Let’s talk about sliding glass doors for a minute. I wanted to bring up two repair issues I see frequently during FHA appraisal inspections in the Sacramento area. I notice these issues in not only foreclosure sales, but also investor flips. Why does this matter? FHA is very specific about a property needing to meet certain requirements, so having a home in “FHA shape” before it lists on the market will help eliminate re-inspection fees by the appraiser, which effectively removes one more potential delay in closing escrow.
Broken Glass: One of the things you hear constantly about FHA loans is the importance of “health and safety.” So we must ask the question: Could it be a safety issue if there is one pane of glass broken on the sliding glass door with shards of glass sticking out? The answer seems obvious, right? This could be a safety risk for occupants – particularly children. The seller will need to cure the problem by removing the shards altogether or ideally replacing the glass pane. It’s actually easy to miss things like this, so it’s important to look closely at a sliding glass door.
Broken Locks: In addition to a focus on “heath and safety”, the basic concept of meeting FHA minimum requirements is that everything must work as it is designed to work. For example, a window that is supposed to open must open, and a built-in appliance should do what that appliance is designed to do. This means if you have a sliding glass door that is supposed to lock, it should do just that. If the seller is putting a 2×4 in the sliding glass door track to keep the door shut, that’s not okay. In the case below, the lock is missing altogether, so a new working lock will need to be installed before the close of escrow.
I hope this was helpful to answer some of your questions. You can check out other FHA appraisal articles I’ve written including Top 10 Repair Issues for FHA Loans and Do the Appliances Have to be Working for an FHA loan?
Any questions, stories or insight?
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Does smoke and carbon alarms have to be wired or battery operated still ok?
Battery operated is still okay. I believe new construction has to be wired though. Otherwise my understanding is that older homes can still have battery-operated (thankfully). If you hear otherwise, let me know. Thanks.