Home Inspection Before Buying a Home

Buying a new home is always a daunting task, even if you’ve done it in the past. Between price negotiations, finding out where you want to live, and dealing with the stress of taking on such a big obligation, it’s common to feel overwhelmed along the way. Never fear- Duke Warner is here, Bend, Oregon’s best real estate company. Ease your mind and ensure you’re making a wise decision by relying on expert help. Home inspectors, in particular, can be an invaluable source of wisdom and guidance. Here is everything you need to know about home inspection.

Why You Should Hire Your Own Home Inspector

Uncover Problems

A home inspector’s role is to ensure a home is safe. Inspectors also unveil areas where a property might need repair. In addition, home inspectors check how far along parts of the home are in terms of their expected lifespan. Many indicators of damage or disrepair can be subtle, and it takes experience and expertise to recognize these signs. By hiring your own home inspector, you’ll gain a better grasp on what problems you may have to deal with before purchasing your home.

Was the Home Maintained Well?

It’s fairly easy to clean a home and cover up signs of poor maintenance. A qualified home inspector, however, will see these problems and let you know how well the home was maintained. Neglect can cause parts of a home to wear down prematurely, potentially leading to expensive repairs in the future. By bringing in your own home inspector, you can gauge how well previous homeowners treated the property.

Get a Second Opinion

Home sellers often share a home inspection report with potential buyers, and sales are often dependent on a satisfactory inspection. However, opinions can differ between inspectors. Some home inspectors may be more likely to uncover subtle signs of problems than others. When you bring in your own home inspector, you can find out if the original inspection report matches up with the home’s condition.

Prepare questions to ask home inspectors to make sure they don’t miss anything and you are prepared for negotiations. A home inspector gauges a home’s health. Just as you might seek out a second opinion when facing medical issues, you may want a second opinion before buying a new home.

Ensure Your Safety

It’s easy to lose track of the fact that home inspections are, above else, about safety. Again, think of hiring your own inspector as having a second opinion. Inspectors sometimes make mistakes, and subtle signs of danger can be easy to overlook while preparing for an inspection report. By bringing in your own inspector, you’re more likely to find safety issues that need to be addressed right away. The potential financial benefits of hiring your own home inspector are important, but the safety benefits are critical as well.

If you’re on the market for a new home, and looking for homes for sale in Bend, take every step possible to ensure you’re making the right decision for you and your family. Relying only on the seller’s home inspection report can leave you with compromised or incomplete information. Make sure to find a home inspector with ample experience to leave no stone unturned.

What to Ask Your Home Inspector

Communication before the inspection can be important, as the inspector is going to give you information about this property that will influence your decision to purchase or not purchase this property.

What gets checked

If you have a better understanding of what exactly will be checked by a home inspector, before the inspection takes place, it could prevent future headaches or misunderstanding. Heading into the inspection itself, knowing what will be checked, ensures that you’ll leave the inspection satisfied. Typically, inspectors look at everything from the roof to the foundation of the home, including everything in between.

It’s also important to know what isn’t getting checked in an inspection. An inspector can only do what’s called a visual inspection, so they can’t cut into walls, or the HVAC system for example. If the inspector has reason to believe there are problems with another system, they will often call in another specialist, like a roofer, HVAC person, electrician, etc. to do a more detailed inspection of the potentially problematic area.

Cost

Home inspections can cost anywhere from $600 to $300, but it can vary. It really depends on the market that the house is in, and how big the house is. It’s important to ask your inspector what the inspection will cost before the inspection is done. Most inspectors are paid on the day of the inspection, so it’s good to know what to expect.

Should you go?

Always ask your inspector if you can come along, before showing up at the inspection. Most inspectors will agree to this, as most want to have the prospective homebuyers at the inspection. It’s more beneficial to the inspector to be able to walk through the home with them, and explain everything that they’re noting, or concerned about.

Importance of an inspection

The findings of a home inspection can determine whether or not you still want to go through with the purchase of the home. Often times home inspections can be written into transactions, as the sale is dependent on a good inspection finding. If you have communication with the home inspector, it can save a headache after the inspection is completed. Inspectors are used to curious potential home buyers, so don’t be shy to ask any questions you have and go along on the inspection.

Home Inspection Negotiations

The home inspection can either help or hurt the process and the price of a home, and it can become a big negotiating point for both sides. If an inspection comes back with unexpected results, negotiating can become tricky, so we have some tips to help streamline the process and reduce your stress!

Houses Aren’t Perfect

If you’re expecting a perfect report back from the home inspector, you might be in for a rude awakening. No homes are perfect, and most inspections come back with minor fixes and notes. A good inspection will still include some changes.

Negotiating after an inspection can either be easy or one of the most stressful parts of buying or selling a home. The most important part of negotiating after an inspection, is to be prepared for a honest report. After that, you can only move forward with negotiations.

Price

An inspection should give you a chance to renegotiate for major things, like electrical or plumbing issues, or problems with the roof or foundation. Keep in mind that home inspections are used to find potentially major defects in a property, defects that could cause you not to consider the property. In most cases buyers and sellers can reach an agreement and repair the necessary items before the sale is finalized. Sometimes the price is changed to account for the cost of certain repairs.