Inspecting homes in 2021
The market is currently out of balance, with strong buyer demand and far too few listings to purchase. With fierce competition over limited opportunities, prices continue to climb and practically no winning offer includes an inspection contingency. Today, a competitive buyer needs to inspect a property BEFORE writing an offer, deciding if she feels comfortable waiving her inspection contingency from the start.
You should never buy a home without inspecting it first and this is difficult when most listings are only on the market for 5-6 days! Many inspectors work on Saturdays (not all) but most take Sundays off. If a property is reviewing offers on Monday, you probably need to schedule your pre-inspection for Friday or Saturday, at the latest. Which also means you probably had to view the property before Friday to decide if you like it enough to invest $300-$500 on pre-inspections (with no guarantee of 'winning' the house). Some inspectors offer discounted verbal-only inspections, with no written report provided afterward. This can be a nice way to save $100-$200 and you can still follow the inspector around and take your own notes and pictures. Further, many inspectors are fully booked and you will likely need to call many before finding someone with availability. And then we need to get back into the listing for 3 hours... It's challenging. More below.
Don't forget about inspecting the sewer line, either. A ~$300 sewer scope inspection (separate from the home inspection) illuminates any potential issues with a very important home system. Sewer repairs or replacement requires a lot of digging and it’s rarely a cheap fix. You need to find out what's going on beneath the surface.
What about seller-procured inspection reports?
Over the past year, with almost every listing setting an offer review date, it has become increasingly common for sellers to pre-inspect their home and make the reports available, free of charge, to prospective buyers. This saves buyers considerable up-front money and it gives them an opportunity to easily review an inspector's evaluations before submitting an offer with their inspection contingency waived.
Some inspectors are more thorough and experienced than others, of course, but all are licensed by the state of Washington and should be dependable at pointing out glaring problems or red flags. Even when reports are provided, you are still allowed to pre-inspect the home with your own choice of inspector and it can be valuable to do so when possible. Following your inspector around, listening to their observations and asking follow-up questions, can teach you a whole lot about the property.
But sometimes there just isn't enough time! When you can't inspect a home, personally, it's still greatly beneficial to review a seller-provided inspection report. It provides insight and a better understanding of the home's condition and what work might be required in the near future.
Seller-procured inspections benefit the seller, too.
Most listing agents ask that you tour the property with your client before requesting the inspection reports. If a buyer isn’t interested in the property, they're unlikely to care about the reports. This means that the number of requests can be a strong indicator of buyer interest.
Offering inspection reports helps immensely with a listing’s tour exposure, as well. For the time being, only a few people are allowed to visit a property at the same time. A calendar system called ShowingTime allows agents to book tours and inspections for their clients online and time slots fill up quickly at popular listings. If a buyer wants to pre-inspect a home, her broker needs to find and schedule another 3-hour block of time on ShowingTime to do so. These are now 3 hours when other prospective buyers are not able to tour. So, offering seller-procured inspection reports helps a seller get more potential buyers into the home before the offer review date and it provides more of those buyers a chance to comfortably write an offer without conducting an inspection of their own. Win-win.
On Redfin etc., you probably won't be able to see if a seller-procured inspection report is available but we can easily check for you on the MLS.
Time is of the essence
Keep in mind, especially when seller-procured inspections are NOT available, it's important to tour intriguing properties as quickly as possible when they pop up on the market. If you love it, we may need ample time to inspect it properly before the offer review date. Hopefully, though, seller-procured inspections will become even more of a norm and the trend will last long into the future.
It's difficult to be a buyer right now but it's not impossible! We're here to help.