Home Inspections 101

Home Inspections 101

A home inspection is often a crucial component in the home purchase process. The home search itself can seem like the biggest and most time-consuming aspect of the purchase.

However, once your offer is accepted by a seller, you have a few more major tasks ahead of you, including the inspection and the appraisal.

Inspections and appraisals are different, but both are important. Your mortgage lender will likely require an appraisal, which compares the price of your home to other comparable homes to ensure your purchase price makes sense. 

What is a Home Inspection?

The inspection is often the most important to the buyer. It reviews the structure and mechanisms of the property to see if there are any current or potential future problems.

It can be easy to gloss over signs of problems when you first visit a home, but a thorough inspection can identify those problems so you have a better idea of total costs involved with this specific property.

When is a Home Inspection Done?

Most home inspections happen after you make an offer that is accepted by a seller, but before you sign any closing documents. In some states, you can do an inspection before making an offer, but competitive seller’s markets may not grant you that opportunity. 

Home inspectors may or may not require specific licensing or qualifications in your state, so be sure to research local regulations when you start looking for an inspector to hire.

Additionally, most general home inspections exclude certain specific components of the property, so if yours contains any of those concerns, you may need a specialist to do another inspection. 

Why Are Home Inspections Important?

If you are buying your first home, you may not know what to look for in terms of potential home maintenance concerns. That’s okay!

A professional home inspector can review your potential home top-to-bottom to check for catastrophic problems so you aren’t surprised once you move into the property.

Home inspections are your real opportunity to check the property in full. While you might have walked through the property and checked out what you could during an open house or other appointment, a home inspection goes much more in-depth so you know what might be hidden from inexperienced eyes.

Even if you are buying your second, third, or even fourth home, an inspection can help prevent you from walking into serious (and often costly) issues.

You want to make sure your real estate investment is in good shape, so a quality home inspection is often a vital key to that assurance.

By Admin