Understanding Home Inspection

Understanding Home Inspection

Home inspection can cause a lot of anxiety. You may be hoping that everything goes smoothly, but do you understand home inspection? Educating yourself will help you to prepare for what to expect.

It’s very important for a buyer to understand the process of home inspection. The buyer retains a licensed expert to evaluate the house’s mechanicals, structure, and all its cosmetic features. The home inspector’s obligation is to provide you a complete picture of the house and all its strengths and weaknesses. The inspector should advise you of all problems and educate you so that you’re fully aware of anything that needs to be addressed regarding the piece of property you’re buying. The results of that home inspection will be shared with the buyer, the buyer’s realtor, and the buyer’s attorney. At that point, a determination will be made as to whether any deficiencies need to be addressed by the seller. The results of a home inspection should really be categorized in three ways.

First and foremost, if you find anything that makes you so uncomfortable that you want to walk away from the transaction – such as a major foundational issue or the fact that the property is going to need a new roof in a couple of years – that is an opportunity for you to walk away from the transaction, although you entered into a contract and an attorney approved it.

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If nothing completely scares you away, but certain deficiencies with the house are either health, safety, or code issues, you are entitled to request that the seller address these issues in advance of closing. At that point, the bottom line is that the seller doesn’t have to remedy those issues; but, if they want to keep moving forward on the transaction, they will have to do so. If they don’t move forward on this transaction, they’re likely to face the same issues on the next transaction they enter into, so they will probably undertake to repair any health, safety, or code defects or, potentially, give the buyer a credit for the cost of such repairs. Then, the buyer can take on that repair with an expert they choose to address the problem.

Last, but not least, presuming that you’re not buying a brand new house, there may be cosmetic issues or other minor flaws. In my mind, it’s important that the buyer understands that they may not want to bring up every problem the house may have when they’re negotiating with a seller, because it could discourage the seller from wanting to move forward with the buyer to further the transaction. As a result, if you notice cosmetic issues or minor repairs that may be needed, you may elect not to bring them up because you know that, when you own the home, you can take on those repairs yourself over time and at your convenience.

If you are looking for support during your home inspection, contact our Buffalo office of Cole, Sorrentino, Hurley, Hewner & Gambino, P.C for the best guidance.

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