Home buyers may lose advice
GREG LACOUR AND MIKE TORRALBA
Most prospective buyers hire an inspector to make sure the house has no hidden problems. An inspection report can top 30 pages, with key findings highlighted in a summary.
Under the change, expected to be adopted next month by the N.C. Home Inspectors Licensure Board, summaries could refer to structural and safety problems -- but couldn't recommend how to fix them.
Critics say that will make it harder for buyers to understand what's wrong with their homes. They say the change was pushed by real estate agents who want a quick, easy sale. The N.C. Association of Realtors says it supports the new rule, but didn't propose it.
"What ends up happening is that a person trying to buy a house is going through one of the most tense situations in his entire life," said Paul King, a Fort Mill, S.C.-based inspector. "They get the 35-page home inspection report and there's a summary, so what are they going to do? They're not going to read the 35-page report; they're going to read the two-page report."
The board member who proposed the change, Jim Liles, said the board was trying to standardize forms inspectors use to make them easier for real estate agents, buyers and sellers to understand. Critics overstate the effects of the change, he said. Inspectors still would be allowed to make safety recommendations in the full report, he said, and could refer to them in the summary.
Gerald Canipe, board chairman and a Fayetteville home inspector, said he understands the arguments for it but he opposes the change.
While it would lead to quicker sales negotiations, he said, taking recommendations out of summaries would be a conflict of interest "because the home inspector is representing the buyer."
The licensure board voted 5-3 to approve the rule in September and expects to adopt the change Nov. 9. It would then go before a state rules commission in December. The General Assembly could intervene if 10 or more people object after the rules commission approves it.
One veteran Charlotte inspector said he doesn't think the change will alter much. Inspection reports generally warn buyers that the summary is just that, and failure to read the entire report is no excuse if something goes wrong later, said Bob Boucek, who owns Beech Home Inspections.
"A summary is a summary, not the whole thing," Boucek said. "You need to read the rest of the report to get the whole breadth of the inspection."
