The inspector's role in buying a home

Here is a quick video chatting with me in my car about inspections. Read below to find out more of my advice about inspections when buying a house: I recently attended an inspection with a buyer client of mine. The inspection took an unusually long time (probably my longest inspection to date) and yet the house was only 700 sf! I'm not writing this blog post to talk about my specific inspection, because I think despite the length, it went pretty well, and the inspector did a great job! I'm writing this blog to talk about the role of the inspection in the process of buying a house. After you negotiate a price and everyone agrees on the terms of the offer, you are under contract! Congratulations! Sometimes just getting under contract can be a major obstacle in the process of buying your next (or first) home! Then what? Then you get a lot of documents really quickly that you need to review, discuss and then sign and return. Next comes the inspection.

My first bit of advice:

Hire a referred inspector. I have worked with good and bad, cheap and expensive inspectors in the past. Price is not always the best indicator that you are getting a high-quality inspector. You want to hire an inspector that is backed by the BBB and has some referrals. Find out what previous clients have said about the inspector's thoroughness and knowledgability.

My second bit of advice:

Ask questions! Is the inspector willing to crawl into the crawl space, climb into the hot attic, and go on top of the roof? Is he/she licensed and bonded and insured? Can you follow him/her around asking questions? Do they take notes and pictures? Do they have a ladder, flashlight and many other tools necessary to test water flow, electricity flow, gas leaks, continuity, etc?

My last bit of advice:

After the inspection is all done and you have your report. Sit down with your real estate agent and discuss the items that are the hardest and most expensive to correct. It sometimes helps to have a prioritized list. When you are asking for things to be corrected before you buy the house, I would select 3-7 items that are big deal breakers. Meaning - if they don't get fixed or you don't get compensation to fix them yourself, the contract is terminated. Of course, anything safety related I would most definitely put on the list. The structural member that is rotted, the electrical wiring problem, etc. Other things that are somewhat minor, or you may want to do a certain way, I'd advise you to really think about if you would walk away from the house if they weren't done. Chances are, if it is something you can do yourself or would rather do yourself, you should leave it off the list. As a realtor that has several listings as well, I have gotten inspection notices that were 22 items long and some that were only 2 items long. From a seller's point of view, which buyer's inspection list do you think my seller clients did the most for and spent the most fixing for? That's right - the 2 item list. And they were happy to do it and made sure it got done right. With a laundry list long of items to fix, you'll not only frustrate the sellers, but you might make them want to just terminate the deal. I can honestly tell you that it is extremely difficult to get the perfect house. You make think it is a buyer's market, but I have seen statistics that it is in the process of changing to a seller's market. Be that as it may, you as a buyer, are still entitled to a great house with little amount of defects or problems. I think the hardest part of an inspection notice is finding that fine line where you can get the high priority things fixed without asking too much. If you really want the house, and are happy with the price and the condition when you first saw it, being a little flexible when it comes to the inspection speaks volumes! Thank you for reading - and please leave a comment if you have something to add. This post is duplicated from my website. Check it out either place!