About Home Inspections

Significance

• A home inspection is both important and, in some cases, required. For example, when buying or selling a home, an inspection is required by the bank.

  The purpose here is to make sure that the property doesn't have any hidden flaws that aren't being disclosed in the sale. This helps to make sure that the property valuation is correct. If there are things wrong with the house such as problems with the foundation or termite damage, this would mean the sale price was inflated and the house was not worth as much as the seller claimed. Finding out about issues in advance would help the buyer to reevaluate whether they wanted to buy and help the bank decide whether the property was worth the loan being requested.

  As a result of an inspection, a buyer might back out of the deal all together or give the seller a lower offer, an appraiser will get a better idea of the value, a banker will be able to decide if the property is worth the amount requested in the loan, and a homeowner will know if there is anything that needs repairs.

Function

• A home inspection will generally include the examination of the basement or sub-structure of the home, the heating and cooling systems, the attic, and the roof. Inspectors may also examine the wiring, and survey the interior for water or insect damage. The exterior is examined for signs of dry and wet rot, insect damage including signs of termites, and other signs of trouble or damage.

Time Frame

• One of the most common reasons for getting a home inspection is related to the sale of a home. When dealing with this type of situation, the home is generally inspected after a contract is placed on the home but prior to a loan being approved by a lending institution. It will certainly be performed prior to the closing date so that any and all problems and repairs can be adequately addressed and corrected.

Effects

• The effect of a home inspection will hopefully be that no resulting action will need to be taken. However, in many cases it is necessary to have repairs made to correct problems. The inspection will help to narrow down the cause of the problem and lend greatly to the required actions to fix the problem. By having the situation pin pointed it is much easier to contact and arrange for the right type of repair service that is needed to correct the problem.

Considerations

• When having a home inspection performed, it is most important to have a knowledgeable, reliable, and competent individual perform the inspection. The individual should have thorough knowledge of building practices as well as be up-to-date and current on local building codes. You may also want to consider having more than one individual perform an inspection. Compare the results for a better picture of the home's condition. Talk to others who have recently dealt with the inspection process as well as local realty boards.

Benefits

• There are many benefits to having an inspection performed, however, the savings in money and piece of mind rate fairly high. By knowing exactly what is wrong as well as having some idea of the overall process and cost to correct the problem is an invaluable tool to work with when dealing with repairmen or contractors. The inspection will also offer a new home owner, for example, a certain confidence in the home they are buying. When dealing with the large sums of money required to purchase many homes, a seal of approval can make everyone involved, from the buyer to the lender, feel more at ease.