Anyone following real estate in the past three years or so has run into people who think that home inspection is (or should be) optional. Waiving home inspection has become a negotiation tool. This thinking plays into the interests of professional investors and hurts people who plan to owner-occupy their homes. It particularly harms first-time home buyers.

Professionals who buy and resell — or buy and rent out — several properties a year have contractors ready to renovate those properties. In a professional group, their staff have superior knowledge of expensive property repair items compared to a typical buyer, especially a first-time buyer. Also, any loss due to an unexpected repair would be absorbed over several purchases for an investor.

A typical homeowner who lives in their property typically does not purchase more than three properties in a lifetime. The playing field is uneven if owner-occupying buyers do not have the opportunity for professional home inspection.

Consumers have resorted to “pre-inspections.” This is when a buyer pays for a home inspection before making an offer on the property. This is a potential waste of money for a buyer who might be subsequently outbid. It is also an intrusion into the seller’s privacy, by subjecting them to multiple inspections that were unnecessary for the sale.

Good news about An Act Protecting Consumer Rights in Purchasing Safe and Habitable Homes

In Massachusetts, the Consumer Protection and Professional Licensure Committee of the state legislature favorably voted out SB2474,”An Act Protecting Consumer Rights in Purchasing Safe and Habitable Homes.” What that means is that the joint committee supports this bill, and now it can go for a vote in the state Senate and House of Representatives.

 

What does the bill say?

It’s a bill. So, there are pages and pages of legal language. But the crux of the thing is that home inspection is not up for negotiation. Every buyer has the right to inspect before purchase. A seller cannot ask whether a buyer wants to inspect.

Please contact your Legislator about this, and please do it now. It only takes a couple of minutes. Hopefully the Bill will reach the Senate and the House floors where they will all vote. The more legislators hear from their constituents, the more likely they will vote for it.

Click the link below; it’s fast and very easy to talk with someone in their office, and those messages are extremely effective.

https://malegislature.gov/Search/FindMyLegislator

Things you can say or put in an email:

  • I support Bill S2474 (Senate) and Bill H245 (House of Representatives)
  • Home inspection is valuable and should be part of the home buying process. If you have a specific example of how, add that.
  • I am a homeowner (or seeking to be a homeowner) in Massachusetts.
  • When I was buying (or trying to buy), I faced other buyers who waived home inspection.
  • I lost out on property because I insisted on a home inspection (if that is so).

Your email would look like this:

I am ___ and I live in your district in _____.  I support Bill Senate 2474 Bill House 245. I am a homeowner (or seeking to be a homeowner).

Home inspection is valuable and should be part of the home buying process. When I purchased in ______, I gained valuable information that helped me plan for my home maintenance.

When I was buying (or trying to buy), I faced other buyers who waived home inspection. This put pressure on us to make this huge purchase without being allowed to fully vet the property. Those who are economically able to waive home inspection put first-time buyers, like me, at a disadvantage.

I lost out on property because I insisted on a home inspection (if that is so).

Bill Senate 2474 Bill House 245 give buyers the right to home inspection. It prohibits the seller from requesting that right be waived as part of the purchase negotiation. I believe that this simple change in licensing will level the playing field and help owner- occupying buyers in Massachusetts. I support Bill S2474 (Senate) and Bill H245 (House of Representatives).