Brooklyn Park Abandons Point-of-Sale Inpection Program

As you probably know, there are several cities in the Twin Cities that require city inspections when homes are sold.  The names (Point of Sale, Truth in Housing, Truth in Sale of Housing, etc..) and details differ from city to city, but the underlying idea is the same - cities want some way to assure that their housing stock stays in decent shape, and so they require sellers to have the home inspected prior to closing on the sale.

My thoughts on this have always been that more and more cities would adopt similar programs.  There are already quite a few cities that require Time of Sale inspections (Crystal, Golden Valley, Minneapolis, St. Paul, Richfield, Bloomington, etc..), but my expectation was that this would continue to grow.

However, at least in the very short-term, my assumption has been wrong.  Just last week the City of Brooklyn Park voted to repeal their Time of Sale program.  As of June 3, sellers are no longer required to have their homes inspected.

For buyers and sellers in Brooklyn Park, this is probably welcome news.  Although their are certainly benefits to such a program, many buyers and sellers look at them as invasive, time-consuming, and a waste of money - particularly by sellers, who are responsible for making any repairs required as a result of the inspection.

Ultimately, it will be quite interesting to see which city makes the next move on this front.  Will a new city adopt such a program, or will we see Time of Sale inspections continue to get the axe?  Stay tuned to find out!