As spring arrives, so do home-repair scams

Home-improvement rip-offs always spike upward in the spring, largely because shoddy repairs won't be discovered by homeowners until the weather turns bad again.

Q. A man who knocked on my door yesterday said he is a contractor who just finished a roofing job in the area and that he had some leftover tar, tile and other material from the job that he could not return to his supplier for a refund. He said he noticed that my roof had several worn spots (which it does), and that he could make the repairs using his unused material for a price that's about half the cost of the two separate bids I got for the needed work a few months ago. He says his offer is good only until next weekend, because he has to begin a major remodeling a few days later. Are these types of offers legitimate, or are they scams?

A. Some legitimate contractors will indeed cut their prices if they have unused material from a recent job, or if their business is simply slow. But many other offers like these come from con artists, who use similar tactics to dupe homeowners into shoddy or unnecessary repairs.

Home-repair and home-improvement scams always blossom in the spring, the Federal Trade Commission says, in part because the lousy work that the con men do often cannot be discovered until the weather turns bad again. For example, if you signed a contract today to fix a leaky roof but the rain came pouring into your bedroom tomorrow, you would know that the contractor had done subpar work and could take action against him immediately. But if it didn't rain or snow again until November, you wouldn't find out about the problem until months from now - and the fly-by-night contractor would be long gone.

Contractor crooks often target the elderly or those who don't speak English well, because many of them keep a lot of money at home (con men love to get paid in cash) or sometimes have trouble understanding the services or goods that they are purchasing. But even the savviest homeowners can fall for home-repair scams if they don't know the warning signs of a possible rip-off.

Officials at the FTC say homeowners should be particularly wary of people who go door-to-door offering roofing, paving or painting services. But regardless of which type of service they say they can provide, don't even consider hiring them if they use hire-pressure sales tactics, demand upfront payment in cash or refuse to put an agreement in writing.

Also be extra cautious if the pitchman is driving a new car or truck, has out-of-state license plates or will only give you a toll-free number instead of a local one. Ask for the contractor's license number, and verify it with the state's Contractors License Board or similar regulatory agency. And never let any type of uninvited solicitor inside your front door: Some also are skilled thieves who may rob you, or simply "case" your home for valuables to determine whether it would be worthwhile to break in and burgle the house later.

Q. Is the cost of the fire-insurance policy on my home tax-deductible?

A. No. The Internal Revenue Service does not allow homeowners to deduct the cost of their fire or other hazard-insurance policies for their personal residence, but owners of a rental property can write off the cost as part of their "operating expenses."

Q. I have signed an agreement to buy my first home, and followed your previous advice to make the offer contingent on getting a satisfactory report from a professional home inspector. The report says that the home appears to be structurally sound, but that I should have it looked at by a "qualified pest inspector." Shouldn't this have been included in the first inspection?

A. No. The job of general home inspectors is to examine a property's overall physical condition and to identify the need for any major repairs. They don't specifically look for damage that may be caused by termites or other wood-destroying pests, but instead leave the work to specialists - sort of like a general medical doctor would refer a patient with a unique problem to a specialist in the field.

Damage caused by termites or other pests can be very difficult to detect and extremely expensive to repair. That's why most lenders won't approve a loan until the property has been reviewed by a certified pest-inspection specialist. Ordering the separate report" will likely cost around $100 or $200, but that's a small price to pay if it allows you to avoid purchasing a house with hidden problems that eventually could cost thousands of dollars to fix.

• For the booklet "Straight Talk About Living Trusts," send $4 and a self-addressed, stamped envelope to David Myers/Trust, P.O. Box 2960, Culver City, CA 90231-2960

© 2010, Cowles Syndicate Inc.