Home Inspections

If you are a potential home buyer, you are going to want to know the condition of your possible real estate property investment. If you are a potential seller, whether your house ends up on the higher or lower end of prices for comparable homes in your area will depend on the condition of your home, among other things.

It is advisable for the real estate buyer to hire a home inspector who will go through the most important aspects of the condition of the home, which is especially important in an older house or a house that has gone through many hands in a short period of time, even if it is relatively new. Homes that have been lived in usually have repair issues that need to be corrected and this is what a home inspection will determine. The inspector will determine whether repair issues are major or minor so that both the potential buyer and seller can know where they stand. Once the inspection has been thoroughly and carefully done, you are supposed to get a home inspection report which will be the starting point for some negotiations between the seller and potential buyer:

Price of the home-based on the home inspection results, there can be a negotiation over the asking price, especially if the house requires major repairs. If this is the case, if the house requires a new roof urgently, then the cost of the new roof can be negotiated between the seller and buyer. As a buyer, if you are going to replace the roof, then you have every right to request the seller to bring the asking price down to compensate for the investment you will have to make.

Repairs, including fixtures-if there are necessary repairs that will improve both the function and quality of the house, this is definitely a point of negotiation. The inspection report will let you know what repairs the house needs and what malfunctions it has. The more issues that the house has, the more it is going to cost to fix it to make it function properly and the more you can request the owner to move on the price.

If you are going to negotiate once you have the home inspection results, estimates should be provided by the home inspector. However, if they are not, make sure you obtain estimates on any repairs or improvements which need to be done so that they are available during negotiations. The negotiation, of course, will be the original asking price, your offer and now the agreed upon price taking into account all of the estimated repairs.

As a buyer, you should make sure that your purchase contract includes an home inspection clause that will make your obligation to purchase the home contingent upon the results of an independent home inspection by a professional. The inspection should be conducted within a given period of time while the sales transaction is taking place; anywhere from 10 to 15 days is customary.

As a seller, you should have already been well-aware of the condition of your home and whether it needed major repairs which were going to come up during a home inspection. Therefore, you should already be prepared for the buyer to request a change on the agreed upon price, a change which takes into account the repairs that the home will need.