Akron Life November 2022

The Akron Cleveland Association of REALTORS ® explores how point-of-sale inspections can hinder transactions and what progressive cities are doing to alleviate burdens on sellers and buyers. By Kristen Hampshire W hen Zack Boera listed his rental property for sale in Newburgh Heights, he knew about filing an application have to be taken care of, but I assumed they would be little things — not crazy.” But when the inspector returned to re view repairs and confirm that all violations were addressed, he cited the fence. Yet another violation for Boera to manage and finance before his home could close for the buyer. “All of a sudden, we are trying to close, and I have to spend another $5,000 to put a fence up,” he says. CASE in POINT

Anyone who’s been in a real estate transaction with a hope for “no surprises” would understand why Boera’s situation unraveled into a frustrating chain of events. The inspector visited his home, doled out a ticker list of violations and an estimated price tag for each. Boera was obligated to put that money into an escrow account, then complete repairs before he could get the funds back. That basically meant ear marking double the cost of repairs.

with the city’s building department for a point-of-sale inspection, but he wasn’t sure what “damage” would result from the interi or/exterior examination of a property he had maintained for his tenants over the years. “It was an older house, and I had done a lot of work on it over the years,” Boera relates. “It was in good shape, and I knew there would be some things that would

Another pain point is that many of the initial violations could have been rectified with less-expensive repairs vs. replace ments. For example, some windows were missing screens, and the city mandated that

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2 Akron Cleveland Association of REALTORS