"dpb" wrote in message
...

Afaict there is no contract w/ the seller at this point...he apparently
has an offer but that's no contract...


You missed the OP original statement. "We are selling a house to a buyer
using an FHA mortgage."
FHA just doesn't go around inspecting houses, because someone is thinking
about buying this one or that one. There must be an offer & acceptance.
Thing is, FHA goes in after the acceptance, at least they did in my case.
The way the OP sounds, they're doing it the same way to them.

In general, one is incredibly shortsighted to undertake a major
transaction w/o the services of appropriate counsel...

I'll tell ya, it was a while ago when I sold FHA, and a lesson well
learned. Unfortunately, they are unscruptulous realtors (like you didn't
already know this), which will talk people into selling FHA/VA, without
telling the drawbacks.