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House
Calls (continued)
Wadler said home Inspections really caught hold in the last five to
seven years and even now most
homes are sold without them.
Nationally, she said, about 25 percent to 30 percent of homes are
inspected privately before a sales transaction is completed. In the New
England area, Wadler said the percentage may be above 90 percent but in
other areas such inspections may be non-existent
In
the Chicago area, Wadler estimates more than 50 percent of homes are
inspected prior to completion of a sale. Sriner said his business has
increased yearly, but in central Illinois most homes are sold without an
inspection.
Wadler believes the “evolution of consumerism” lead to the creation
of home inspections. “Homes have become expensive and people want to know what they’re buying,” she said.
Consumers first turned to people they knew who were in the
construction industry to do them a favor and look over a house. These favors, she said, eventually turned
into a business.
It is a business that is for the large part
unregulated. Wadler said
Texas is the only state that has a
licensing law for home inspectors, although she said it didn’t do a
lot to ferret out unqualified
people.
“Anybody who wanted to be a home inspector got a license,” said
Wadler, who said about 3,000 people were grandfathered in under the law.
As a result,
Wadler said some got into the business overnight with little capital
investment or qualifications.
“It’s
exploding,” she said of the borne - inspection business. “Almost
too
quickly.”
INSPECTING THE INSPECTOR
Wadler said in
selecting a home inspector, consumers should find out how long the
person has been in business, check past references, and contact the
Better Business Bureau to see if any complaints have been filed.
Despite the
potential for abuse, Janice Pryor, spokeswoman for the Illinois
Attorney General’s Office, said the office has received maybe only one
complaint.
Before joining
the American Society of Home inspectors, Sriner bad begun regulating
himself. In order to avoid a conflict of interest Sriner stipulated that he would not work on a house
for a year after an inspection.
When he found
out about ASH!, Sriner discovered he was heading in the right direction.
The organization was created in 1976 and its members must adhere to certain standards and code of ethics, which
prohibit them from using an inspection to generate other business or
having a financial interest in the structure they inspect. In order to
join, applicants must pass a series of tests and have completed at least
250 home inspections.
Sriner, who has
been a member of ASHI for three years, now does inspectlions
full-time under the name House Doctor Services, Inc. He said he averages
about four inspections a week for a base fee of $175 plus a dollar per
thousand dollars for homes over $80,000. Inspections on weekends and for
homes outside of town cost more.
The national
average for home inspections is $250, said Wadler, with the cost In
the Chicago area estimated at about $300 for a typical threebedroom
house.
The
inspections, usually done by one person, will take two to three hours.
Sriner said his inspections usually average three to three-and-a-half
hours, although it is not unusual to go four hours. He recommends the
purchasers accompany him on the rounds. Even if they don’t see
anything
wrong, Sriner said most people feel It is worth the education.
“It is like a
mini-course on house anatomy,” he said.
The National
Association of Realtors also promotes a home warranty program that
also cost about $300. Depending on the warranty, it can pay for repairs
or replacements of major appliances for a year after a home is
purchased. The warranties sometimes are purchased by sellers as an
incentive for people to buy a house.
Robert Butters,
deputy general counsel of the real estate agent association, said the
warranties eliminated many complaints from people who had
something go
wrong and blamed the seller or real estate agent.
Wadler, however, says warranties are limited and consumers should be
very thorough in checking out what they cover
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| Sewer:
One problem Sriner often finds is illegal sewer hookups,
where either downspouts or sump pumps feed water into sanitary sewers.
“It’s not limited to one area,” Sriner said Thursday.
“It covers expensive homes and cheap homes.”
So far this year, of 48 Springfield homes he has inspected,
Sriner said, five had gutter downspouts connected to sanitary sewers.
Nine of the houses bad sump pumps, and five of those were connected to
sanitary sewers.
He also
said it is his impression that people aren’t overly concerned about
such connections. He said he Isn’t aware of any sale being blocked
because he found such a problem.
Storm water, flowing into sanitary sewers can cause the
sewers to fill and back up, city officials say — and that can lead to
sewage in basements.
Under the city’s sewer ordinance, no person can tap a
public sewer more than five feet from a building without a permit from
the Springfield Sanitary District. No sump pump effluent can be
discharged onto any city street or alley or into a storm sewer without
approval from the city engineer’s office.
Violations range from $25 to $500 dollars per day.
Ward 10 AId. Allan Woodson said this week that
he’d like to make the minimum fine $250 — increasing the incentive
for homeowners to disconnect illegal hookups.
Woodson said Thursday that Sriner’s numbers show
the problem is real.
Although improper hookups are just part of the sewer
problem, he said, “We need to attack these problems on all fronts.”
Woodson said people have told him new owners often are
unaware of illegal hookups, so there should be some type of warning
before a fine is imposed. The ordinance he plans to introduce probably
will give time for people to make repairs, Woodson said.
Public Works Director Brad Townsend said his department Is
studying the problem and plans to work with the sanitary district to see
how to achieve better compliance with the law.
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