The appraisal and the inspection are two different bills
Here’s the deal. The FHA appraisal is the lender’s number on the house plus a condition check against HUD’s minimum property requirements. Two questions: what’s it worth, and is it safe, sound and secure.
A home inspection is separate. You hire it, you pay for it, and it’s the one that tells you the chimney is done. HUD is direct enough about this that lenders have to hand you form HUD-92564-CN, “For Your Protection: Get a Home Inspection,” at first contact — pre-qualification, pre-approval or application, whichever comes first. Get the inspection.
Everything below comes out of HUD Handbook 4000.1, section II.D.3, the appraiser’s rulebook. None of it is a Delco rule. It just lands hard on houses built between 1900 and 1929, and this county has streets of nothing else.
Paint is the one that catches people
The twin-and-row belt went up long before 1978, so nearly every one of these houses is covered by the lead rules. On a house built on or before December 31, 1978, the appraiser must note the condition and location of all defective paint and require repair in compliance with 24 CFR 200.810(c).
Defective means cracking, scaling, chipping, peeling or loose. Dated is fine. Loose is not.
The sweep is wide: interior and exterior surfaces, common areas, stairs, deck, porch, railings, windows and doors, plus fences, detached garages, sheds and outbuildings. The back-porch railing on a Lansdowne twin counts. So does the shed.
Who fixes it is usually the seller, before closing, because a lender can’t fund on an appraisal that’s still subject to repairs. Sometimes the buyer’s crew does the work with the seller’s written permission. Sometimes the price moves instead. On a pre-1978 house the scraping and repainting follows the lead-safe rules, so it’s work for a certified contractor.
Wiring, the panel, and the word “adequate”
Handbook 4000.1 has no knob-and-tube rule. None. What it has is a standard. The electrical system is a deficiency if it “is not adequate to support the typical functions performed in the dwelling without disruption.”
So the appraiser looks for visible frayed wiring or exposed wires, basement and garage included, reports it if the amperage and panel size appear inadequate, and operates a sample of switches, fixtures and receptacles. The appraiser is not required to open the panel.
Which means an old system that works can pass. It also means a lender can layer its own requirement on top, and the insurance company has opinions of its own. That whole knot has its own page.
The roof over your half
The test is remaining life. A roof covering that doesn’t keep moisture out, or that doesn’t have at least two years of physical life left, is a deficiency, and under two years the appraisal goes subject to inspection by a professional roofer.
Flat roofs are the local wrinkle. When the appraiser can’t view the roof, which is normal on a row, the handbook makes them explain why and report on the underside, the attic and the ceilings instead.
Then the question everybody asks: what about the neighbor’s half? 4000.1 carries no party-wall or shared-roof rule. The two-year test applies to the roof covering over the subject property, whatever is happening next door. If the roof runs unbroken across four houses, ask the lender how they want that handled before the appraiser is standing in the driveway.
Handrails and the general safety line
Another one with no rule of its own. The handbook prints no handrail requirement. A missing or loose rail gets written up under the general standard, where the appraiser reports known environmental and safety hazards that may affect the health and safety of the occupants.
Where handrails get specific is the township. Nether Providence and East Lansdowne want a rail at four or more risers. Prospect Park wants one at more than three. Lansdowne’s resale checklist names handrails, GFCIs and no peeling paint in the same breath. Two inspections, two rulebooks, one set of basement steps. The U&O side is here.
Water, heat, and whatever’s under the sidewalk
The appraiser operates the plumbing, heating and electrical systems and watches how they perform. Toilets flushed, faucets run hot and cold, heat on. If the house is vacant with the utilities off, the appraisal comes back subject to re-observation and somebody pays for a second trip. Turn the utilities on.
Each living unit needs potable water under pressure, sanitary facilities, a safe method of sewage disposal, adequate heat, hot water, and electricity adequate for lighting, cooking and mechanical equipment. The water heater needs a temperature-and-pressure relief valve with discharge piping.
On sewer, the lender confirms the house is connected to public sewer where that’s feasible and available at reasonable cost. FHA does not require a camera down the lateral. Your township might: Upper Darby does, and its certificate is good for 90 days.
When the answer is a 203(k)
Some houses can’t be cleaned up before closing, because the seller has no cash and the work is real. That’s the 203(k): one loan, purchase plus repairs, underwritten on the after-improved value.
Limited 203(k) covers total rehabilitation costs up to $75,000, raised from $35,000 for FHA case numbers assigned on or after November 4, 2024, and it’s for minor remodeling and nonstructural repairs. Nine months to finish. A consultant is optional, and the consultant fee can now be financed.
Standard 203(k) starts at $5,000 in eligible improvements, requires a consultant from the FHA roster, allows structural work, gives twelve months, and can finance up to twelve months of mortgage payments when the house can’t be lived in during the work.
The 203(k) work write-ups list the exact items a 1910s twin tends to need: lead-safe scraping, priming and painting of defective paint, handrails, sewer-line replacement, connection to public sewer where feasible. Which loan fits your house is subject to lender approval.