Home Inspector To Do Appliance And Mechanicals Inspection

[ockyappraiser]

I talked to an appraiser in our state said he was bringing a home inspector on FHA appraisals to do the inspections of the appliances, heating and cooling, attic and crawl spaces. Is this allowed? I thought that the appraiser had to certify that he/she themselves had done these inspections? He was going to attach the home inspection report to the appraisal report and reference the inspectors work. He also was adding the home inspection fee to his appraisal fee and bidding them out at that combined fee level.

 

[Meandering]

Fee split for a service not required by the lender.

Might wind up being an issue.

 

[Carnivore]

Seems like making a Home Inspection by a Licensed Home Inspector would be the best course of action. Good for Home Inspectors, Good for Home Buyer, Good for Appraiser, Good for everyone except maybe the Seller.

 

[jay trotta]

If the "Buyer" has the Option (per FHA) and does not do the Home Inspection it would become an interesting issue. If FHA is backing the deal, why not Require a Home Inspection on every Purchase ? That's what Home Inspectors are "Licensed for" and the appraiser would be able to concentrate solely on his/her job. Plus, any issues discovered would become part of the Appraisal and support their conclusions.

Would have to agree that he/she is providing a solution; to much logic there, and most certainly not enough "Red Tape"
but he/she will get the cream of the crop "Top Shelf Appraisal Service" award from me; I would not do it any other way, if I'm going down in flames, I most certainly want a Co-Pilot

Cheers

 

[Peter LeQuire]

My take on that is that it's one thing to require a home inspection, and to make the appraisal contingent upon that inspection indicating that that the property is defect free: the mortgagee would be the party reporting to HUD that the property meets its requirements. Iit's quite another for an appraiser to hire a home inspector and incorporate that home inspection into the HUD appraisal: this would, in effect, put the appraiser in the position of endorsing the inspection to the mortgagee and to HUD..

 

[Carnivore]

My take on that is that it's one thing to require a home inspection, and to make the appraisal contingent upon that inspection indicating that that the property is defect free: the mortgagee would be the party reporting to HUD that the property meets its requirements. Iit's quite another for an appraiser to hire a home inspector and incorporate that home inspection into the HUD appraisal: this would, in effect, put the appraiser in the position of endorsing the inspection to the mortgagee and to HUD..

Maybe. We do as normal practice rely on credible sources. Home inspectors are licensed in my state, and this is helpful(and very credible) when we use an ordinary assumption in our reports. That is we accept that of which we ourselves do not know for sure.

There was a time when surveys were ordered on every purchase. That was great, They used to order Pest Inspections. That was great also. Now they want us to do several things that other professionals use to do. We are not even licensed for them.

On FHA if we suspect an encroachment we call for a survey. Same goes for pest/water damage. We call for that. Same goes for anything else.

I am not sure I understand the reluctance to go back to those old ways. The cost are small in comparison to what could go wrong.

 

[CANative]

All I can say is "wow."

 

[dobie]

I don't think this gets the appraiser off the hook liability-wise.

The client hired the appraiser not the home inspector. So it would seem that the appraiser is still responsible for everything in the report including the inspector's
findings.

 

[bnmappraisal]

I talked to an appraiser in our state said he was bringing a home inspector on FHA appraisals to do the inspections of the appliances, heating and cooling, attic and crawl spaces. Is this allowed? I thought that the appraiser had to certify that he/she themselves had done these inspections? He was going to attach the home inspection report to the appraisal report and reference the inspectors work. He also was adding the home inspection fee to his appraisal fee and bidding them out at that combined fee level.

Just curious, do you know if he has received any orders with this approach? I have a hard time thinking clients (especially AMC's) would be willing to pay the "appraisal fee" knowing it also included a home inspection fee. But I could be wrong (just ask my wife)

I don't think this gets the appraiser off the hook liability-wise.

The client hired the appraiser not the home inspector. So it would seem that the appraiser is still responsible for everything in the report including the inspector's
findings.

I tend to agree with Dobie. I don't think it would release the liability of the appraiser. Maybe. But I'm not a lawyer, so ...

 

[CANative]

Having your own private home inspector get up in the attic or into the crawl space is no different than using a selfie stick.