These days we’re seeing an unusually chaotic real estate market with home prices remaining high (and rising), inventory at continually low levels, low rates of new construction, and interest rates not dropping much. The low rates locked in pre-2022 have put a near-stranglehold on homes in the area - why would anyone give up 3% interest on their loans?
Meanwhile, our area remains an ever-increasingly desirable place to live. People’s lives continue - they still need to move for jobs, life changes, etc, so people are still buying homes. For those buyers, the market is extremely competitive. Many buyers have opted to waive many protective measures, including waiving a home inspection entirely to make their offer more acceptable to sellers. So in this market, buyer’s agents and buyers opt to get an inspection before they put their offer in. This is what’s called a “pre-offer” inspection, also referred to as a “pre-inspection” In some cases people are getting inspectors and contractors to give them a “walk-through”, or “walk and talk” - these are no-report, extremely brief walk-through “inspections”, and not allowed in Massachusetts because all home inspections must have a report.
The goal of a pre-offer inspection is to get the property inspected so that you can present an offer to the seller with no inspection contingency. That way you can “have your cake and eat it too”, meaning you will have already gotten an inspection so you would not need one once your offer is accepted. But this is not advisable because the pre-offer inspection is often too limiting and many issues may not be detected or found in this limited scope.
A pre-offer inspection can vary in depth, complexity and time on-site. It can be a full home inspection, just as you would have for a post-offer acceptance inspection, or the scope of the inspection can be reduced- i.e. some items not inspected because there is not enough time, or because you expect it might take a few of these “pre-offer inspections” on various homes before you get an offer accepted. Regardless, at least here in Massachusetts, pre-offer inspections are no longer needed because buyers have a right to a home inspection due to a new law. This new law also prevents sellers from conditioning the acceptance of an offfer based on a buyer's waiiver or limitation of a home inspection.
A full home inspection is the best way to know the condition of a home you are buying. Homes can have so many different problems, problems whose repairs can be put off, deferred, and postponed to the point where the home passes hands and now those issues are the buyer’s to deal with. Most importantly there are numerous safety hazards present in homes, and it is really a home inspector, a career generalist, who can identify potential problems and point you in the right direction to get them fixed.
A full home inspection, which can take 3 hours or more, is still a visual, non-invasive, inspection of the readily accessible portions of the home. It is also naturally restricted by time, and is a snapshot of the home at the time of the inspection. This means that issues that show up certain times of the year may not be apparent, parts of the home are covered by finishes, rugs, furniture, objects etc, and nothing is moved or removed during the inspection except user-serviceable access panels. So why limit and restrict it even further? (This is an argument for you to try and negotiate a full home inspection during your pre-offer stage) Consult with your agent about this - the whole reason to get an inspection at all is to get as much information as you can in the limited time you have.
A limited pre-offer inspection is an inspection whose scope is reduced from the full scope in order to get it completed in a shorter amount of time for a buyer.
When the time is limited on a home inspection, usually, it is the seller or listing agent that is determining how much time you have in the home for a pre-offer inspection. We have had agents tell us “you have 15 minutes” once we arrive! Some require all inspections to occur only during open houses. Some are giving 1-hour windows for buyers to inspect the home. Some are saying you are free to have whatever types of pre-offer inspections you wish.
Technically, though, when it comes down to it, you are the one limiting the inspection. In Massachusetts, for example, the regulations state that only a client can say what items they don’t want inspected. This means that a home inspector can’t say you should not have items inspected that would normally be part of a full home inspection.
Pre-offer inspections are usually limited in time, so oftentimes a pre-offer inspection will not include the running of water at all fixtures, running the heating and cooling in every zone, and checking every area of distribution. Appliances, outlets, doors, windows, switches, and many other components are not able to be tested/observed - so if you DO choose to do this, you need to keep in mind that the idea of a limited inspection is to identify the truly significant items only - you want the inspector to find out if there are $25k+ significant repair items in the home, or significant safety hazards (i.e. foundation issues, deck deterioration to the point of imminent collapse, boiler exhausting onto the home, home wired with old, unsafe wiring throughout, Termite infestation, leaking sewer pipe - that type of thing…) - and you want to go into this knowing that you might find out later (after you have purchased the home) that there are plenty of other problems, like the oven doesn’t work, the garage door needs replacing, or the gutters don't drain properly. Some of these “surprises” can be upsetting, and so getting a limited pre-offer inspection is not for the faint of heart.
A pre-offer situation prevents you from having time to have multiple additional ancillary services like radon testing or lead testing. This is because sellers are limiting time on-site and access generally. But you can still ask for what you want, and you might still get it.
There are significant risks involved with having a pre-offer and you should go into this knowing that those risks are present. Make sure you fully understand what is included and what is omitted from any inspection you are having done on a property. Make sure your inspector is a good communicator and will clearly explain what you are getting when you opt for anything less than a full home inspection. Prepare to spend money at this stage, and prepare to have multiple pre-offer inspections. Remember, a full home inspection is always best.
Contact MKC Associates to schedule your home reinspection and keep the purchase process moving quickly!
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