When I was in college my roommate and I hung a motorcycle on a wall b/c we loved motorcycles and b/c we thought it was “artful” and amusing. My two roommates who didn’t love motorcycles found it neither artful nor amusing, particularly when the wall started to sag.
And sure enough, after a month or two, the motorcycle fell and brought most of the wall down with it. After getting our requisite lectures by our “responsible” roommates, my “fun” roommate and I assessed the damage and hopped on my Yamaha to buy necessary repair items. And within an hour, we’d rebuilt the wall, shoring up the damaged studs, replacing drywall, taping, texturing, etc.
Here is my somewhat tenuous point, besides a desire to share a mildly amusing story that illuminates my college-age irresponsibility – if two semi-sober AZ students can rebuild an entire wall in an hour, we think sellers and Realtors should be able to do minor repairs to houses prior to appraisal inspections :).
Minor repairs can save huge amounts of time and trouble, and they are easy to do. Here are recent examples of transactions that were either severely delayed or blown up b/c minor repairs were not made prior the appraisal inspection.
1. Discolored Paint on back wall with dark streaks underneath it. The appraiser called it out as potential mold, creating all kinds of inspection issues. A coat of paint on the rear wall would have prevented the entire issue.
2. Water in crawl space. It was conspicuous so the appraiser had to call it out, and that again prompted requests for all kinds of other inspections that almost killed the deal. The water was pumped out easily, and if it had been done prior to the inspection, there would have been no issues at all.
3. Mold in bathroom. B/c there was substantial mold, the appraiser again had to call it, requiring repairs, mold inspections and a follow up visit from the appraiser. This entire exercise could have been avoided if somebody had spent 30 minutes with a brush and mold remover prior to the appraiser showing up.
4. “Danger” sign on the balcony, warning people to keep off. I blogged about this before, but if sellers don’t want to do repairs prior to close, they need to remove such signs before the appraiser shows up.
Anyway – to ensure transactions move ahead without delays or added costs, homes should be inspected for visible repair issues before the appraiser shows up.
Jay Voorhees
Founder/Broker | JVM Lending
(855) 855-4491 | DRE# 01524255, NMLS# 310167
