What a Home Inspection Includes

Typically, home inspectors will spend a couple of hours going over the home and then write up a report detailing any mechanical, structural, or safety problems they’ve found. It’s important to note that an inspection is not an appraisal, municipal code inspection, or warranty. Since you’re a prudent buyer and will make your offer subject to a professional inspection, a bad report can give you reason to cancel the sale and get your earnest money deposit back. Or you can use the report to get the seller to renegotiate the offer and correct any problems. A typical example is Alan and Sandra, who found a 12-year-old home in an upscale neighborhood that was exactly what they were looking for. They felt so lucky to find the home that they didn’t want to jeopardize their offer by making it subject to an inspection. However, their agent insisted on the contingency, stressing that a few hundred dollars is cheap insurance when you’re investing more than $350,000.
A few days later, the inspector met the buyers’ agent at the home.
What should have been a routine inspection turned up major problems. The house had been damaged in a fire about eight years before and the repairs were less than professional. Several joists in the attic were charred and should have been replaced. Likewise, many damaged wall studs had been covered over with sheetrock. For the buyers, it was a disappointment to lose the house, but a relief that they had not made a costly mistake.
In another example, Scott and Marissa’s inspection report came back with several small but serious problems, such as an improperly installed furnace flue, no flex connector or strapping to secure the water heater, and no vents in the door to the furnace room. In this case, the seller agreed to pay a heating contractor to correct the problems before closing. Typically, most problems are handled this way because the sellers realize they have to take care of them or the house won’t sell. Once problems have been disclosed and documented, sellers can’t claim they didn’t know on future disclosure forms without leaving themselves open to liability.
Homesellers who may be tempted to hide problems are finding out that with home inspections and disclosure laws, selling as-is or with nondisclosure is going the way of snake oil cures.
However, keep in mind that home inspections are still a largely unregulated industry. So use caution if the listing agent or seller insists on a particular inspector. It’s important for you to choose your own inspector. Check the Yellow Pages for a list of inspectors in your area. If the inspector is a member of the American Society of Home Inspectors (ASHI) or the National Institute of Building Inspectors (NIBI), that’s a plus.
Also, if you’re unsure of the appliances, electrical, plumbing, or heating systems, you can write in the offer that the seller will furnish a home warranty policy. This policy insures these systems for one year after closing and usually costs $300–$500. Look in the Yellow Pages under home warranties for insurers in your area. As a final caution, it’s a good idea to schedule a walk-through inspection a day before closing. This is to make sure the condition has not changed, there’s no packing and moving damage, and no one has forgotten what stays and what goes. You don’t want to move in and find that the sellers removed the antique chandelier in the dining room you specifically included in the sale.