New Construction Mistake

Do I need inspection on a new construction house? YES! The reality is that people make mistakes, I can tell you hundreds of stories on how an inspection saved buyer a ton of money. In a hot market when buyers do everything they can to buy a house, they waive inspection. At the end I will give you a few ideas on how you can buy a house in a hot market waive inspection and still protect yourself. But before I do that here is a quick story, I was representing a buyer on a new construction house, a very nice home. The house was built by a reliable builder and all of the codes and were met. The city inspector was inspecting the property throughout the process, not to mention that an inspector hired by the buyer was inspecting the property at every stage of the building process. At the final inspection 4 days before closing the inspector found out that the sewer was sloped backwards. This house was on a slab sub-floor, the house was 100% move in ready and the certificate of occupancy was already issued. After the builder looked into it, he came to the conclusion that the concrete guy accidentally removed some of the pipe supports, causing the sewer line to move. A $12000 mistake that my buyer avoided because of a simple $250 sewer inspection. The question is, how do you protect yourself and still have a some sort of inspection on the property. 

1. Ask your agent to find an inspector that is willing to do a walk through inspection. This means that the agent, buyer and the inspector will walk the house and do a visible inspection with no report. But at least you will know the major issues of that house. This option is ofter cheaper than a full inspection with a report.

2. If you really like the house and you are willing to "go and get it", you can do a pre inspection. A pre inspection means that you can do a full inspection and get a full report. This ofter makes you a stronger buyer, because you tell the seller "hey I know everything that is wrong with this house and I am ok with it". A seller that has a good real estate agent will recommend that they should work with that particular buyer.