Inspections
Walk Through
Most often on investment property, the investor needs to know about big ticket items and an overview of the property. Especially occupied units it can be easier when trying to deal with tenants and working around their items. What I usually do for out of town investors is set up the inspection by WhatsApp to get video clips to the investor. I do a check of the 4 major systems. I do not do an inspection report, but if there is a defect that is big enough to be a game changer I do write a letter adequate to cancel the contract. We go into each unit/house and check the faucets, furnace, water heater, electric panel, foundation, and a brief walk of the rooms. The idea is that most investors buy a property knowing that there will be some work, so it makes more sense to save some money and not check every outlet, etc. I then do the same quick walk of the exterior. In the end you have a good overall picture of the property, and you can sort out the small things with the contractor since you know you will need one anyway. I charge $240 for the first unit or house and exterior including drone inspection. For multi family, assuming each unit has separate mechanicals I charge $120 for each one after the first… so for a duplex it would only be $350
Full Inspection
The other option is to do a full report rather than a video walk. It has the advantage of checking things like all the outlets, faucets, each window, etc that we can access. The only reason most don’t do this is because they know there will be items to fix, so the big items and the overview is the more important thing at this stage. I charge $345 for the first unit/house including the drone inspection, and on multi family I charge $180 for each additional. So $500 for a full report on a duplex. I don’t typically do the video files sent on WhatsApp, but can for $50 a unit. If I have your WhatsApp info, I will send a video free if there is something that really does need an explanation that noting defects just would not do justice on.
Rehab/Flip Consulting
How do you know you are buying a quality rehab? Because the person doing the work has used an INDEPENDENT INSPECTOR throughout the process.
We work with several companies that specialize in rehabbing or flipping properties. Typically we do a full inspection at the beginning. This inspection becomes part of the scope of work. Most contractors focus on how the property will look to potential buyers, where as inspectors we focus on the bones of the property. We don’t care about the cosmetics, but we do care if the mechanicals work, foundation is sound, the property is safe, etc. At the end of the work, we then perform at least one more FULL inspection that verifies the defects we found the first time were corrected. On larger projects we often consult between inspections to help contractors insure the jobs are going to be ok on the inspections.