You are now Under Contract to buy your new home, Congratulations! Your inspection period is the next step in the home buying process and is extremely important as you want to identify any problems that could affect your safety or require expensive repairs. Here’s what you should know about what happens next:
1. You must select your inspectors
While your REALTOR can assist you with a list of inspectors they respect, it still falls to you to make the decision. You do not have to use any of the inspectors on the list provided but you do need to do your research and schedule the inspections. Most common inspections are the home inspection, septic inspection, and wood destroying organism inspection. You may find that you would like additional inspections depending on your unique situation.
2. You’re working under tight deadlines
It takes time to schedule all the inspections and to get the reports back. Once you have the reports, you’ll want to discuss the findings and determine if you need additional experts or what you would like to be done. Be sure to start as soon as you are under contract and be mindful of your contract deadlines. If you miss your deadline, you may end up not being able to ask for repairs.
3. You might need more than one inspector
As mentioned in number 2, you may need an additional inspector depending on your unique situation. Such as, the home inspection report mentioning getting a roofing expert to review an area of the roof which may have a problem. You can decide to get an expert roofer to do a roof inspection. While this may cost additional funds, depending on the initial report it could be well worth the cost. However, you still must meet your contract deadlines.
4. How to get the most from your inspection
It may be tempting to follow around the inspectors and ask many questions, this could be extremely distracting to your inspector. You will want to discuss with your inspectors how they like to operate. Most will have you arrive before the end of the inspection period, which can last several hours. Most inspection reports will have pictures of items found however you want to attend at the end as you will then be able to have a discussion with the inspector on what they found. They will then be able to show you firsthand any items and you can ask questions.
5. Work with your REALTOR to respond to the inspection
If you are not purchasing a new construction home, don’t be surprised when your inspector points out numerous details and suggests minor repairs. All homes require periodic maintenance and it is your inspectors job to point out items. Is not up to the inspector to determine which ones you should ask to be repaired or if you should negotiate with the seller on the repairs.
Discuss with your REALTOR the options on the repairs as there are several ways to handle any concerns. For instance, here are just a few options; you could not worry about the items and fix it yourself once you own the home, you ask for the seller to fix it, you could as the seller to assist with closing costs instead, you may even decide you do not want to continue with the purchase of the home. Thus, it is important that you discuss with your REALTOR what you are thinking so you all may develop your unique options.
Be sure to discuss with your REALTOR how you all will handle the inspection period as you want all the options available to you during this part of your homebuying journey.