On Aug 11, 9:15*pm, dpb wrote:
Oscar wrote:
"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.

Obviously there's an offer; apparently OP is satisfied w/ the pricing as
he made some attempts to satisfy the conditions of an (pretty obviously
contingent) inspection but that still doesn't lead to there actually
being any contract yet in place. *There's an existing document that
could conceivably turn _INTO_ a contract, but it ain't one at this point.

Of course there is a contract in place. I've yet to see a bank/
mortgage company involved with inspections on a property without
having a purchase contract. That is the most basic requirement as
part of the whole mortgage process. They want a contract that shows
what the property is, what the purchase price is, how much is being
financed, how much is being put down, etc. together with the
application fee. Only then do they send out any appraisers/
inspectors.


And also, any buyer would be an idiot to pay a mortgage application
fee, home inspection fees, attorneys fees, etc without having a
contract. He could spend that money and then have the seller say:
"Never mind, I found another buyer at a higher price."




For example, seller (OP) could instead of continuing the aforementioned
charade simply make a counter offer of something like $X for buyer to
accept w/ the existing report. *Ball is then in buyer's court and
negotiations can continue from there or one party says "no mas" and
retires from the battle. *In OP's shoes unless I were _truly_desperate_
for the sale I'd probably simply say "as is w/ report noted" but with
attached statement regarding whatever is own interpretation of the
particular situation (in this case the Pb paint issue) if didn't think
the inspection report accurate or as in this case overblowing the
seriousness of a finding ending in, in essence, "take it or leave it"
and let them decide how badly they want the house. *Most folks by the
time they actually make an offer are emotionally committed and they'll
concede the small stuff.

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.

As the previous quote from the FHA says, they don't do inspections at
all; it's your job (or the lender's to see you do yours). *Thus it's
really whatever _the_lender_ requires rather than FHA--FHA doesn't
really care, specifically. *That was what was when last dealt w/ one;
the verbiage atwww.fha.govdoesn't read any different in quick look-see
on that point than did 30 years ago. *The problem is that to meet the
other requirements for qualifying for the insurance they have to show in
essence extreme diligence so their (the lender's, that is) requirements
are more stringent than for a conventional mortgage.

In short, afaict from a quick perusal of the FHA site, whatever is this
hangup has more to do w/ the lender's procedures w/ FHA mortgages than
it does w/ FHA per se. *That may seem like a minor difference but it's
significant.

--