Can They Do This
I'am interested in purchasing a reo property from the bank. They are using a real estate agency to sell this property, the forclosed amount was $23.000 dollars, and the attorney fees and court cost were around $2.300 dollars, The real-estate agency told me that the bank wants to sell this property for $29.000 dollars, of which I would have to pay for a city inspection of this property, and that I would need to make a check payable to the real estate agency for this city inspection. It sounds like to me, they want me to pay for an inspection that they are supose to foot, also I thought that whom ever is they (Seller) is responsible for paying for inspections, as well as any bills owed on the property such as utilities, and back taxes. How can they ask me to pay for a city inspection?[ Edited by ladytonet on Date 12/01/2003 ]
A seller can ask you to pay anything they want to.
It is up to you if you want to pay or not.
Bottom line is the deal worth the price of the house.
Buyers typically pay for an independent inspector to inspect they property before they buy the property. I have never heard of a city inspector being paid to do an inspection. Maybe where you live this is the norm. When a city inspector gets involved here in Austin it means that a final inspection has not been completed in a major rehab or the property is condemed and needs major repair.
Good LUCK and HAPPY HOLIDAYS
Hope this helps some
Ted Jr
Negotiate the sales price before you do
anything. Once you are satisfied with the price then pay the inspection fee. There may be occupancy, health, building,code ,etc,etc, ordinances which may be at issue. So, make the puchase contingent on the approval of the city inspection. There may be a bundle of compliance repairs which would not make this purchase economically feasible.