The Truth About Home Inspections... Plus I'm Reading Your Wildest Comments

In Episode 8 of The Fitze Is Right, Maryland realtor Jen Fitze breaks down the entire home inspection process from start to finish — and then reads and responds to the wildest comments from social media about previous episodes.

First, Jen walks through exactly what happens during a home inspection — when it occurs, what inspectors check, what they're NOT allowed to check, and how much it costs. She reveals that inspectors can't move furniture, can't see inside walls, and can't look under carpet. Your inspection is a snapshot of two hours on one random day — nothing more.

She breaks down the different types of inspections most buyers don't know they can get — radon, chimney, pool, well and septic, environmental — and explains why each one matters. She shares the story of the worst inspection she's ever seen: a row home in Dundalk with a 100-page report and 12 pages of repairs. The buyers still went through with it.

Then Jen gets personal. She reveals that her own house had a failed radon test and a broken window, the sellers refused to fix either one, and the listing agent threatened to put it back on the market. She's been in the house for 12 years and still hasn't fixed the radon. "It's a when we sell problem."

In the What Your Agent Won't Tell You segment, Jen drops a bomb: not all agents want a thorough inspector. Some agents want the deal to go through with no hiccups, so they recommend inspectors they know won't flag everything. Jen's philosophy? "It's way more important for me to lose a deal than for you to move into a problem house."

Then the episode takes a turn as Jen reads and responds to comments from social media — including one buyer who found a video of the seller on the news talking about being scared of flooding, another who discovered a photoshopped fire in listing photos that led to the photographer being held liable, and a person who backed out of a $360,000 condo eight years ago that's now worth $500,000. "I'm still homeless," they wrote.

In this episode you'll learn: → The full home inspection process from start to finish → What inspectors can and can't do — including what they're not allowed to touch → The #1 red flag that means walk away immediately → What radon is, why it's dangerous, and why most homeowners don't know they have it → Why not all agents want a thorough inspector → How to research and choose the right inspector → What a CLUE report is and why every buyer should pull one → Real stories from viewers about inspection nightmares and disclosure disasters

New episodes weekly. Follow Jen Fitze on social media for daily real estate tips.

Thanks for listening to The Fitze Is Right with Jen Fitze... the real estate podcast that tells you what your agent won't.

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Got a real estate horror story of your own? We want to hear it. Send your story to @jenniferfitzecompassrealestate and Jen might read and react to it live on a future episode.

CONNECT WITH JEN: All socials @jenniferfitzecompassrealestate

WORK WITH JEN: Buying or selling a home in Maryland? Jen has over 20 years of experience helping families in Harford County, Baltimore County, and beyond. Reach out at jensellsmd@gmail.com

Transcript

A Buyer Found a Video of the Seller Online

SPEAKER_02 0:00

The worst inspection I ever had is a road home in Gondoff, and I distinctly remember it was over a hundred pages of the inspection report, about 12 pages of the pair request.

SPEAKER_00 0:10

And they went through with the house?

SPEAKER_02 0:11

They did. Seller didn't fix everything. They fixed some things and not all things, but yes, they did move forward. Welcome to The Fight to

Intro: The Truth About Home Inspections

SPEAKER_02 0:20

the Right, where I tell you real stories about real estate deals and all the things buyers, sellers, and even agents should know about before it's too late. Today we're gonna walk through the home inspection process, actual home inspection, and some of the worst things that could possibly happen there. And then at the end, we are going to debunk some of the comments or address some of the comments that were happened on social media on

The Full Inspection Process Explained

SPEAKER_02 0:50

previous episodes in regards to the inspection. So you're gonna want to stay tuned for that.

SPEAKER_01 0:54

So walk me through almost like a story of a fake buyer. What's the typical process of seeing a home, getting under offer, getting the inspection? What typically happens?

SPEAKER_02 1:04

So when you a buyer goes under contract, they get their offer accepted, and in the contract of sale, there are there's a deadline for inspection. So you have your inspection timeframe, and in that inspection timeframe, you have to have all of your inspections done, all your reports in, and then a request to the sellers of what repairs you want. So it's very important that you stay abreast of all of the those time frames because if you miss out on that, your SOO, right? You schedule your inspections right away, and there's different kinds of inspections. You have your home inspection, which is like your structural mechanical inspection, you have a radon test, you have termites, you know, that inspection, you could have a pool inspection, you could have well inseptic, you could have environmental, like if there's a buried, you know, propane tank or you know, something of that nature. Um, but there's all different kinds of inspections, and they all have different time frames for like how long it takes for the reports to come back. So when you have your inspection and you're meeting with the inspector, they're gonna have you sign off on this form saying, hey, this is just the situ the condition of the house as I see it today. Like, I don't know what happened last week, I don't know what's gonna happen next week, but as of today, this is you know what it is. It even has in the report like what the weather is, like if it's windy, if it's rainy, what the temperature is. I think people don't understand that it just a snippet of two hours of a random day of what that you know, what they're what they're gonna find. So, and they're gonna go through and they're gonna go roof all the way down into the basement, they're gonna open up every window, they're gonna check every outlet, they're gonna run every single appliance and run the sinks, you know, make sure there's no leaking. They're they're gonna check everything. They're gonna they have moisture meters, check the walls, but they can't look inside the walls, right? They can't look inside, they can't look under the floor or under the carpet, and they're not even allowed to move people's furniture out of the way. Like if a couch is covering something, they can't, they're not allowed to move it. Why? I guess just in case they break it or something. I mean, I've had inspectors like try to get to panel boxes in the basement, and there's so much storage and crap back in there that they couldn't even get to it. Like we have to come back. Like the sellers have to clean this out before it's crazy we'll even look at it.

SPEAKER_01 3:30

So typically for someone who has no clue about the process, what is the when does it when do inspections happen?

SPEAKER_02 3:36

It's absolutely inspections happen you uh after your contract has been your offer's been accepted. So usually within a week to 10 days after that, you have all of your inspections done. So it's pretty quick.

SPEAKER_01 3:46

So you're not you don't get an inspection unless you know your offer's been accepted, you found your house, you're moving in if everything goes well. Right. Because they're expensive.

SPEAKER_02 3:54

Yeah. I mean, an average inspection with the termite and radon, it's gonna cost you seven or eight hundred dollars. Yeah. And then you have to get a well and septic, that's another brand.

SPEAKER_01 4:02

Does the inspection give someone an opportunity to like not close on the deal? Like, what is the let's say the inspection comes back and it's like this house has a million things wrong with it. Your offer's already been accepted. What are your options at that point?

SPEAKER_02 4:16

So your options are to either you can either walk away, like hey, we're just we're just walking, like here's our release, just based on the inspection report. And you're still allowed to do that, even though yes, they just changed it a few years ago before it was like you had different addendums, so depending on what addendum was in the offer. They can move forward anyway without even negotiating or asking, or they can make a you know a list of repairs and send it to the seller and say, Hey, like we want this done, or we want a credit at settlement for and we'll just do it all later. Um to fix whatever's wrong. To fix whatever's wrong. Sometimes that works out better, like if there's something like you know, you there's a sink is leaking, but you want to be able to choose the faucet that's being replaced.

SPEAKER_01 5:01

You would want to fix it.

SPEAKER_02 5:02

You would want to do it yourself because you don't want to get them to just go that get the $60 faucet from Home Depot, yeah, and put it in there. So you have to all of this is like really it's super quick. And at the same time, you're doing lending and financing stuff. So you're pretty overwhelmed.

SPEAKER_01 5:19

And what would you is there a route you recommend, or it's just based off of what someone wants? Like, would you recommend them to ask the seller to repair all these things?

SPEAKER_02 5:26

Depends on what it is. I mean, if it's anything electrical, I always ask the seller to fix because that's obviously a big liability. Um, plumbing stuff, I usually ask them to fix as well. And I always ask them to use license contractors. And then once we get the invoice, the receipt, we have to we like verify that our license is active. So they you don't get another inspection afterwards, but they have to provide receipts of receipts, and you can actually, I have had buyers bring the inspector back to make when it's like a laundry list of repairs, I've had them come back with the inspector, and obviously the inspector's gonna charge for that, but come back and just do like a just check the repairs that were done to make sure they were done properly.

SPEAKER_01 6:09

Because technically someone could just do a quick repair, which happens all the time. Yeah, yeah. When someone's doing the inspection, do they come with you? Does just the realtor go? Like, what is it?

SPEAKER_02 6:18

The realtor is there, the buyers are you know, I always say one if it's a couple or you know, somebody has to be there representing the buyer side. Um, it's their time to learn about the house, like where the water shutoffs are and how to change the furnace filter and you know, all like the hose bibs and like where they are in the ceiling to turn them off at the in the winter. It's their time to learn all about it. You measure the windows and measure for furniture, and it's time for them to be, it's ours in that house. So I definitely want them because if they get this like 70-page report and it's like, this is wrong, this is wrong, this is wrong with them. They could be like the little nippy pickiest things. But when they see all that in a report, they're like, Oh my god, the house is gonna fall down. But if they were there, they're like, Oh, that's nothing. Oh, that's not yeah, that's not that's true. That's normal. That's every house, it's not, you know, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:13

So you can almost expect most houses to have some things come up in an expect inspection.

SPEAKER_02 7:18

There's only been one house that I've ever had in 20 years that never had anything wrong with the inspection. Now I had the listing. And the inspector actually, it just happened last year. The inspector actually went up and shook the seller's hand and congratulated him for having such an amazing house.

SPEAKER_01 7:33

That's crazy. Oh, yeah. So a buyer shouldn't freak out when they get back the inspection report and there's things flagged, not at all.

SPEAKER_02 7:41

Yeah, definitely not because an inspector is getting paid to talk

"There's Always Something Wrong"

SPEAKER_02 7:44

and to find things. So they're not gonna like I had one inspection where they literally couldn't find anything, and he's like, Oh, the toilet's loose, like just to put something on there to make it you like it was worth the buyer's money to be there. Yeah, but there's always things wrong, and there's always things wrong with new construction too. So it's not just you know, resale. Yeah, true.

SPEAKER_01 8:08

Who helps them decide? Like once they get their inspection report as a buyer, they might not know all these things about what you know, who knows all this stuff. Yeah, how do who should they rely on to help them decide what they need to negotiate or get fixed or how it looks?

SPEAKER_02 8:22

Um, I think that one, they're a realtor. Like I always try to go through. I mean, I'm not a home inspector, but I've been to, you know, my fair share. So I do know some things. Um, I know what's normal, I know what's not normal, I know what really needs to be addressed and what doesn't. Um, and if I don't know what it is, then I'm gonna like research it and find out. Or we just had this issue last week on a on a septic inspection that we had. So I'm gonna like do everything I can to figure out like what it really is and what it takes to fix it and if it's something that we need to ask for. They can always ask, you know, friends and family, but I feel like if there's more too many cooks in the kitchen, it kind of sways the way things are, and some people make things out to be worse than what they are. But then you also have inspectors that again like to hear themselves talk and make bigger deals out of things that they aren't. So that it's also like my job to hey, this is this is normal, this is fine. Like this isn't anything to like. So you rely on your realtor a lot then. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 9:24

Do sellers ever get an inspection before selling their home, or that's not sometimes.

SPEAKER_02 9:28

Sometimes. I mean, if it's an older house or if they know that there's something wrong, um, it's always good to address certain things, but keep in mind that every inspector is going to find something different so they can have a full-blown inspection and make all the repairs that this inspector said, but then a buyer is gonna come in anyway and have an inspection and probably have a whole new list of repairs. Usually sellers know, like, if an outlet isn't working or something is leaking, or they have a bucket in the attic for something, like fix those things. Don't I wouldn't necessarily spend the money on an inspection beforehand because I you're just gonna get a list of repairs later anyway.

SPEAKER_01 10:06

Right. What is the number one red flag? Like, if this comes up in an inspection, like walk away from the house.

SPEAKER_02 10:13

Mold, water, okay, water damage, consistent, still happening, like water flowing through a wall. Yeah. I just showed a house a few weeks ago in the basement. The cinder block was just cracked. Like the window, like, I mean, it was like thick crack. It wasn't like a little, like, oh no, and you could see like rust, like the water, like old water, like rolling from rolling down the yeah, and then them trying to fix it thousands of times with caulk and what I'm like, no, we're not. No, no, there's a bigger problem. We're leaving here.

unknown 10:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:48

What is the absolute worst inspection you've ever seen?

SPEAKER_02 10:51

The worst inspection I ever had, I don't remember all of the details, but it was in Dundalk and it was a row home in Dundalk, and I distinctly remember, I mean, it was over a hundred pages of the inspection report. Whoa. And I remember it was like about 12 pages of repair requests. 12.

SPEAKER_00 11:12

And they went through with the

The Fitze Verdict: Why You Should Never Skip It

SPEAKER_00 11:13

house?

SPEAKER_02 11:13

They did. Wow. They did. Yes, the seller didn't fix everything, but they think we we kind of had like a you know, they fixed some things and not all things, but yes, they did move forward with that. That's crazy. I know. I know. Welcome to the fights verdict, where I'm going to help prevent you from having these horror stories happen to you when you buy a house.

SPEAKER_01 11:37

Why is the home inspection the most important step in this entire home buying process? And why should you never skip it or wave it, no matter how competitive the market is?

SPEAKER_02 11:46

Because it's gonna obviously gonna make or break the deal. I mean, you could have a $500 repair that needs to be done, or you or a $20,000 repair. Like you don't know. Just when you have like a half an hour showing, you don't you can't see everything. We're not going in the attic during a showing, like some people do, but we're not. So you have to have an inspection to know really what is going on in the house. Yeah. Because if you you move into a house and you didn't have an inspection, and then a week later, you know you got water throwing flowing through your wall, you have no recourse.

SPEAKER_01 12:23

And you're paying thousands of dollars. It's like something you could have avoided. So is there ever a situation you'd let someone wave it?

SPEAKER_02 12:29

I've had people wave it. Like against your Yeah, I mean, just to get into houses, just to get their offers accepted. But if to me, there's certain houses, and again, I'll take my real air hat off. There's certain houses where I'm like, okay, this house is in perfect shape. Like it's great. Like it's they've been there and lived there 30 years. They have finders and manuals full of you know things, everything's got labeled and you know, like written Sharpie on like the water heater and the air conditioner, like how old things are. Like you can tell people really maintain their health. And then you have houses where like you can't even get back to the water heater at first because there's so much crap all over the floor where it's so dirty, or the like the air vents are just like cake, and so you know that they don't take care of stuff. So, like that kind of stuff, and like you're having an infection, but something like this, where you have like everything's kind of it's been well maintained and serviced over the years, and there's proof of it all, I think that it would probably be okay.

SPEAKER_01 13:31

Yep. The difference between a good inspector and a bad inspector.

SPEAKER_02 13:37

A bad inspector turns the bathtub on and then goes up in the attic and forgets the bathtub's on and leaks water into Jen's living room. That happened to her, I think. And a food inspector is going to a food inspector isn't going to make waves when it's not that's required. Like they're not gonna go in there and make a big deal out of something just to hear themselves talk. They're gonna be honest and upfront, especially when they they know that they're first-time home buyers, they're not gonna make them pack. There are certain inspectors that I just no, I will not use them.

SPEAKER_01 14:14

How long should a home inspection last for a good inspector? Obviously.

SPEAKER_02 14:18

Well, it depends on the size of the house. I mean, a townhouse is like two hours, condo is an hour, but like a single family house or two and a half, three hours larger, obviously. It's gonna be not a 30-minute thing. Oh, absolutely not. No way.

SPEAKER_01 14:32

And does the buyer do the buyers pick their inspector or you're the realtor?

SPEAKER_02 14:35

The buyer picks their inspector.

SPEAKER_01 14:37

But you can refer to your realtor. Yeah. What do you, Jen, personally do at inspections that most agents don't do?

SPEAKER_02 14:46

I will typically either walk around with the inspector or I ever every time they're in a different section of the house, like they're outside, and then they come in, I'll ask them like what they found outside. So like we don't have to go over like an hour-long report at the end, like we can just figure it out as we go so we can kind of make the mental notes. Because I've had inspections where they go outside and they come in and tell me things are wrong, and then they go upstairs and the bedrooms and then the attic, and I they come back down and give me another update, and I'm like, okay, we you can just stop. Like, we're not gonna move forward and finish this because I'm not letting they're not buying this house.

SPEAKER_01 15:24

Yeah, just done. Yeah, and they get paid regardless.

SPEAKER_02 15:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:28

What are things buyers should look for during showings before they even get to the inspection?

SPEAKER_02 15:34

Gonna look for smelly things, like when sellers put a lot of those like plug-in things around everywhere, they're covering something up. Yeah, lot of times in basements, we're gonna look to see if like if first off that they're finished, if they have if they use it for storage, or if like all of their stuff is up on pallets or cinder blocks, then you know that there's like water issues. Those are like the main little sneaky things to check out. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 16:02

When to walk away versus when to negotiate after an inspection comes back, you get the whole report. How do you kind of what's the difference between like cosmetic issues and I guess it really it depends on how much you love it?

SPEAKER_02 16:13

Like if it is it like your dream house or is it just a random townhouse that you can go and get another one? If it's like the dream house, you have to think do I really want to walk away over you know, a five thousand dollars? Yeah, like that's how much it's gonna cost to fix it. Do I really want to walk away? Or if it's you know, $20,000, like a well or a septic, like, do I really want to walk away over that? Or go get something else? Or is it like, yeah, like this is like surely the house is gonna fall down.

SPEAKER_01 16:47

So yeah, I am gonna walk away. So you're really comparing the price to how much it means to you, like the value it brings you.

SPEAKER_02 16:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 16:54

So it is person by person.

SPEAKER_02 16:55

There's no it is because like an I'll say for our current house now, we had our inspections and we have a broken window in our bathroom and the radon came back high. And we asked the sellers to fix both, and they denied it. And the realtor was like, sorry, I'm gonna put it back on the market. And I like completely was just hysterical sobbing because I wanted this house, but they weren't willing to work with us. And my mom was like, Are you really gonna just walk away over those two little things? Like, you can get them fixed later. It's not like yeah, I was like, You're right. So I emailed the realtor back and I was like, Oh no, we're still moving forward. Yeah, and she was not happy. Why? Because we got a really good deal on it, and there are other people who were wanted it, and they could have they just choose someone else? They could have, but we put an offer in day one and they took it. So they're under contract, so they were like trying to do whatever they could to not to bump us out to get other offers to get higher offers.

SPEAKER_01 17:57

So there you go. And did you fix the issue later on?

SPEAKER_02 18:00

We have not. We've been there 12 years. It's a later problem. It's a when we sell problem. Maybe fix it. Yeah, yeah. It's and I find that a lot. I mean,

Radon: The Silent Killer in Your Basement

SPEAKER_02 18:14

people do not, they make big deals out of these things in their reports and they don't ever fix them.

SPEAKER_01 18:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 18:19

And I say, I'm like, Do you have your inspection report from when you bought? And they're like, Oh yeah. I'm like, did you fix it all in there? And they're like, hmm. I'm like, let's go through it. Yeah. Like, like what even what is radon anyway? Like, why is it? Radon is an odorless, colorless gas that comes up from the foundation, from the rock under your like your foundation.

unknown 18:36

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 18:36

So depending on how many foundation cracks you have, or if like your sump pump doesn't have a lid on it, or if the um it just over time, overexposure causes cancer. So you definitely want to have that sealed off. I've had people that have had cancer and you know, either passed away or they're you know in remission and then they go to sell their house and the buyer has a radon test and it pops at like 90. Like it, like they had no idea that they had this like silent killer in their house. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:08

But yours wasn't that bad.

SPEAKER_02 19:10

No, it was like five. And I think the level is anything above four, it has to be remediated, and it was five. So that was I was like, if there was like a bedroom down there and somebody was living down there, then I would have like had it fixed, but it was five. It's five. So not even yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:28

What is last question for this section? Specialized inspections. Most people don't know that they could get so radon testing or testing. Chimney inspection, whatever.

SPEAKER_02 19:37

A chimney inspection is always a really good idea. Um, especially you know, wood burning fireplace, it's always there's always issues, and the chimney inspections always come back with it's going to fall off of your house and you need to have $15,000 worth of work done. So as long as you know that ahead of time, that it's probably fine.

SPEAKER_01 19:59

But why are chimneys never built right?

SPEAKER_02 20:02

Oh no, they are. They just want money to review. It needs this, and don't worry, we'll fix it for you. Okay. You know, one of those people.

SPEAKER_01 20:10

I'll be like, I know wait till it falls off.

SPEAKER_02 20:13

Pool inspections. I haven't seen a chimney pull away from a house though, like the whole thing. Like that that was,

What Your Agent Won't Tell You About Inspectors

SPEAKER_02 20:19

yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:20

Do you uh recommend pool inspections if you're buying a house with a pool?

SPEAKER_02 20:23

I do if it's if we're able to do it. If it's the winter, we can't because it's been professionally closed and yeah, we can't open it and inspect it and then reclose it. So true. Welcome to what your agent won't tell you, but Jen will. So, not all agents want a thorough home inspector because they want the deal to go through. They want it to be pretty seamless and they want the buyer to be okay with the house that they're buying, and they don't want to have any hiccups going through it. So please, please be careful of the realtor that you choose, of the inspector that you choose. Research them, make sure that they're good because this is like a huge financial purchase, and it's a huge step for any buyer. So you want to make sure that what you're buying is a solid investment and not just something that your realtor is trying to push through because they want a paycheck. So a buyer has the right to choose their own inspector. They are paying for the inspector, so they can choose who they want to work with. Same goes with title company and lender and all those things. You know, we have to give at least three recommendations of inspectors that we use. But you can go and use whoever you know you'd like since you're you're paying for them. I would look at reviews online to see if the inspector is good and thorough. I usually go on their social media to see if they have a huge following or if we have, you know, they have you 10 people on there, if they've been in business a long time or not. It really is just all about you know their reputation in the industry as to whether or not they're gonna be thorough or not. And when they're not, it's no. Again, we give buyers a list of three inspectors that we use, that we know, that we trust. A lot of times, buyers will not even choose inspectors from that list. Same with lenders, same with title companies, because they feel like we're getting a kickback on that, which is illegal. So that doesn't happen. We are just recommending them to you because we know that they're good and that they're going to take care of you, which is my main concern. I want you taken care of. I don't want you having to move into a house and then a month later have a $40,000 issue that you have to take care of because you know you decided to use someone that, you know, we don't recommend. So that's, I think that's a big deal. People are, I'm not gonna use who you recommend because I feel like everybody's making money off of everyone. I'm gonna go and pick somebody else out. But that's isn't, we really just want you taken care of and want the inspection done properly. As a realtor, it's way more important for me to lose a deal and for you to lose a house than move into something that is gonna be nothing but problems and you're gonna be upset about, and then you're gonna come back and be mad at me later.

Reading Your Wildest Comments from Social Media

SPEAKER_02 23:09

Like that is not my goal. My goal is for you to move in and be happy and have a solid investment. So if we lose, you know, a couple houses over inspections, so be it. I'd rather that happen. Okay, now it's time for rapid fire questions, but we are going to be addressing some of the viral questions that we got from the previous episode in regards to the inspections and what to disclose, what not to disclose, and all of the things.

SPEAKER_01 23:40

So these are all from social media. Everyone has opinions or questions. Someone said, I would recommend pulling a clue report on any property very early so you understand what insurance claims have occurred there.

SPEAKER_02 23:50

Correct. So a clue report is being held by the insurance company. So when you go to get homeowner's insurance on your home when you're buying it, that insurance company should pull the clue report, and that will tell you all a list of all of the repairs that the current insurance company has paid out on at the house. So if they didn't disclose certain things, that clue report will tell you.

SPEAKER_01 24:14

In reference to a buyer finding a seller's Facebook and finding something out on there of what they didn't disclose. Someone said, Oh dang, I didn't think of this. How can they stalk the Facebook page? I thought they weren't supposed to know who the seller is.

SPEAKER_02 24:28

Well, the names are on the contract of sale. So everybody knows everybody's names and addresses. I mean, not contact info, but you can go on social media and just search their name. Yeah. So your radar can't be like this is their name, but right. Like we're not discussing names and stuff while we're like presenting offers, but when you go to sign the contract, you're going to see the name.

SPEAKER_01 24:50

Someone submitted, we found a video of the seller telling a news reporter he's scared every time it rains because of the flooding. Then a neighbor showed a picture of the water up to the roof line. We pulled our offer really quick. Oh yeah. That definitely. Gosh. Someone said, if the water damage was already repaired, why would I have to disclose anything if there's no longer an issue anymore in the house?

SPEAKER_02 25:11

It was already repaired, yes. However, I mean it depends on how long ago it was. Like if you were the buyer and it happened 20 years ago and they've lived this time without having any more issues, that's one thing. But if it just happened two or three years ago, then you're moving in. How are you gonna feel when the neighbors come up to you later and be like, hey, did you know that you know that wood and the hardwood in there is all new because of blah, blah, blah, blah, blah? You're gonna be pissed that you weren't told this. And then you're gonna call your realtor and you're really like, oh, I didn't know, they didn't disclose it. And so, I mean, you just put yourself in the in the buyer's position. Like, what would you want to know moving forward? Whether or not it changes your decision to buy the house or not, I'd rather you disclose first not. You know, when in doubt, always disclose.

SPEAKER_01 26:05

Someone said, was it repaired like new though? In that case, disclosure is never required.

SPEAKER_02 26:11

Disclosure is always required.

SPEAKER_01 26:13

It's legal.

SPEAKER_02 26:14

It's a legal thing. It's a le and of course it could vary by state because a lot of these questions and comments are from people from different states. But in Maryland, you have the disclosure or disclaimer. Disclosure is, you know, all these questions about the house. The disclaimer is, hey, it's as you see it. Well, don't ask me anything. But if there's any material or latent defects, I am required to disclose those. And there's a section on there for that. But I mean, do the right thing. Like it comes back to you. It will come back to you.

SPEAKER_01 26:41

Like someone said, This is ridiculous. My kid overclosed my bathtub and floods the house, ruining the floors, and this now needs to be disclosed. Get a grip.

SPEAKER_02 26:52

Get a grip. People are ruthless on social media. Absolutely. Like, do you do you wake up one day and just just say, I'm gonna go in and I'm gonna go in all these videos and make all these nasty comments? Like, do you I have a job? Like, I'm sure I'll get flapped for that, but I don't really care. Like, be a nice person, be kind. It's I don't get it. Yeah. Yeah. Like, what did you fix the mold issue, or is the water still like growing in between the levels of home?

SPEAKER_01 27:19

Like someone said, Did the previous homeowner make an insurance claim though? The new buyer's insurance agent would have seen it when they quoted their new home insurance.

SPEAKER_02 27:31

So that's when they if they pulled a clue report, they would have seen that.

SPEAKER_01 27:34

Someone said, Why would you expect them to disclose anything if it's been fixed? It's been repaired, get a life, move on.

SPEAKER_02 27:40

I know. I have to get a life. Well, I mean, again, like you need to put yourself in a buyer's position. Would you buy the house? Like most people would still buy the house, but they want to see evidence or receipts or like what company did all the work, you know, to make sure that it was fixed properly.

SPEAKER_01 27:58

Someone said you're not required to disclose leaks or anything of that such. Every house has a leak at some point.

SPEAKER_02 28:03

If it's like the bathroom vanity, like oh, the sink is dripping, no, because that's going to be found during an inspection. If it's like the kitchen sink, that those are you know things that are found during inspections or with the naked eye. But if this is like, you know, your bathroom sink overflowed or your bathtub overflowed and caused your whole ceiling to fall down into your living room, like that's really something that you should tell people because there's water. Water is just be a kind person.

SPEAKER_01 28:39

Someone said, Yup, what else do the sellers forget, quote unquote, to mention in the seller disclosure? Granted, the seller could have offered to purchase a warranty.

SPEAKER_02 28:47

Yeah, warranties aren't really worth anything anymore. They're not worth what they're even written on. There's so much fine print with home warranties, and they don't cover hardly anything. And it's like $100 every time they come out to look at something. And they will fix, fix, fix, but they will not replace.

SPEAKER_01 29:04

Someone said this type of stuff happens all the time, but many buyers get lied to and totally deceived.

SPEAKER_02 29:09

They do. It happens all the time. This is why it's so important when you find a realtor, whether as a seller or a buyer, to find someone that is ethical and honest and will tell the truth.

SPEAKER_01 29:22

Someone said eight years ago, I was going to buy a condo. I paid the inspector, and the day of inspection, selling agent comes and says they're not sure the heater works, and they have a space heater to include. WTF, not sure it works, question mark. I backed out, they came back to me when another buyer couldn't secure financing, but told them I don't trust them anymore. Of course, it was $360,000 back then, and similar unit now would sell for $500K currently. I'm still homeless. Dot dot dot.

SPEAKER_02 29:51

How do you not know if your heat works or not?

SPEAKER_01 29:54

Yeah, that seems a little suspicious.

SPEAKER_02 29:56

Here's a space heater for you.

SPEAKER_01 29:58

Yeah. Someone said, I remember this good old saying, buyers are liars and sellers are too. Correct.

SPEAKER_02 30:13

Yeah. Sometimes you have to have companies come in and like bring the dehumidifiers and bring all and people were commenting before about the cigarette, how I wouldn't list a house that smelled like cigarette smoke and they're like, oh, just wipe the walls down. A lot of times you have to have like the fire restoration companies come in there and like completely redo the house because if they've been smoking in there for like God knows how long, you're not getting that smell out. And then it's like a hot summer day and it's like radiating out of the walls. It's disgusting.

SPEAKER_01 30:42

And then this one was from a video where, as people have seen, someone photoshopped a fire into the fireplace. Then someone bought the house. Turns out the fireplace didn't ever work. And the person who photoshopped it was like held liable to fix this. So people have said lots of things. Why did a buyer not just have a home inspection to find this?

SPEAKER_02 31:03

The buyer probably did have a home inspection. There is a separate home inspection, there's a separate chimney inspection, there are separate inspections for everything. And maybe the buyer did not choose to have an inspection on the chimney because they are, you know, costly inspections, but they all costly repairs. So maybe the buyer just it wasn't primarily, you know, a focus of them at the time, or it was inspected, it just you know wasn't turned on at the time, or um, you know, whatever. Like there's something's always gonna happen, but you know, I'm sure they had regular inspections, but they're not gonna be able to find everything.

SPEAKER_01 31:41

Someone said, couldn't the person who photoshopped it just say it was working at the time of the photograph?

SPEAKER_02 31:46

No, because they don't know. They're just taking pictures.

SPEAKER_01 31:50

Someone said, this is really hard to believe. Sorry, the listing agent didn't catch the fake fire, but it is certainly possible that the listing agent, even the home seller, had no idea a fireplace didn't work. I've had plenty of listings where the seller, my very own seller, says they have never used the fireplace. This is on the buyer and it's their due diligence. No one else should have been held accountable.

SPEAKER_02 32:09

I do see that a lot of people buy houses with fireplaces and they've never used them. Um, and then it'll be in the listing when they go to sell, like sellers never use the fireplace. So it's being sold as is. Yeah. Like they're being they're being upfront and honest about the fact that they've never used it. So they don't know if it's working or if it's not working.

SPEAKER_01 32:29

So someone said did the listing agent and seller disclose that it didn't work? I'm guessing not.

SPEAKER_02 32:33

No. Someone else said it is and the listing agent may not have even known. Like the seller may not have even told the listing agent.

SPEAKER_01 32:41

So I just someone said it's expected that all fixtures are in working order when you're selling a house. If not, you have to disclose it today, otherwise. Is that true?

SPEAKER_02 32:52

I mean, it's expected that everything is in working order, yes, unless it's disclosed otherwise.

SPEAKER_01 32:57

Someone said, why would the agent and photographer have to pay for it and not the seller?

SPEAKER_02 33:01

Because the seller didn't put the flames in there. The photographer did to make it look more like, ooh, ambiance. Just stay tuned next time for the next episode while we'll discuss more home inspection questions and life of a realtor.