Just The Facts Ma'am Part 3

The home inspection is an important time for you as the buyer. If you understand the purpose of the home inspection it will help you in the long run. But first let’s look at what the home inspection is not: It is not a time to gouge the seller for more money. Buyer’s who do this lose an advantage in the negotiation process. The negotiation was the time to determine what you were willing to pay and what the seller was willing to sell for. If you really don’t want the house think about this before you make your offer. Once the offer is accepted you do have a binding agreement. Trying to get out of an offer once it is accepted can be met with resistance from the seller or his attorney. The home inspection is a good time for you to get to know your new home. The inspector can take you through the house and will usually give you a good checklist of maintenance items, how to care for your new home and what to expect with future repairs. If this is your first home use the time as a learning experience on what home ownership is all about. The home inspection is also important since you may find issues that you nor the seller knew about prior to the offer being written. What if the home inspector discovers that the heat exchanger on the furnace is cracked? You would want to know about that issue for sure and so would the seller. It is at this point that the two of you find a reasonable solution to the problem. Most sellers I have dealt with may not like issues like this but they take care of them. What they resent is minor issues being turned into money opportunities for buyers. Beware of tactics like this. You could lose the home over something small. Your real estate professional can provide you with a list of State Certified Inspectors.