Home Inspections and Coronavirus Covid-19

I wrote the following for one of the local associations. Sharing here . . .

Good morning, everyone. Wow, are things moving and changing quickly. From a home inspection perspective, I'm implementing the following protocols to protect your sellers:

1. All tools, especially my phone, will get cleaned with an anti-bacterial wipe prior to entering the home. I’ve taken the phone out of the otter box protection since that’s almost impossible to clean.

2. Only those tools necessary will enter the home and only when they're needed. Once used, they will be returned to the tool bag outside the home.

3. I will be cleaning all surfaces that I touch with an anti-bacterial wipe - door knobs, windows, bath fixture, all of it. For more information on cleaning, see the CDC Guidelines.

4. I'll be trying to avoid touching my face - as you know, that's a hard one, so . . .

5. I'll be washing my hands - a lot. I'll bring my own soap and a clean towel.

6. On the exterior of the home, in the attic, in the crawlspace, I'll be wearing surgical gloves. They will be disposed of immediately after use.

7. If you are the listing agent, expect a text or phone call to see if your seller wants me to wear a mask. While the government suggests they aren't necessary for healthy individuals, the goal is to make your buyers and sellers feel as safe as we can. If wearing a mask aids in this, I'll do it.

8. Traditionally, I've taken my shoes off to avoid making a mess. I'll be switching to disposable booties instead.

9. I'll be maintaining social distancing - this one is easy for introverts like me.

10. I will be adding even more video to my reporting. If buyers wish, I can Facetime from the home.

If anyone else has suggestions, please send them along.

Be safe.

UPDATE On Covid-19 Home Inspector Protocol: March 20, 2020

After a week of working with this protocol, I found a couple of spots that needed tweaking. A big one is customer management. Once the buyers get to the property, they have a natural inclination to touch things. Not making a value judgment on this, but facing the reality of the situation. So I’ve added a final step of cleaning every surface that they touch with sanitizing wipes. If it sounds as though I’m following behind them with a wipe in each hand, that’s exactly what I’m doing.

Another change is in my outdoor protocol. With the warmer weather we are experiencing, I can set up my cleaning station outside, so I don’t need to glove up there. I do the exterior of the home, wash thoroughly and resume the rest of the protocol.

If you are a Realtor reading this blog entry, may I suggest that you and your broker have each home inspector provide you with their protocol for the inspection process?

Changes in 35R Inspection Contingency Forms Not Helping Buyers

One of the changes that the Washington Association of Realtors has made as of July of 2019 is to change the rules (their’s, not state law) on how inspection deficiencies can be relayed to the seller. Quite literally, the seller can refuse to look at any of the inspection findings. You, the inspector, find a Federal Pacific Electric panel? Put it in your report, but know that the seller can stick his or her fingers in their ears and refuse to hear anything. Ditto with pest damage, a foundation that has failed, a catastrophic roof leak. Under the current guidelines, none of that can be reported to the seller, even if the buyer wants repairs made unless the seller agrees to accept the findings in the report.

This has huge implications for the buyers in Washington State.

Let’s use the pest damage I mentioned above as an example. I, the inspector, go into the crawlspace. Not just any crawlspace, but through an access hole that I have to enter one arm at a time, suck in my gut, and think skinny thoughts. The kind of crawlspace a lot of inspectors don’t even attempt. I do, and I manage to get myself in. (Getting out can be a bit trickier,. btw.) While there, I probe the wood and note that it is significantly damaged and appears to be structurally unsound with a main beam failing. There are also mud tubes everywhere and, when I break one, little brown bugs scrambling.

In short, this is a big deal. So, in my report to you, the home buyer, I note the following:

1. That there is substantial damage to the structural framing of the home. The framing should be evaluated by a structural engineer for design of remedies to replace all damaged wood with sound materials. Once the remedies have been designed, a contractor should complete all work recommended by the structural engineer.

2. That a Pest Control Operator should be retained to determine the full scope of the pest problem - evident by the damaged framing, the habitation tubes, the presence of insects, and frass - and design a treatment plan to remedy the intrusion.

Along with these notes, which would be more extensive in practice, I would include pictures. Maybe even video. None would be transmitted to the seller unless they authorize it - in writing, no less.

You, the buyer, want these problems fixed and, since it isn’t your house, you would like the seller to absorb these costs.

With the changes in the 35R promulgated by the Washington Realtors, you are out of luck. Not only can you not tell the seller what is wrong with the house, you have to pay to determine the scope of needed repairs on a property you don’t even own. That’s accomplished by having your inspector recommend additional inspections which you will have a total of five days to complete. Legal counsel for the WR has stated that your inspector will be happy to do that.

And pay you will, because engineers and contractors are going to charge for the estimates. They have to as their time is worth money, too.

Who benefits? The seller, clearly. Legitimate expenses that should be born by the seller who has a property significantly defective can have you , the buyer, pay some of his expenses. Even better, from his standpoint, is that he wants you to spend your time at a point where life is ungodly hectic, to meet with the contractors. By the way, he doesn’t have to accept delivery of the estimates, either. If they do take delivery, the legal counsel for the Washington Realtors is suggesting that they not fix the items in question but negotiate a change in price or other terms so the repairs won’t be complete when you take possession.

And, if you walk away from the deal, the seller has no legal requirement to disclose the dangerous condition of the crawlspace. After all, so far as he knows, it’s in great shape.

And, if the next inspector isn’t as skinny or dedicated - and I have a reputation for both and for getting into crawlspaces that make other inspectors and a fair number of agents nervous - well, that dangerous condition won’t be discovered, probably until it’s too late and someone’s bank accounts get drained. Worse, someone gets badly injured.

My hope is that most reasonable sellers will opt to receive the report information, will agree to work with the buyers to have repairs made where necessary, where information flows freely, to the best and balanced interests of consumers. We’ll know in about five years..

On the plus side, I’ve already been busy designing solutions so my clients will get exactly what they need to trigger the Additional Inspections contingency period..