Avoiding Trip Wires in Your Home Inspection

The home inspection is one of the best tools a home buyer has at their disposal and is an excellent way to gain peace of mind that there aren’t major repairs required in a home they are considering buying.

With all the disclosures required by law, it’s unlikely a seller wouldn’t disclose any issues, but still, it’s always better to be safe than to end up sorry.

With that in mind, there are some misunderstandings about home inspections that can rain buckets of misery on your purchase if you aren’t aware and don’t have the full understanding of the purpose of the process.

It’s a normal and expected occurrence that during the course of a sale a buyer can get quite emotional. This is after all, one of the most expensive purchases most will ever make in their lifetime!  As a matter of fact, it isn’t just a house we buy but so much more than floors and walls. 

For that reason it’s important to be aware that while the home inspector may be obligated to point out every little detailed imperfection, not every little imperfection is cause for alarm or reason to cancel the contract over.

One of the main issues in an inspection will be the roof.  A good inspector will most likely give an opinion that includes the life expectancy.  When the inspector says the roof has about a 5 year age left, that doesn’t mean the seller should pony up for a new roof!  While a new roof would be nice, on an older home, it shouldn’t be expected.  That 5 years is a guesstimate.  No one can say for sure whether a roof will leak or last forever.  Weather, wear, maintenance, sunshine, gutters kept clean, quality of material used, all play a role in determining the actual life of the roof.

While a 10 year old water heater isn’t as great as a new one, it isn’t cause to cancel a contract over if the house is otherwise everything you want it to be.  A point to keep in mind is that certain maintenance and upkeep items are simply part of the cost of ownership and to be expected unless you are buying a new built house.

Negotiation is the art of tact mixed with determination and your agent is best equipped to handle requests with diplomacy that are most likely to attain the resulting outcomes you need and want to be happily satisfied with your purchase.

We suggest that a good rule of thumb you may want to consider following is to treat the seller the way you would want to be treated if YOU were the seller.  They want to sell the house, you want to buy the house and the best transactions are those where everyone is happy at the closing table.

Get that tactful, results oriented negotiation specialist with your local RE/MAX Alliance Associate!