A few years ago, I used to do a clock-hours credit presentation on home inspection. It was a simple course, designed to teach realtors the basics as to what a home inspector is looking for. This was approved by the state real estate division and was presented under the auspices of Bellingham Technical College. I have printed below the final slide from that presentation: Things a realtor can do to facilitate a smooth home inspection. This is a point that cannot be "preached" too often. At almost every home inspection that I perform, there is some part of the home that is totally inaccessible due to storage and belongings. I have had the sellers tell me to go ahead and move anything I want. They say this as they are running out the door and I am stuck with no attic access, no electric panel access and blockades in front of most of what I need to see. Storage -- everybody has to have it, and when sellers are moving, certainly, they are in the process of packing and need space. But it is not part of the inspector's job to move massive amounts of storage. Often the storage is heavy or fragile and breaking a glass vase or a lamp is not a risk most of us are willing to take. Often, due to such storage, these areas are excluded from the inspection and someone has to pay for an inspector to come back when the excluded areas are accessible. In the spirit of improving the situation, one step at a time, I am re-posting the last slide in that presentation for realtors. It is good advice and it would be helpful if seller's agents would pass this on to their clients. Thanks for stopping by, Steven L. Smith
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I once declined a listing because of the ummm "storage" all over the house. I told the owners if I were to take the listing they would need to rent a couple of large storage spaces to "house" their collections in order for me to market the house. You couldn't walk in the place and I imagine it would have been an inspectors nightmare. Master bath tub was the location for "stuffed animal" collection, basement had toy cars, coins, stamps and they had millions, maybe billions of post cards housed in an old library's card catalog file. Oh and they owned every movie sold on VHS. I'm not sure if it ever sold, I know I never showed it. They explained to me their "things" were too valuable to be "stored" outside their home.
Hi Steven,
These are some exellent tips and it would be nice to go over this in advance with the sellers. Buyers agents dread the inspection time!
Thanks,
Tom Davis
Then there was the time I found the rattlesnake in the refer. That was fun.
Are you sure it was a rattlesnake? It might have been Green Mamba looking for Nutsy.
By the way, Nutsy's mother is looking for him. The IRS keeps calling Mrs. Wallenda asking for his whereabouts.
I always felt bad as a BA when our inspector was faced with a mountain of junk to hurdle or move. I sometimes think some sellers might do this just because they think some items won't get checked.
They wouldn't do that, would they? :)
Josh Sanders
Founder, Shiloh Street
Josh,
I am certain that you are onto that with some people, others not.
That photo looks like the garage I was in yesterday. The house was no better. All the obstacles added time to the inspection which is another consequence of mountains of "stuff".
Good advice Steven. This is something we are challenged with every day as home inspectors.