Start-up Idea: Real Home Inspections
August 28, 2007
If you have ever purchased a house in Texas you likely paid a TREC (Texas Real Estate Commission) inspector to provide you with an inspection report. The inspection is required by most mortgage companies (some do their own inspections depending on the value of the property) and is conducted during the ‘option period.’ My thesis is that TREC inspections are so cursory they provide buyers the wrong information.
Our realtor desperately wanted us to use one of several inspectors he knew. I realized fairly quickly that my best interests and my realtor’s best interests weren’t necessarily aligned. He wanted to make sure we hired a ‘reasonable’ inspector who wouldn’t throw a wrench in the deal. I, on the other hand, wanted to make sure we knew exactly what we were getting into. After asking a few friends for referrals I hired an inspector that works for a residential real estate investor. Once we scheduled the inspection the selling realtor freaked out, she said she wasn’t comfortable with just any inspector and required that we give her his name. After turning over his contact information she asked for his TREC number, only after we supplied it did she agree to allow the inspection to go forward. Interestingly our realtor called the inspector prior to the inspection to ‘prep him’, but I only learned about that call later.
The inspector who examined our property spent nearly the whole day (it was a fairly big house with 6900 square feet) detailing issues he uncovered with the roof, vents, electrical systems, ice makers and so on. There were lots of questions I had, but the questions were not on the TREC form and as a result not covered by the inspection report. I think I paid $750 for the VERY detailed report, but had very little real informaiton to help me decide to buy the property. The report was very accurate, but its accuracy actually helped obscure potentially major issues. For example, I have five HVAC systems in the house and two of them are functioning to spec according to the report, but the report doesn’t say that they are so old that ‘to-spec’ is completely unacceptable and I will have to replace them to the tune of $10,000 (18 month payback).
The Idea: REAL Home Inspections for Pre-Existing Homes
What if you could hire a REAL home inspector (perhaps in addition to the basic TREC inspection) to help you estimate the likely lifespan and cost of ownership of the homes major systems? What if he interviewed the buyer to determine how they intended to use the house, i.e. ‘we are planning to replace the kitchen, put in gas and add twenty new lights.’ Instead of spending his time checking the faucets, GFCI outlets and electric cooktops the REAL inspector would help you determine how much it might cost to pipe gas to the area you want the new stove and if the current electrical panel could handle the additional lighting load you planned. He could look for the ‘gotcha’ budget killers before you buy. By the end of the REAL home inspection he could give you an estimated cost of the kitchen remodel and other planned projects. He might also inform you that the SEER 10 HVAC is working fine, but is so inefficient that you should add in the cost of replacing it with a more energy efficient model before moving in. Get it?
Okay, so someone needs to start this sort of service. Let me know if you do and I would gladly provide an afternoon of free consulting to help you build the offering. Deal?
