Imagine for a moment, a buyer purchased a real estate property in San Diego, moved into the house, only to spend close to $6500 on repairs that will make the house more conducive. A simple survey by the buyer before paying for the house could’ve saved that unnecessary $6500 expenses.
It’s very misleading to rely on the ‘photoshopped’ pictures of the house found on the realtor’s website or on the ad advertising the house for sale. A physical visit to the house in the company of an expert surveyor is a wise thing to do. Moreover, a seller can hide behind the caveat emptor shield, so if the buyer fails to come inspect what is being bought, such buyer cannot complain later about any defects found in the house.
That’s why going to physically inspect a real estate property in San Diego with an expert surveyor is essential. The surveyor is experienced at picking out faults with the house that may seem invisible to others.
Surveyors are usually indemnified due to their professional insurance policy. What this means is that if after hiring a surveyor to inspect a house before a buyer makes the purchase, where the buyer incurs costs due to some faults in the house which the surveyor is expected to have discovered, the surveyor will be liable to refund the buyer the expenses of taking care of the fault.
Since most people take out loans or mortgage to pay for the purchase of a house, one of the required documents is a survey report. The report is expected to detail the structure of the house, it’s location in relation to other properties, boundary markers (measurements are taken to ascertain they are in their rightful positions), it’s location in relation to other structures and utility easements, and so on.
An homeowner who wishes to install new structures like a shed, garage, pool, greenhouse or fence, will need a survey to obtain permission to carry out such projects. Surveys are usually issued in the names of the buyer or company holding title or bank the house has been mortgaged to. Where a new owner of a particular property seeks a new survey from the surveyor who carried out the previous survey, the new survey can be done for a reduced fee. A buyer should therefore think of asking the seller for the contact of the person or company who carried out the previous survey.
On this note, accepting an old survey from the seller for the purpose of the new transaction is not valid. The reason for this is, new problems could’ve arisen in the time between the last survey and the current transaction. For these new faults, the buyer will not be able to claim a recourse as the faults would not be found in the old survey.
Depending on the realtor being used, most offer survey as one of their services. Taking advantage of it or paying for one if not offered by the realtor is crucial to avoiding unnecessary expenses.