You’ll want to understand the major flaws in the property
How would you feel if you buy a house and find out after a couple months that you have an issue that will cost you thousands of dollars more than you can afford?
Not good at all 🙁
This means that Home Inspections are important so that you understand the major flaws in the property before you buy it.
It is perfectly fine to buy a house that is less than perfect. However, you will want to know that the things you will want to fix are things that fall within your budget and your expectations.
Focus on the real problems – not the nit-picks
Once an inspection is completed, you will get a list of all kinds of things that the inspector feels someone might want to know about. These things may or may not be obvious to you already.
Now – you have to realize that you are paying an inspector to find problems — and therefore the inspector WILL find them!
However just because an inspector says something should be fixed or changed, does NOT mean you should be able to get compensated for that expense!!
Many things that need attention may already have been factored into the price that the seller has set. In addition, owning a house means taking on all sorts of on-going maintenance projects. So just because something could be done, does not mean it is essential to do.
The main things that truly warrant a renegotiation of the sale price, or some kind of credit back from the seller at closing are serious problems that no casual viewing of the house would reveal.
These would be Issues that truly are big expenses that potentially the seller was not even aware of.
Example situations
Examples might be foundation cracks or concealed water damage problems that could lead to health and safety issues.
Or perhaps the roof looked pretty good but a closer look showed damage that could lead to future leaks.
However, suppose the seller disclosed a problem as part of the listing information. Perhaps there is an electrical wiring problem, and the seller felt that the pricing had taken that flaw into consideration. Unless the inspector finds the issue to be much greater than already disclosed, the seller may not be likely to feel you have grounds for a price reduction.
In summary:
The point of inspection is to uncover anything that is hidden, unsafe, and/or expensive to remedy.
It should not be seen as an opportunity to re-negotiate the sale price unless it is really out of bounds of what the age, price and condition of the house would warrant.
Questions?
If you are not sure about any of these points and want more information – let us know and we’d love to clarify things!
Contact us – we would love to help you understand more!