Five Red Flags When you are Buying a Home

When you find your dream house, you do not want to find out after signing the papers making it yours that there is a serious defect, which could cost you thousands of dollars to repair. It is true that most of the homes on the market are going to need some improvement or repair, but it should not be a serious repair.

Before you sign, the final papers have a licensed home inspector check the house out. The seller has already had one inspection done and has the report, but you should still get one. This way you will make sure that the other inspector will find any serious defects that the first inspector might have missed.

If a serious defect is found, you should check to see if it can be repaired and how much it will cost to fix it. If your inspector finds something wrong with the roof that the seller's inspector missed, it may cost you thousands of dollars to repair. One thing that your real estate agent should have you do is provide a clause that will allow you to back out of buying the home or renegotiate on the contract if major problems are found. 

There are a few ways you can precede if repairs are needed and you still want to buy the house. One thing that the sellers can do is leave money in their escrow account to pay for the repairs. The sellers will leave instructions with the escrow person to pay for the work when it is finished. The lender could hold some of the loan amount in a specific savings account until the repairs is finished.

A home inspector can cost between two hundred fifty and four hundred dollars. When they do the inspection, you should make sure that you will be at the house while the inspection is being done. This will save you money in future repairs not to mention the headaches of getting the repairs done.

Here are the top five red flags that should make you stop and consider your decision to purchase the house.