Originally Posted By: gathermewool
Are FHA inspections similar to VA loan inspections? If so, that might not mean much. Our home inspector went through before the VA appraiser, and we asked him to point anything the appraiser might find, so we can get a head start on negotiating who would take care of each item. We got a list of things that could have cost a few grand to fix right then and there, but I did not feel needed to be at the time of purchase (especially for the price.)
Anyway, long story short, our inspector was incredibly thorough. The VA appraiser showed up and apparently only spent around five minutes in the place. He found a total of zero things to fix and appraised the house for $10k over the closing price...
They can be, depends on the appraiser. They seem to care about railings, that always seems to come up. They're only going to pick up what they can see in 5 minutes, they're not going to tear into the heating system to see how good it is or open up the electrical panel to check for rust or double taps. The main problem with them is that the buyers tend to be shaky because you just need 3.5% for a down payment. And the other reason is that it can take a lot longer than a conventional loan, but I've seen them close on time so it's possible.
It basically boils down to if you don't have any other offers and you want to sell, you just take them and keep your fingers crossed.