Fireplace Inspection

Our clients ratified a beautiful TIC in a 19th Century Victorian on July 2007. In the disclosures (which we read before we submitted the offer but did not approve) it stated that the fireplace needed a lot of work, and that it might not work and suggested that the buyers get their own inspection (this is code for "The fireplace does not work." usually).

I called the Listing Agent to let him know that I had arranged (on behalf of my buyers) for a fireplace inspection/repair service to come over and give us a quote to fix everything and get the fireplace working. Turns out all the work that the inspection referred to had already been done, but the information was not in the disclosure package. Huh?

I called the company that I was told did the work, confirmed with them that they did do the work, and I had them come out and give us a walkthrough on what work he did and to confirm again in person that the fireplaces were ready to use.

Jeff Friedman from The SF Chimney Sweep met us at the property at 8am and gave us a great courtesy review and walkthrough on the work he did and he said that the fireplaces were ready for use. Thanks Jeff.

The buyers are of course happy and relieved that the fireplace they thought they were going to have to fix is now ready for use!

FOR BUYERS: Always make sure to have professionals inspect any and every system of the house that you have reason to suspect may have a problem as fast as you can after you ratify and as far away from the contingency removal date as possible! In this case, there was an inspection done on the fireplace that was included in the disclosure package.

But often times the Seller will not have these types of inspections performed, and the buyers then have to rely on the Property Inspection to raise further concerns about various components and sytems in the house. The Property Inspector would probably not be able to give you a detailed analysis on the fireplace during his inspection, but he would at least recommend verbally and in his written report to have a professional look at the fireplace.