Q I’m contemplating selling my home and I want to know what inspections I will be responsible for. I am on a septic system, which I have emptied and cleaned every three years. How often do I have to have this done? I don’t want to do it now and then have to do it again because of the terms of a sale.
A.H., Everett
A As the seller, you are not required to pay for any professional inspections of your home. However, depending on the type of financing used by the buyer, there may be certain types of inspections required by the lender that are customarily paid for by the seller. But again, that doesn’t mean the seller must pay these costs, especially in today’s hot housing market where there are more buyers than sellers. Everything is negotiable.
For example, if a Federal Housing Administration (FHA) appraiser is concerned about apparent damage to the home from insects or dry rot, he or she may require a pest inspection prior to closing. There is no law that says the seller must pay this expense, but it typically falls to the seller since it is considered a cost of selling the home. But, as I said, we have a seller’s market in most areas, so you may be able to pass that cost on to the buyers.
The same goes for the septic system. If the buyer uses an FHA loan to purchase your home, you will typically be required to have an inspection of the septic system done by the local health agency.
Again, that cost is usually borne by the seller, but there is no absolute requirement. However, you must keep in mind that an FHA loan will not close without the health inspection, so somebody must pay for it.
The septic system rules are more liberal for “conventional” loans. As long as you have receipts proving that your septic tank has been pumped within the past three years, that is usually good enough for the buyer to get loan approval from a conventional lender. You would not have to have an inspection performed by the health department.
If the buyer wants a full-blown professional inspection of the entire house, that is the buyer’s expense because it is not required as a condition of closing the loan. However, sometimes sellers will pay for an inspection of their home so they can accurately report any defects on the Form 17 property condition disclosure statement.
State law requires home sellers to fully disclose any known defects to prospective buyers. While many sellers are reluctant to disclose anything that might have a negative impact on their home’s value, real estate agents and attorneys have long urged full disclosure as the best defense against potential lawsuits from unhappy buyers.
It’s much easier and cheaper to solve problems prior to closing than to battle it out in court after a defect is discovered. It certainly is not required, but some sellers choose to pay for a full inspection of their home to eliminate any possibility that they might be accused of withholding information.
Keep in mind that most homebuyers understand there is no such thing as a perfect house.
They just want honest answers so they can make an informed decision on the biggest investment of their lives. In today’s competitive housing market, in which there are often multiple purchase offers on a single house, some homebuyers are waiving their right to an inspection in order to encourage the sellers to pick their offer over the competing offers.
This does not relieve the seller of his or her obligation to disclose known defects in the property, but it eliminates the potential problem of negotiating repairs of any additional defects that may be discovered in the buyer’s home inspection report.
Mail your real estate questions to Steve Tytler, The Herald, P.O. Box 930, Everett, WA 98206. Fax questions to Tytler at 425-339-3435, or e-mail him at economy@heraldnet.com.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
