Have you seen these guarantees to BUY YOUR HOME if you purchase a home inspection from that company? They are called consumer “hooks”. The promise sounds good and it is used to attract customers.
But no-one actually reads the fine print to figure out it’s a gimmick. The guarantees all have legal fine print that makes it nearly impossible for any home buyer to actually collect.
Pages of legal restrictions end up putting the homebuyer upside down financially if they ever try to file a claim. Here are some of the restrictions:
1) the homebuyer’s claim is rejected if the Seller failed to disclose the deficiency being used by the homebuyer to file the claim;
2) the homebuyer must first pay for repairs out of their own pocket to fix the issue being used to file the claim;
3) the homebuyer must then list the home for sale on the open market and at the same purchase price, plus pay a 6% commission out of their own pocket, and allowing other people to buy the home before being eligible for the company to step-in to purchase;
4) the homebuyer (who now is the Seller) must pay all closing costs out of their own pocket;
5) the company will hire its own private appraiser and then reject the homebuyer/seller’s claim if the appraisal comes in lower than selling price;
6) any disputes must be filed in court within that company’s home state (which is not California). Imagine the costs of hiring an out-of-state attorney to represent you, and then expecting that court to rule against one of its own local businesses versus the California plaintiff;
7) only visible deficiencies qualify from a very small list of eligible items (but not any material defects), if the problem is found and submit submitted within 90 days of close of escrow (COE).
In the end, if a claim is successful, the customer ends up losing thousands of dollars from the guarantee.
At SacPro Home Inspections we never play those games. We never trick homebuyers into thinking they are eligible for some smoke and mirrors promise… and any reasonable person would rightfully wonder about the type of home inspectors who would play those games.
Our business is built on trust and great home inspections.