Home inspections are part of the home buying process whether you are purchasing in Wilderness Shores in Locust Grove, at Stevensburg in Culpeper, or Fredericksburg in Spotsylvania. In the crazy flurry of activity a few months ago, buyers who needed homes were waiving the home inspections as a way to entice sellers to accept their offer. Doing so is a risk since as a buyer you are accepting the home as is and while cosmetically everything might look fine, there could be some expensive issues that you did not notice during a walk through of the home. Home inspections protect buyers and are important.
What are home inspections?
A home inspection is a deeper examination of the systems in a home such as the air conditioning, heating, or water. A home inspector, hired by the buyers, spends several hours looking through the home and identifying any potential issues the home may have. The goal of home inspections are to get a clearer picture of the condition of the houses.
Will the home inspector find something wrong with the home?
Yes! It is their job to share with you any potential issues they see in the property. But, it isn’t meant to scare you from purchasing the home. Sometimes home inspections find easily fixable and inexpensive issues like a missing or faulty GFCI outlet. While it is important to have a working GFCI outlet near water sources like a sink, correcting the issue is a quick fix. Other times home inspections may reveal deeper concerns with a home such as foundation issues or leaks from the roof. These are also fixable items, but the impact the items had on the condition of the home may not be in a buyer’s budget.
Do I need a home inspection checklist?
As a buyer, you don’t need a home inspection checklist because you have hired a professional to do the inspection. Everything that the inspector notes will be in a report for you to review and keep.
What should buyers do after home inspections?
After home inspections, the inspectors will send a report to the buyers. With your Realtor®, you can review the report and decide if you are still interested in purchasing the home. If the buyers decide that the condition of the home is not for them, then the buyers can void the contract. Another option is for the buyers to continue with the purchase of the home. They can make the repairs themselves or negotiate with the sellers to make some repairs. I often sit down with buyers and create a request list of repairs for sellers and then work with the seller’s Realtor® to negotiate a solution that works for both buyers and sellers. Another option for buyers after the home inspection is to accept the home as it is.
Home inspections are an important part of the home buying process that no buyer should skip. It gives you an opportunity to learn more about the condition of the home and allows you to exit from your contract if the condition of the home is more challenging than it first appeared. Looking to learn more about buying a home? Grab a free home buyer’s guide or browse through my resources here.
