Did you find a home of your dream and now asking yourself the following questions: Should I get a home inspection? If so, you have come to the right place.
It is not mandatory to have an inspection of a house you are buying. However, given the amount of money you are spending on it including financial obligations such a mortgage; it is highly recommended to have the property inspected before giving away your hard-earned money.
In this article, we will discuss the reasons you should have a house inspection.
Table of Contents
- Detecting money eating problems
- Not too expensive
- Maintenance cost estimation
- Ticket to walking away from the deal
- Upper hand during your negotiations
- Increases safety and peace of mind
- Early planning
1. Detecting money eating problems
Let’s assume that you spent 7 months looking for a house and finally you find one that meets your criteria. You love the design, everything looks perfect and decided to buy the property without a house inspection.
A month later, you decide to upgrade the kitchen and the bathrooms. All of a sudden, your contractor tells you that the electrical and plumbing systems are outdated. You get a little frustrated but still go through the process.
The following week, he tells you that there are termites damages throughout the house, and you can’t continue without fixing these problems. Or he finds a leak in the house. Fixing these added problems will cost you tens of thousands of dollars depending on the materials and size of the house.
Is there anything you could have done to avoid these problems? Do you think you bought the wrong property?
One of the most important phases of buying a house is inspection. You need a professional inspector to look at the house you are about to buy. He will look at things you cannot see as a buyer. Things that are not obviously seen by just looking at the property. You can decide to buy the house or walk away from the deal if what he found is included in your contingencies.
This is one of the reasons you should get a property inspection when buying.
2. Not too expensive
A lot of people do not pay an inspection fee because they think it is expensive. Depending on who you ask, $300 to $1,000 or more can be a lot.
For example, someone who only put down $5,000 will see that it is expensive to have the house inspected. On the other hand, someone who paid off the house all in cash will tell you that the inspection is not that expensive.
Whatever category you are in financially, it is never expensive to have the property inspected. The inspector will save you a ton of money. He/she will help you detect problems that could cost you dozens of thousands in the future.
It is always important to ask yourself these questions: Should I save $500 now and risk losing $30,000 in the future? What could go wrong if I proceed without the property inspection?
3. Maintenance cost estimation
Your property will always need never-ending care. You will always spend money to fix broken things, upgrade the house when necessary, etc. Should your paint get messed up, you will need to fix it.
Your maintenance fee will depend on the age of your house. The older the house, the more likely something will break down. You may need to replace a roof, windows, doors, sinks, etc.
Your inspector can help you estimate all these costs which I think is a great deal based on how much you will pay to own the house.
For you landlords out there, you will need an estimation of your maintenance fee when calculating your possible cash flow on the property. This is why you should get a home inspection when buying a house.
4. Ticket to walking away from the deal
This might sound silly, but sometimes we agree on deals and later realize that we no longer like them. Whether you agree or not, this happens.
For example, let’s say that the house you wanted to buy was very competitive and you could not keep up with the bidding. Since you really need a house, you decided to look elsewhere.
After going through the buying process on the other house, the seller of the first house (the one you like) calls you to see if you are still interested.
By law, you must buy the second property because the seller has turned down other buyers for you. He/she can sue you if you don’t buy it and you will lose the fight.
The main problem is, how will you be able to go back to the first house that you like without creating conflicts with the second seller?
The house you always wanted is at your fingertips, but you are stuck in this deal. What do you do?
The answer is simple. You can have the second house inspected and hope the inspector finds a lot of bad things that are included in your contingencies.
You can present the report to the seller and ask them to renegotiate the cost or have them fix those problems before you buy it.
If the seller refuses to act on these problems, you can walk away from the deal. The inspection gave you a chance to own a home of your dreams.
5. Upper hand during your negotiations
Buying a house without an inspection is like saying: I will take the house however it is, and I will happy with it. As we all know, there are chances that you will buy a property and end up with a costly rehab.
You can avoid these issues and have them fixed by the seller if you have an inspection report. You can also renegotiate the price of the house based on issues found during the inspection. As long as you have meaningful reasons to back down, the seller will agree to negotiate.
6. A house inspection will Increase your safety and peace of mind
You have no idea what you are getting into unless you are an expert, or a professional inspector tells you. Not every property you will visit or fall in love with is built based on local and federal regulations.
Sometimes people do renovations off the books. They can end up using cheap unacceptable wires or pipes with wrong sizes. You could end up with a property that was built in the 50’s or older where electric and plumbing systems’ regulations used are no longer in effect. It is also possible to experience fire due to aged materials.
Your professional inspector will help you cope with these issues. He/she will tell you whether you or your tenants will be safe in the house you are about to buy. You will have peace of mind knowing that the property you are going to call your home or a rental is as good as it can get. Nothing can beat that.
7. House inspection can help you in Early planning
The inspection will give the buyer a chance to know everything going on with the property. They will be able to plan and prioritize renovations ahead of time.
Without an inspection, you might need to wait weeks after the deal is finalized before you can have a renovation overview.
Final Words
You should always get a house inspection even if it is not required. The house you are bout to buy could be rotten inside whereas it looks great and shiny on the outside. Take proper steps in protecting yourself against any unforeseen issues that could cost you thousands.
