How Your Home Inspector helps you pass the VA Appraisal Part 2
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How Your Home Inspector Helps You Pass The VA Appraisal Part 2
[00:00:00] Let's continue learning how our home inspector is your advocate, your best advocate, to find those problems that an appraiser's gonna call out on a VA loan.
Another thing that you guys have taught me the home inspectors is water damage on, say Masonite. I think that's what it is. Masonite siding or water damage on stucco because of water sprinklers. The water systems here. You wanna talk about that a little bit? I mean, I don't see it often just because it would have to be, for the most part, a grass sprinkler close to the house.
So if the, so if you have a patch of grass close to the house, I will see calcium deposits on windows or siding. That's where you would find that, but not, I would see more often from rain [00:01:00] or monsoons than actually water damage from a, a sprinkler system. Okay. Got it. Yeah, that would be more rare on my end, I would say.
Okay. Okay. But yeah. Okay. Let, let's talk about roofs. 'cause they can look up that roof. So tell me what they're looking at when they're looking at the roof and what do you look for when you're on a roof? Well, I, I'm, look, I'm getting on the roof. That might be the difference. They may not, so again, if it's, if it's not visually at the end of its life from the ground, then they're probably not catching, you know, a lot of, any roof defects, which would then go on to us or a roofer.
For sure. Okay. So if it, again, if it's not, if they're not getting on a ladder, then they would have to notice it from the street or the ground. Okay. But we get on the roof and walk the entire roof just to, you know, find [00:02:00] any defects. Okay. So if they did see missing shingles from the, from looking up, that would be a, like, that's a problem, right?
Again, yeah, we would get, it doesn't happen that often, but. Doesn't. But yeah, that would be the, again, that would be the only way they would be able to, you know, write it up because it would be visual from the ground. Okay. Okay. Anything else that you can think of? I'm just in my head, mentally going over issues that have come up with different VA lawns and different homes that I've had to have addressed.
Broken windows, definitely. Flooring has definitely come up. Peeling paint. Oh, railings like they're missing. Tell me, how do you know if there should be a railing on a, how do you know when there's supposed to be railings? Tell me what you're looking. So, I mean, for an appraiser on a VA loan, you, you probably two steps.
Okay. If there's two more than two steps, [00:03:00] they're probably going to wanna see a railing. I believe it did go from three steps to two steps. But again, we're, you're almo. If it's one step, that's fine, but two or more, I'm, I'm a, I'm gonna say that the appraiser's gonna want those just again for that tripping hazard.
Right. Right. So what about elevated patios or decks? At what point do they need to have a railing? Like when does it become a safety hazard? Because I've had that called out in the past and I'm not really clear on that. It's, so, again, I would have to look at the numbers, but it, it's, it's around 30 inches or so is usually that, that, that fall hazard where code wise would require a railing.
But again. An appraiser may not be looking for codes. So if that deck is right at 30 inches and he's like, well, still, he could fall off and hurt himself. They may also [00:04:00] require it, even though it's not code I that would be, that's only just assuming if they're looking for any kind of safety hazards. So.
That would be the difference between those that, that then, you know, railings or no railings. Okay. But there is a, there is a set number. I just don't have it on the top of my head. Okay. I think, I think you're right on the 30 and you are also 30 or 32. Yeah. But you're also correct in saying an appraiser's not looking for code violations, they're looking for safety issues.
Yes. And they feel like, say for instance. Two and a half feet or whatever that is, but you know, it, it's within code to not have to have a, a railing, but there's rocks or a drop off. Yeah. The appraiser's gonna call that out and say, yes, that's not safe. I would call it out, be like, I don't think so. You know, I'll have a couple little.
You know, beverage is my little drinks and there I go down the hill. Not so good. So they're, if they're there to [00:05:00] protect, obviously the, the lend and the, and the, and the VA or the, veteran, then that would be something there. They may not go with the code. Right, right. That is true. That is very, very true.
I'm trying to think. I'm, of all the ones that have been called out, I'm just like, oh yes. And I had a shed called out that was, had peeling paint. Oh, oh a shed. See. Yeah. So that is the other thing with VA loans. That I've come across is they are wanting the termite to visually inspect every single structure on the property.
Yes. Which for us, if it's an outbuilding shed that wasn't permitted. I mean, it's not really something that we would have to go unless there was a, a roof that was caving in. But again, it's a non permitted exterior structure. But the VA loan will require that termite. And then, like you said, that would be a some [00:06:00] where we may not go into the shed, but the appraiser will.
Because they're looking at the outbuildings more than we may because we're looking at the main investment is the house. Correct? That is, that is a really valid point because we didn't think that the appraiser was gonna call out really? The floor, the slab in that garage we referred to earlier, and he sure the heck did.
That was his thing. And obviously there was peeling paint on the garage, which we knew was gonna be called out. We'd already negotiated resolving that, but we're like. Why is he calling out this slab? It was like, it's not else. And he called it out and they do look the out buildings, I think more than, and put more emphasis on that, I'm finding.
Yes. So that's just something, again, we have to keep in mind that VA appraiser is gonna be looking at these things. We have to be looking at these things. And then there's one last thing that always comes up for VA appraisals. [00:07:00] Which is not something you do anything with, but I'm gonna mention it here, is the road maintenance on dirt roads.
'cause we have a lot of dirt roads here,And you don't really assess that or anything, but I do know that that's another issue that. When we're looking at properties, we have to make sure that any road maintenance that's being done on that property is documented. Either it's, you know, the neighbors are doing it, the county's doing it, you know, a private party does it, or the current
new future owners willing to do it themselves. So that's sort of another thing. And appraisers drive on those, those roads and they will call it out because They, they, they drove the road and they're like, this road is insane. I have had a couple properties, I didn't sell any after going down this road, but literally you had to drive through two creeks to get to the property.
I don't know if that would pass a VA appraisal 'cause you would be trapped. When [00:08:00] it's mine here, you can't get out. And there was one way in and one way out and you had to pass two creeks. And it wasn't like little either. It wasn't like, you know, three feet, it was like 25 feet across or more. It was like two car lengths across.
Wow. Okay. Yeah. That would be something that I would not have known. Yeah, that, that is a little scary to me. But people like to be out there. So Anything else that you can think of when you know you're doing in a home inspection for a veteran on a VA loan that you've come across that I haven't mentioned?
So again, the same thing that I've run into, it's they don't. Talk to me or don't ask for, for anything from me, it's always the termite. So outbuildings and obviously getting an invoice. So from my perspective, it's the termite inspector [00:09:00] that they really are looking at getting everything looked at, which again is fine, but not on our end.
It's the, termite. And then obviously the other stuff will catch on the house. But termite for, for getting the loan, it's all about the termite, right? Right. And just so everybody knows, these are not the only things that a home inspector inspects. They look at, oh, electrical, I almost forgot what if there is a messed up electrical system?
'cause they will call that out. So again, I believe they're not going to be opening any panels. The dead face or the, no, no, not the dead face. They just open the panel and, and if it's correct, it's not labeled correct. They will call that out potentially, that it's not 'cause it's potentially a safety issue or you don't know what to turn off.
But like you said, with if they're, if. In particularly looking [00:10:00] at outbuildings in our rural area, you do have some handyman wiring in a lot of those exterior buildings, so if those are visually apparent, that will get flagged. They're going into all the exterior buildings that weren't necessarily permitted or done by a contractor.
I forgot about that. Yeah, you're right. And that has been called out and we've, I think that how we've dealt with it historically is it may have been called out by the home inspector, and then we've tried to have as much of that addressed before the appraiser got there. That is part of the benefit of having that home inspection where you're in there.
You're checking outlets, you're checking light fixtures, you're checking to make sure all the appliances are working. You climb in the, I mean, you guys check everything and I, and I tell people they will get in every nook and cranny. I'm not gonna, but they will. And I do actually encourage my sellers [00:11:00] to have home inspections.
So that they're prepared for these situations, they can resolve things before it even is called out by the buyer, so that they can address any potential barriers to a VA appraisal, those type of things. But yeah, the electrical box, they occasionally will look in there and go, oh, there's no labels on this.
Got it. Okay. Okay. Call and I know you call, but again, they're not doing an extensive Yeah. They're not opening any pan, pan or dead faces or anything like that, so, oh God, no. No, no, no. Yeah, and, and, and just so people understand also, appraisers are typically at the properties maybe 10, 15 minutes, depending on how large the property is.
The smaller it is, the faster they're in and out. They literally are looking for those obvious issues that we just talked about broken windows, flooring, paint, unsafe decks or lack of railings, termite stuff, but that's usually not something they're gonna see. [00:12:00] Yeah. Electrical bonds. Yeah. And the VA. So the VA appraisers are there a little longer than this is true.
A normal appraiser. True. That is true. So that would be, I mean, they'd have to be, 'cause the normal appraiser's pretty in and out, but if they're looking for those kind of things, they would be there a little longer. Right. Okay. So cool. Yeah. Cool. Well, thank you so much, spike for being willing to chat with me today about home inspections, focusing really on the VA, VA, what we need to do for VA borrowers, buyers, and we will have spike's information posted below so you can reach out to him by email and phone, text.
Do you have a website? I do, but that, that's the best way. Okay, so email or call? Yes. Okay. Cool. Cool. Thank you. Thank you so much. And again, I appreciate your time today. Have a thank you. Wonderful day. Thank you. Okay. Bye-bye. Have a [00:13:00] good one. Well, thank you so much for watching our video today on the kind of issues that a VA appraiser's going to be looking for and how your home inspector can help you avoid any issues that when that VA appraiser shows up.
If those problems have already been taken care of, and this is just one of the many videos that I've done regarding home inspections, so please follow this link and thumbnail and watch the rest of the videos and learn more about home inspections as a buyer and a seller.
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