Home buying primer, the conclusion

May 19, 2008

My friend Jay Thompson, The Phoenix Real Estate Guy, always has time to write something somewhere on the World Wide Web while his wife Francy is busy actually selling homes.

But Francy just found the time to finish part 4 of her series focusing on escrow and inspections.

Some states like Arizona use a title company for closing while in the Charleston South Carolina real estate market, attorneys are used to close the sale. The term escrow isn’t used in South Carolina but the process is handled pretty much the same.

I thought Francy made a wonderful point about home inspections with the sad story of a seller who couldn’t afford a home inspection when purchasing their home and finding out about serious problems when trying to sell.

If you can’t afford a home inspection when buying a home, you can’t afford to buy a home.

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Posted by Howard | Filed Under Blog, Buyer Tips, Charleston real estate 

Comments

2 Responses to “Home buying primer, the conclusion”

  1. Jay Thompson on May 21st, 2008 11:52 am

    I’m thinking I’m glad attorneys aren’t involved (usually) in AZ real estate transactions…. :)

    That was indeed a very sad story Howard. The sellers are now basically stuck with an unsellable (and likely uninsurable) home unless they perform what is many thousands of dollars of repairs. (I asked the inspector what he thought it would cost. He’s not a contractor, but he guessed 20,000 - 50,000. Yikes.)

    And all to “save” about $300.

  2. Howard on May 21st, 2008 12:38 pm

    Yikes indeed. We require all buyers to have a home inspection. If they don’t want to have one (other than new construction which we recommend but can understand if they choose not to because of the builder warranty), they must sign a document indicating that it is their decision to waive their right to an inspection. I have never had a client choose not to have an inspection but if it ever came up, I’ll point them to this story.

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