If you are not willing to walk into a money pit and spend thousands of dollars within the first couple of years on roofs, repairing leaks or the foundation- you need to hire a home inspector. Now that you have put your money on the table, it’s time to protect your investment. While having a home inspection performed is not mandatory, it has become an integral step of the home buying process for many good reasons and all of them very important to your pocket. We will discuss in detail a few of the main reasons why indeed you should hire a home inspector to help you ensure your money is well spent.
Seller Disclosures
You should not trust the seller to disclose issues with the property as most claim ignorance when putting their property on the market. Most sellers do not disclose known issues such as previous leaks, repairs of the roof that may not have been executed correctly and even recurring plumbing issues among many others. Would you risk your investment to a seller whose primary objective is to sell you their product (house)? Of course they will be advertising and hiding the fine print, how else would they get you to buy it? In the recent years, some of the more honest sellers have began completing sellers’ inspections in an effort to be upfront with the buyers and resolve any issues prior to the negotiation process. Once negotiations begin, emotions run high and it becomes all the more difficult to feel like the process is going in your favor.
Repairs/ Credit at Closing
Another good reason to get a home inspection is that you can most likely negotiate with the seller and have them complete some of the repairs needed prior to moving in so your move is hassle free. Usually, this is the preferred option for most buyers but the least favorable option for the seller. Sellers usually are not willing to go through the trouble of getting quotes and completing repairs while they are still living in the property. If that happens in your case, you can still get money from the seller in the form of credit at closing so you can make those repairs yourself.
Change your mind
Once you have a home inspection completed on the property, you are able to walk away if your seller did not disclose major issue or is not willing to complete repairs or give you enough of credit at closing that will make the deal favorable for you. Once you are under contract there are very few reasons that allow you to back out from the deal and the home inspection is one of them. There is a lot to think about in a high emotions situation and having to worry about your likely biggest investment yet should not be one of them.
Home Inspections are not cheap but now it’s not the time to be cheap just make sure you are getting the most paying for your buck. To perform a thorough and detailed inspection and provide you the protections you need, our home inspectors usually spend an average 4-5 hours on your inspection and report which can give you an idea why they charge upward of 400 dollars depending on the size of the property. Getting an inspection is as important as getting a yearly physical, you never know what you will find but any issue uncovered needs to be addressed as soon as possible.
