Home Inspection Question

victorjessie

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Joined
Jan 20, 2024
Messages
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Hello everyone.

I'm in the process of buying my first home and want to ensure I'm making a sound investment.

I've scheduled a home inspection, but I'm unsure about what specific aspects I should pay close attention to during the inspection.

What key areas should I ask the inspector to focus on? Are there common issues I should be aware of that might not be immediately visible?

Additionally, how do I interpret the inspection report?

Any advice or personal experiences would be greatly appreciated!
 
Hello everyone.

I'm in the process of buying my first home and want to ensure I'm making a sound investment.

I've scheduled a home inspection, but I'm unsure about what specific aspects I should pay close attention to during the inspection.

What key areas should I ask the inspector to focus on? Are there common issues I should be aware of that might not be immediately visible?

Additionally, how do I interpret the inspection report click here?

Any advice or personal experiences would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks in advance for your help in making this process smoother!
 
Are you dong the inspection yourself, or have you hired someone? Additionally, you could bring someone along with a keen eye or experience in renovating.
 
You don't say what country you're in and there's no location in your profile so it's hard to give you specific advice. I can only speak for Australia where I have both bought and sold a few properties over the years.

Here, you pick a good inspector specifically so you don't need to know what you're looking for. They are the experts so they will know what to look out for. Don't go for the cheapest inspector you can find. The good ones will offer a sample report on their web site you can look at and see what you think of the detail. Make sure they've been in business for a while, because if they stuff up an inspection they can be held liable, so if they are bad inspectors they won't stay in business for very long.

If you can, go with the inspector on the day. This serves two purposes - first, you can keep the real estate agent busy so they don't distract the inspector or get in the way (which some less reputable agents are known to do) and second, after the inspection is complete the inspector can show you any issues in person and you can ask questions if you don't understand or anything isn't clear. You can still ask questions when you get a written report, but it's a lot easier for them to just show you while you're there.

Generally with a home inspection there's nothing that's going to be a deal breaker, but there are usually problems that need to be fixed. You just have to work out how much any issues are going to cost to repair, and decide whether you can afford it or not. Often buyers ask the seller to drop the price by whatever it will cost to fix the repair, however at the moment it's a seller's market so they might prefer to say no and find another buyer. But don't let that put you off asking, the worst they will say is no (they can't cancel the sale just because you asked for a discount) and if they do refuse and you decide to walk away, they're just going to have the same problem with the next buyer. So generally chances are good they will drop the price to cover significant repairs, just don't expect it for something trivial that only costs a few hundred bucks.
 
What Berkeloid said.

Also, it is well worth getting a good pest inspector to have a look at it as well. A pest inspector will be able to spot some specific pest related problems that general building inspectors might miss. The building inspector is interested in making sure your building is safe and up to code. They will notice if the foundations have shifted, or the walls aren't square, or the roof leaks when it rains. The pest inspector will notice if termites are eating the insides of your walls, if rats are running under the floorboards, and if bed bugs are hiding in the skirting boards.
 
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