Posted by River City on September 02, 2005 at 13:11:53:
If you purchased an FHA REO, then you also signed a document that stressed the importance of obtaining a home inspection. The document also stated that unless otherwise noted, the property was being sold “as-is” and that FHA did NOT warrant the condition of the home. The reason for this, is that the home is a foreclosure and sometimes previous homeowners do not take care of the homes. Another reason, is that the home could have been unoccupied for some time before you purchased it. When homes are unoccupied for extended periods of time, they are not kept up and tend to deteriorate.
FHA may very well have “approved” the home, however, that was before the previous owners closed on the home. That could have been 5 or more years before you purchased it.
Home inspections are relatively cheap when you compare repair costs to the cost of the inspection, especially on a home that was built in 1909. Next time, hopefully you will purchase that home inspection.
There is a good note in this in that not all mold is harmful. You might want to hire an inspector to come and look at the mold to determine if it is harmful. They might even be able to tell you how to get rid of the mold.
My husband and I just closed on our house and moved in 3 days ago. When we first looked at the house, which was built in 1909, we were not able to view the basement as the owners locked the door and weere not present when we viewed the house. We decided that we wanted the house. Upon signing the mortgage papers, we were told that the home was FHA approved and that FHA had already performed an inspection in the last 12 months. We were told that since FHA had performed the inspection recently, it was up to us if we wanted to pay to have another inspection done. We opted not to since it seemed that FHA would not have approved any home with any major problems. Last night, we moved a bookcase in the basement corner and discovered mold growing in the bottom corner on the concrete blocks. The mold had been growing there for some time, not just a few days. I am no expert, but have become quite knowledgable about mold as I have severe allergies to mold. Would FHA have approved a home with mold? Is there anything I can do now? I show nothing in my home warranty about problems with mold.
Posted by Natalie-VA on September 08, 2005 at 17:43:46:
Sue,
I believe you are referring to an FHA Appraisal. Many people think that this is an inspection, but it is not. The FHA Appraisal is an opinion of value and also has a section that ensures it meets minimum condition standards.
Posted by TJ Girl on September 02, 2005 at 14:52:22:
An FHA inspector follows their specific requirements and doesn’t care about anything not listed, which an inspector paid by you will be more nit-picky about. You should ALWAYS have an inspector paid by you, working for you, look at the place.
I got an FHA loan on my place a couple years ago, and they did an FHA inspection for it at the time of purchase (not FHA owned as the previous poster mentioned, just a normal seller but I used FHA for financing). I still had to sign a document that stated I should get my own inspector, even though the inspections would be done within a week of eachother. I did, and the things he found were entirely different from what the FHA inspector noted.
Whoever advised you not to get your own inspection done gave you bad advice.
I don’t know what, if anything, you can do about it now, except use this as a learning experience for the future.
ALWAYS hire someone that is looking out for YOUR interests, not someone else’s. A couple hundred bucks upfront is nothing compared to fixing problems that arise later.