Unless you have a taste for private airplanes or very expensive cars, buying a house may be the largest financial transaction you’ll ever make.
Yet many buyers agree to pay thousands of dollars over a period of decades for a house they know as much about as the landing gear of a Gulfstream jet or the fuel injection system of a Lamborghini Diablo. There are no obvious flaws, so they sign the deal.
The buyer may learn later that the roof needs work or the heat pump is an inefficient antique. The house just got more expensive.
More and more, buyers and real estate agents are bringing home inspectors into house deals. Inspectors charge a fee-usually a couple of hundred dollars-for an objective evaluation of all aspects of a house.
“It’s just the comfort factor,” said Al Atkison, vice president of Minchew Home Inspection Service in Phoenix. “When they sign the contract and know there’s nothing wrong with the house, it makes it worth it.”
Weldon Minchew, the company’s president, said the area’s home inspection business is expanding quickly. He started his company five years ago and says it has grown 15 percent every year.
Real estate agents have had a lot to do with the growth of home inspections. Minchew said more agents ask for inspections to protect themselves, as well as the principals in the deal.
Connie Green, president of the Phoenix Board of Realtors, said an inspector gives the buyer an expert opinion of the property.
“I think it’s a favorable part of the marketplace, and I see it in use more and more,” she said. “I think it’s showing the consumer is taking responsibility and saying, `I want to check this out.’ The seller’s saying, `Fine.’ That works.”
Most of Minchew’s business is resale houses. He does some new-home inspections and performs “maintenance inspections” for people who just want to check the condition of their house.
Joe Stark, owner of Stark Inspection Service, estimated that 60 percent of his business is new-home inspections. He checks out houses when they are being framed and during the final walk-through with the buyer.
The Phoenix area’s housing boom is putting pressure on builders to meet construction schedules. Stark said some buyers are worried about builders cutting corners.
“I’ve never found a builder yet who was a cheat,” Stark said. “But they are so busy, the superintendent is so overworked, that the builder is production-oriented, they have lost quality control.”
Most of the problems Stark finds are cosmetic. Sometimes, though, he discovers walls that are not square, patio columns not perfectly vertical, plant shelves not level, and poor finishing work.
Stark warns people about things such as outdated plumbing or a worn-out heat pump even if the system still works.
“Real estate people don’t like us for that,” he said. “It may ruin a deal.”
Home inspectors are not licensed, but many belong to the American Society of Home Inspectors, an industry group that prescribes a code of ethics for members.
Gene McQueen, owner of an Amerispec National Home Inspection Service franchise, said the code prohibits members from doing contracting work on a home they inspect or referring contractors to inspection customers.
“We’re totally neutral,” he said. “We’re there to give them as much information as we can. If we see a problem, we’ll point it out. Disclosure is the name of the game.”
An inspector will take a virtual X-ray of a house, examining unseens such as electrical systems, plumbing and insulation, in addition to the roof, exterior walls, the foundation, pools and spas, and the patio. McQueen finds a lot of weekend handyman work that wasn’t done right.
Some homeowners are edgy about inspectors checking their houses. They think they’re out to make them look dishonest or secretive.
Minchew, though, said owners shouldn’t resist having a buyer bring in an inspector.
“There shouldn’t be any opposition to it at all,” he said. “To me, it’s good business to know.”
