No to Point-of-Sale Inspections in Eden Prairie

Buyers should always elect to have the more detailed 3 hour, 30-50 page reports instead of relying on the skimpy City mandated 30 minute, 2 page reports typical of these forced city inspections.. The few cities that had these in place are associated with much older homes and have not helped improve housing stock. Only deters and impedes home sales compared to all the other cities that allow willing buyers and sellers to freely negotiate home sales and potential home repairs.

What problem is this supposed to solve? Buyers are already protected and the city has no place in a private transaction.

do not sign this. Not needed - ridiculous tax!!

What? This sounds like another ridiculous tax!

This is a ridiculous tax!

Eden Prairie doesn't need this, and will impede the sales process. A private home inspection is much better for the buyer and seller both.

keep gov out of our freedom

GOVERNMENT DOES NOT BELONG IN THE PRIVATE SALE OF A HOME BETWEEN TWO PARTIES.

Pleass sign the petition

Leaders of the City of Eden Prairie are misguided on this "point of sale" inspection. Buyers in real estate transactions almost always hire their own home inspection and negotiate repairs with the seller. A point of sale inspection by the City is another example of Government over reaching their duties and getting involved in something that's not needed. It's a duplication of efforts and adds extra cost (tax) and red tape to a private transaction. To the members of the Eden Prairie City Council - let the marketplace handle it which is much more efficient and effective than Big Government.

I totally disagree with implementing these inspections. While I will say that the idea of these Point-of-Sale Inspections make sense, I feel they are nothing more than a waste of money for the homeowner/seller and new source of revenue for the city, the home inspectors and hardware stores. I used to sell a lot of residential real estate and saw how little these inspections actually covered when I sold homes in Mpls and Bloomington (and other cities that required these inspections). The most common violation was not having backflow preventers on the outside water spigots and laundry tub faucets. Home sellers would buy the backflow preventers and install them to pass the inspection and then take them off and not use them. That’s why I added hardware stores to the new source of revenue generation. Every home that came on the market and had to pass the inspection usually needed to purchase at least two of them. If my past experience with these inspections led me to see a lot more significant and serious violations, I think I would feel differently. However, that was not the case. A thorough home inspection conducted by the buyer of the property will expose many more flaws and violations than these Point-of-Sale Inspections ever did and is the most common contingency in any real estate transaction.

I am not a realtor or a builder. I am a retired 27 year resident of EP. This proposal appears to be a thinly veiled attempt to boost revenue by increasing the volume of building permit fees - which have declined almost 20% over the last two years. Only 25% of the deficiencies the city expects would require a building permit. The remaining 75% are likely to be more cosmetic than safety or structurally related. Any claim by the city that this is a broad safety concern does not appear to be accurate and, if it is, could be addressed with a much less intrusive process. If I were to offer my house for sale, the transaction could, in fact be delayed/ jeapordized because of a torn window screen without a reasonable process for appeal. Decisions would be made by the un-elected city manager and his/her decision would be final. This level of unchecked discretion includes enormous potential for abuse and could subject the city to long and expensive litigation over selective enforcement, etc. I urge the Council to reject this proposal.

City governmental bodies across our nation continue to inject themselves and their inane policies into our private lives and personal business, and this action by the EP city council is but another example. To Mayor Tyra-Lukens and council members, I join the voices of my fellow residents in telling you to stay out of the real estate business; the private sector does just fine without you and we don't need another bureaucratic, power hungry, governmental office to intrude upon our personal lives and freedoms by telling us we must conform to some set of rules and regulations developed from your personal political ideologies and agendas.

Jim's comment is interesting. I sent a question to a Eden Prairie Building Official who responded to my email questions sent to the city council. I asked him directly about permits and permit violations. I also asked how would an inspector determine if there is hazardous structural, electrical or plumbing,when structure, electrical and plumbing are inside the walls? I think what they are looking for is work that was done, but not permitted. I sent the question on Monday no response yet. I will forward the response when I receive it.

I completely agree with you, John. I hope you don't mind that I copied your comment to my facebook post. I didn't take credit for your words, but I couldn't have said it better.