We just got our inspection report back on a house were trying to buy. 48 pages, about 35 items flagged ranging from minor stuff to some bigger concerns (aging HVAC, some electrical issues, grading problems). I thought the inspector was thorough and professional. But our buyers agent seemed annoyed and said the inspector was being 'too picky' and that half of these things are normal for a house this age (built 1998). She keeps saying we shouldnt scare the sellers with too many repair requests. Is she right that the inspector went overboard or is she just trying to close the deal? I cant tell anymore.
4 Comments
Inspector here. 35 items on a 25+ year old house is not remotely excessive. Thats actually pretty normal. A thorough inspection SHOULD find that many items on a house from 1998. Your agent calling it too picky is a red flag about the agent, not the inspector. The inspector works for YOU. The agent has a financial interest in the deal closing. Those are very different motivations.
thats kind of what i was afraid of. shes been great otherwise but this feels like she cares more about closing than about whether were making a good decision
Your agent isn't necessarily wrong that you shouldn't send ALL 35 items to the seller as repair requests. Thats actually good advice. But calling the inspector too picky for documenting them is different. The inspector should document everything. You and your agent should then decide which items to actually negotiate on. Theres a difference between "the inspector shouldnt have flagged this" and "we dont need to ask the seller to fix this." Make sure your agent understands which one she means.
i had almost the exact same experience last year. Agent was pushing us to only ask about 3 things from a 40 item report. We pushed back and asked for credits on the 8 biggest items. Seller agreed to 5 of them. Saved us about $4,000. Trust the inspector. They have zero reason to pad the report. Your agent makes money when you close. Im not saying your agent is a bad person but their incentives dont perfectly align with yours here.