You have found the home of your dreams, made an offer and it has been accepted.
Now what?
Well it all depends on how your agreement of sale was written and what contingencies were included. Today, I want to focus on the home inspection, as I have come to realize, that every state is different in how a real estate transaction progresses.
This post approaches from the perspective of a Pennsylvania, and principally a transaction on or around the Main Line and Chester County as even within a state there may be local idiosyncrasies.
Generally in Pennsylvania, an earnest money deposit is made with the agreement of sale or within 5 days as so many agreements are signed remotely today. The inspections are generally done within 5-10 days from the signing of the agreement by all parties, and then a second deposit bringing the total deposits to about 5% is generally due once the home inspection has been done, negotiated and agreed upon in writing by both seller and buyer.
Over the past few years, due to the market being so active, many buyers resorted to waiving most if not all contingencies to get a home. Now things are normalizing a little, we are seeing more buyers doing home inspections as part of their purchase.
Whilst the Pennsylvania Agreement of Sale is pre-printed with sections to fill in the number of days for home inspections, generally this is something you will want to discuss with your agent. The dates in all Pennsylvania agreements are firm, as dates and time is of essence in our contracts/agreements. That means it is important to abide by the days required to not be in breach of contract and miss your opportunity to negotiate or withdraw if things are seriously wrong with the house.
Most agents can refer you to one or more local home inspectors. With the market picking up, you may find the inspector of choice is busy and you do not have enough time to obtain the inspection, receive the report, review it and put together a response to the seller.
Sellers may want you to obtain the inspection very quickly, whilst you may require a slightly longer period due to getting your inspector of choice. The main thing with any inspector is to make sure they are part of one of the National Inspection Organizations like ASHI, the Association of Home Inspectors.
You also may need longer as outlined in the agreement of sale for any Septic Tank Inspections, Stucco or Pool Inspections. These can all take longer to set up and receive the reports.
Once again, discuss with your agent, and choose what is best for you, then be ready to negotiate with the seller to reach a satisfactory result that can be achieved and stay within the parameters set by the agreement of sale.
Comments (11)Subscribe to CommentsComment