from the California Trade Practice Act, which prohibits unethical practices. The Practice Act also stops home inspectors from making repairs on any property the home inspector has inspected within the past 12 months.
California is not alone. In fact, according to ASHI, there are 22 states in the country (I counted them) that have no licensing for home inspectors. Our neighbor one state over to the north, the state of Washington, did not license home inspectors either but that changed in 2008. That state now requires 120 hours of classroom, 40 hours of field training and the inspector must pass a written exam. Oregon has licensing requirements for home inspectors, too.
It’s most likely political as to why there is no such animal as a licensed home inspector in California. However, don’t look to trade associations for the answer, although the state tries. Trade associations are lobbyists. I mean, it’s better than a poke in the eye with a stick, but trade associations can issue basic membership in exchange for a fee and passing the trade association’s exam.
According to its website, the American Society of Home Inspectors offers 3 categories of membership:
- An associate level: passing a standards of practice and ethics course
- An inspector level: completing 75 inspections for a fee and passing an exam
- A certified ASHI home inspector level: passing the National Home Inspector Examination and the standards of practice / ethics course, including completing 250 validated home inspections for a fee.
When I look at some of the home inspections I receive on behalf of my Sacramento home sellers, it makes me believe it is time that we pass legislation to license home inspectors in California.
to be continued . . .
Do Not Make the Underwriter ask for Your Home Inspection
Just because buyers obtain a home inspection is no reason to send it to the lender.
I don’t go into my office very often because I work from a virtual and mobile office. But I do make a point of going to my office at least once a week to attend our weekly office meetings. That’s because I pick up new information and can share stuff with my fellow agents. I learned something interesting a few yeas ago that affect agents, sellers and buyers everywhere in the country, not just in Sacramento.
Most agents know that if their seller is not willing to pay for a pest completion, they probably should not include the requirement to pay for a pest report in a contract that is contingent upon financing. That’s because the underwriter will ask to see the pest report and will call for a completion certificate if work is required. It’s one of the reasons why some listing agents worry about a buyer doing a VA loan.
In our California purchase contracts published by C.A.R., there is a place to insert the fact that the buyer is planning to obtain a home inspection. Yup, you know where I’m going with this one. Sure enough, underwriters pick this up and often demand to see the home inspection. Not only do underwriters ask to see the home inspection but the underwriter, as a condition of loan approval, can require that the parties fix a laundry list of defects.
Even though your buyer’s agent might not include the home inspection in the purchase contract, if the seller or listing agent checks the box on the TDS that the home inspection is part of the disclosures, the lender can demand to see it.
I don’t know about every state, but in California a buyer always has the right to perform inspections pursuant to the contract and paragraph 14B1. It might not be a good idea to spell out specifically what those inspections are in the purchase contract. Because no home is perfect. Every home has defects. And if you have to hand over that list of defects to an underwriter, the seller or the buyer might be required to repair them.
I am no longer inserting nor identifying the type of inspections my buyers will perform. There’s no sense in opening a can of worms where enough worms are already crawling.
While Elizabeth is in Cuba, we revisit older blogs published elsewhere.
Do You Know Where to Find a Sacramento Home Inspector?
Your real estate agent knows the best Sacramento home inspectors
Finding a home inspector can be a daunting task for a first-time home buyer in Sacramento. On the one hand, buyers sometimes want more control over a transaction and wonder if the agent’s home inspector is qualified or if he’s getting paid under the table to keep his or her lips zipped about problems, which is completely impossible. Just does not happen. Ever. Not among professional and ethical agents.
On the other hand, the buyer is paying for the home inspector so the buyer wants to hire the best. How do you find the best Sacramento home inspector? For starters, most agents genuinely want their buyers to receive the most complete home inspection possible if, for no other reason, that it lessens an agent’s liability in the transaction, but primarily because they would like the buyer to be informed. You can find a home inspector from your agent.
There are enough things for buyers to freak out over. Buyers freak out whether the drywall was imported from China; yet, I haven’t heard of one single instance in Sacramento where drywall was used from China. They freak out whether there are harmful chemicals used in refinishing wood floors when they aren’t about to lick the floors or eat off them. They freak out about whether the home is built over a sinkhole, yet those types of problems are generally in the foothills, not Sacramento. They especially freak out over asbestos and mold, yet many older homes have traces of asbestos and mold. If there is something weird making the news, they freak out. Human nature.
We specialize in buyer freak outs. We help buyers find a Sacramento home inspector who won’t perpetuate freak outs but will educate.
When I work with buyers, they get a list of experienced and vetted home inspectors from us. They can choose from a guy with 25 years of experience as a home builder, or another home inspector who is an expert witness for the court and prepares his reports (expensive) by long-hand, or another who has been at it for 15 years and has a good bedside manner with buyers. All three are excellent communicators and can explain to a home buyer what their report means. Buyers don’t have any idea. Some inspectors will label a negative a RED FLAG and others will say it needs to be replaced immediately, while another might downplay the importance of a repair item, which can confuse buyers.
The guys who tell a buyer to demand repairs will find their names on an agent’s bad list because that is not within the scope of a home inspector. An inspector is expected to disclose defects. Not to perform the job of a real estate agent. It’s a fine line to walk, keeping a buyer informed yet calm. The home inspectors who get called back again and again do just that.
Asking for a Nose Job When Your Leg is Broken
Can you imagine a client telling her agent she is so frustrated and angry with the buyer and his agent that if they nitpick over one more home inspection repair, cause one more problem, produce any further grief, she will buy a gun and shoot them? I like to think of myself as a problem solver, even better, a problem predictor and fixer of future issues before they sprout, but the thing is we never know what each day might bring to us. There’s always a fresh new hell in real estate. That’s partly what makes working in Sacramento real estate so fascinating.
Several years ago, when most of the real estate sales in Sacramento were short sales, there were no home inspection repairs but, today, it’s a different story. Depending on the attractiveness of the home, its price point and location, there are situations in which the seller can deliver to the buyer a flat-out NO when she asks for a repair after a home inspection. In fact, that’s precisely what a client reminded me yesterday that I had advised her to do when she instead decided to complete the requested repairs. She now must deal with the consequences, and it’s rough. She is joking about the gun, though.
I don’t make decisions for my clients. I advise them as to what I believe is best and, fortunately, I am generally correct. But I’m paid to be correct, and my decades in real estate have added up to enough experience that I should possess some kind of wisdom in the matters of home inspections.
A buyer asked for a series of trivial repairs in another transaction, and I advised the seller to reject that request for repairs. However, I added it was not my decision to make. Her selections in that particular event were to:
- do the repairs
- reject the repairs
- do some and not others
- throw some money at the buyer, or
- any combination thereof.
She decided to give the buyer a little break and credit dollars toward the buyer’s closing costs. It’s not my home, so I can’t make those decisions.
Then, there are the buyers who want beaucoup bucks for imaginary updates who, unfortunately, may overlook necessary repairs because they’re fixated on how they want to remodel the home. They believe the seller should pay for their future remodel. These types of buyers may not understand the home is already priced for its condition. Further, they think if they ask the seller to give them money for a nose job, they can also get more money to fix a broken leg.
Sellers may be sympathetic to fixing a broken leg. They aren’t going to pay for cosmetic surgery. In some ways, they think like an insurance company. In other words, don’t ask for a 50-year warranty tile roof when the roof does’t need to be replaced but subterranean termites are swarming in the basement. The bottom line is buyers should make sure to obtain competent advice before asking a seller to make repairs after a home inspection, because they won’t get it in all cases. Homes are sold AS IS. If they love the home, it won’t much matter.
