What to Expect During a Home Inspection

A home buyer faces many issues when considering the purchase of a property, but one key concern should be the actual quality and livability of the home. A buyer should never base their purchase entirely on the property disclosure provided by the seller. Even a newly constructed house may be riddled with problems that are not immediately visible to the buyer. To avoid potentially expensive repair issues in the future, it is necessary to hire a home inspector. The job of a home inspectors is to go through a house and look for problems such as mold or dry rot, among many other things, and alert the buyer. The ultimate goal of a home inspector is to prevent the home buyer from being hit by surprise repair problems that can cost anywhere from hundreds of dollars to hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Buyers should expect an inspection to last at least two hours and up to five hours. After the inspector has had time to complete their initial inspection the buyer can accompany the home inspector around the house alongside their real estate agent and discuss the findings and ask questions. They should expect an inspector to be impartial and to neither ignore potential repair issues nor overstate them. An inspector should do a thorough job, which means investigating everything from the roof to the basement, crawlspaces, electrical systems, plumbing, and more. The buyer should expect a home inspector to check the appliances that are being left behind, evaluate the heating and air conditioning systems, as well as look for water damage, uneven floors, problems with the foundation, and other issues. Finally, the inspector should provide the buyer with a detailed inspection report in a timely fashion.