To Inspect or Not to Inpect: UNDERMINED COAL COMPANY HOUSES

 I have a meeting today with a land-man from a coal company.     The coal company is constantly buying houses and then selling them, mostly because of undermining.     The land-man would like to do some pre-sale inspections on these houses, hopefully on a continuing basis.
 This question stems from the fact that an appraiser of sorts is telling the coal company that the first house is worth "$0.00" because of the undermining in the area.   So the land-man wants a pre-sale inspection to show the actual condition, I assume for the purpose of his argument that the house is okay.
  I have thorougly explained and will again today that I have no ability or willingness to assign value to any property or system or component.   I can report on the accessible, visually observing the condition at the time of inspection, etc.  I also explain, to everyone, I don't blow things out of proportion and I don't minimize anything either.
 So I'm asking you guys for any thoughts on inspecting undermined houses.   Here, in my area, the bulk of any rural houses are undermined, it's a fact of life.   You can buy insurance for it, but when the mine collapses someday there could be settling or worse.  The mines are hundreds of feet below so nobody knows when or if.   
 I'm looking for some of the best disclaimers to put in the reports.  And given the fact that an inspection is being used as a rebuttal in an agrument, I'm wondering how many people would have a bad gut feeling about it like I do.    On the other hand, I see that there's potential for Your Home Inspector LLC to be on speed dial for the largest property holder in the area.     
My goal in moving forward is to do the inspections the same as I ever would, honest and straight forward, but with the biggest bulk of subsidence disclaimers ever seen in one place.   Thanks for reading.  And again-I have no damn clue how some posts are formatted like this and some aren't, with having to scroll across to read it.

If you’re in West Virginia, you may want to read this article for a better understanding of surface reflection on a collapsed mine.

In Colorado there are old coal mines that whole subdivision are being built on today. The houses are going like hot cakes.

We can’t predict future events or their cause and effect on a property we inspect. I would have no issue performing an inspection in accordance with SOP and report what you observe. Don’t use is to describe anything.

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Formatted for readability:

I have a meeting today with a land-man from a coal company. The coal company is constantly buying houses and then selling them, mostly because of undermining. The land-man would like to do some pre-sale inspections on these houses, hopefully on a continuing basis.

This question stems from the fact that an appraiser of sorts is telling the coal company that the first house is worth “$0.00” because of the undermining in the area. So the land-man wants a pre-sale inspection to show the actual condition, I assume for the purpose of his argument that the house is okay.

I have thorougly explained and will again today that I have no ability or willingness to assign value to any property or system or component. I can report on the accessible, visually observing the condition at the time of inspection, etc. I also explain, to everyone, I don’t blow things out of proportion and I don’t minimize anything either.

So I’m asking you guys for any thoughts on inspecting undermined houses. Here, in my area, the bulk of any rural houses are undermined, it’s a fact of life. You can buy insurance for it, but when the mine collapses someday there could be settling or worse. The mines are hundreds of feet below so nobody knows when or if.

I’m looking for some of the best disclaimers to put in the reports. And given the fact that an inspection is being used as a rebuttal in an agrument, I’m wondering how many people would have a bad gut feeling about it like I do. On the other hand, I see that there’s potential for Your Home Inspector LLC to be on speed dial for the largest property holder in the area.

My goal in moving forward is to do the inspections the same as I ever would, honest and straight forward, but with the biggest bulk of subsidence disclaimers ever seen in one place. Thanks for reading. And again-I have no damn clue how some posts are formatted like this and some aren’t, with having to scroll across to read it.

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Are you copy/pasting from a Word type document? I know some people like to write their comments in Word, then paste them here. That would be my assumption of what you are doing.

As for your inspection concerns, my primary one would be with Sinkholes!
Have your attorney draft a disclaimer for your Agreement/Contract with language to protect you from such unknown natural and man-made hazardous conditions. He/she will appreciate the future protections being in place if/when he needs to defend you in court!

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No copy and paste, just Create new topic button only. Me and electronics have a love/hate relationship.

I would not invite the devil into my home. I would listen to those red flags.

However, if you press forward, talk to an attorney. There may need to be an addendum to your agreement with this land owner. Something that outlines the risks with these homes and he assumes all these risks regardless of your findings.

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I would agree to do these inspections.

The inspection is for the condition of the property at the time of the inspection, so if the house collapses into a sink hole the day after the inspection, if an airplane crashes into it a week after the inspection, a massive rain storm hits and floods it a week and a half after the inspection, a wildfire erupts and destroys it two weeks after the inspection, or tornado takes it out 3 hours after the inspection, is all irrelevant to the condition of the property at the time of inspection.

This should be stated in some form in your PIA.

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Meeting went well. Apparently there is a “bunch” of houses that need inspected and it looks like the benefits will outweigh the risks. Careful reporting and thorough inspecting will determine the success of this blitzkrieg inspecting campaign. Thanks everyone.

The once little town of Erie is a prime example. That place has exploded over the last few years. I bet the “unknowing” home buyers range in the 90 percentile range…