Do you really need a home inspection? Short answer: yes! A home inspection is important for many reasons. It can help discover problems that may not otherwise be seen and it can help ensure you aren’t surprised with costly repairs after you buy your home. But they’re also critical to get in other situations, which we’ll get into if you keep on reading.
The benefits of a home inspection include:
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Catching potential repairs before they become emergent
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Saving you time and money
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Prevent buying a home that needs immediate repairs
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Negotiate an appropriate sell price
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Gaining peace of mind
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Reveal unsafe conditions
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Find structural damage
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and more
When Should You Get a Home Inspection?
There are a few times where you should get a home inspection, and they’re not always after you buy a home but throughout the lifespan of owning your home.
When Purchasing a Home
One of the most important times to get a home inspection is when you are purchasing your home. This should be done before signing any purchase paperwork, as it can help you avoid buying a house that may have hundreds or even thousands in needed repairs. It’s also good to schedule an inspection during this time so that you know what kind of condition your home is in before you finalize any deals.
Often you can purchase a home with an inspection contingency. This means that although you have submitted an offer and it’s been accepted, you must (or can) wait until the inspection is done and goes through before finalizing the purchase. This can be a big letdown to many, but saving yourself from buying a home that needs immediate, expensive repairs is worth it.
When Selling or Thinking of Selling Your Home
If you’re selling your home, it’s important to get an inspection done beforehand so that problems can be taken care of or repaired. You want potential buyers to have access to the true value of your house when they are looking at homes for sale by owner listings on websites. Otherwise, they may think the house is in better shape than it truly is and offer a lower price for your home.
Even if you’re not selling your home, but want to put it on the market, a pre-listing inspection can help determine proper repairs and updates that will boost its value. This is also an opportunity for potential buyers to learn more about what they’ll be getting themselves into as well as give them peace of mind.
When You’ve Owned Your Home Awhile
Even if you purchased your home with no major problems, it’s still good to schedule an inspection every few years or so. If you haven’t made any major updates or repairs on your home since you bought it, it might be worth revisiting. It might even be necessary if you are looking to refinance your home or just want peace of mind that there aren’t any looming issues waiting to show their ugly face. An inspection can help uncover any potential issues that may come up in the future and allow you to take care of them before they become bigger problems.
When You Suspect Potential Damage or Repairs
If a big storm came through or you’ve had your basement flood once or twice, you may have remedied the situation at the time, but those damages can cause long-lasting damage to your home. An inspection can ensure you don’t have any water damage, mold, mildew, structural damage, or other lingering issues. Trust your gut and get the inspection.
10 Reasons to Get a Home Inspection
You may be tempted to skip a home inspection because at first glance your home seems fine, or you’ve already done all the repairs and updates you can, that you just want to sell it and be done. Or vice versa—you found your dream home and want to buy it before anyone else snags it up. But skipping a home inspection can cost you dearly down the road if you don’t uncover critical repairs that need to be done. Here are 10 reasons you need to get a home inspection.
Homeowners Insurance Coverage
Some insurance companies may not cover your home without it having a thorough inspection in the last few years. Because an inspection can uncover potential threats to your home, this can make it a more high-risk case. Insurance companies don’t want to cover high-risk homes, so a home with a clean bill of health will be much more attractive and applicable for full coverage.
Expose Deal-Breakers
Some people go into purchasing a home with more awareness with what they are or are not willing to budge on—especially if it’s their second home. However, first-time homebuyers can learn a lot from a home inspection, particularly how much money they are willing to spend on repairs and updates right away. A bad home inspection allows them to back out of a purchase before they get in over their heads.
Forecasting Repair Costs
A home inspector can note the age and condition of appliances or systems in a home during an inspection, which can help homeowners plan ahead for the future. If the inspector notes that your HVAC system is a bit old and is showing signs of wear and tear, it allows for proper budgeting and planning ahead of time to get it replaced down the road. Thanks to price forecasts, homeowners can even estimate how much an HVAC system (or other appliances) replacement would be in 5 years based on past data + inflation patterns.
Keep Your Family Safe
Your home is your family’s sanctuary. A thorough inspection allows you to ensure that it remains safe and sound for years to come, as well as help catch any potential safety hazards before they become a serious issue such as mold growth, electrical problems or structural damage.
Prevent Bad Deals
A home inspection can also help you avoid making a bad deal on a home. They will find any potential problems, which allows for a smooth contract negotiation based on the inspection. Otherwise, a deal could fall through and leave it up to chance if something goes wrong with your new purchase or not down the road.
Make Sure Home is Up to Code
A home inspection will note if the home is up to code and that all permits are in place. If they aren’t, it can become an expensive process for you to come into compliance with local building codes before selling or moving into a new property.
Your Own Protection
It’s easy to get caught up in the moment of buying a home. However, taking precautions is always key. An inspection can help you avoid purchasing something that needs more work than what it would be worth or isn’t even structurally sound enough for habitation at all. Some people don’t even realize what they’re getting into when they are purchasing a home, and they end up falling in love with the aesthetics, but then it turns out the home has bad bones.
Negotiate Purchase Price
An inspection allows potential buyers to negotiate an appropriate price. This is critical as it can help you save thousands of dollars on a home. Otherwise, buyers could end up overpaying for a property or buying one that needs to be completely gutted and renovated from the inside out.
Protect Your Biggest Investment
Your home is the biggest investment you’ll ever make (most likely) and so you want to protect that. A home that turns into a money pit is not a great investment, and so inspections can ensure you keep ahead of damage and repairs and get the absolute most out of the money you’ve put into it.
Understand the Magnitude of What You’re Buying
A beautiful home is one thing, but one that performs well is quite another. First-time homebuyers may not understand the full magnitude of what owning a home means. An inspection goes through every single aspect of a home from the floors to ceilings to crown molding to the age of the appliances—the list goes on. It can be incredibly overwhelming to comprehend what sort of money might actually go into owning a home, and again, an inspection can help people from getting in over their heads and save a ton of time, money, and strife.
In the end, we suggest never putting off an inspection. Home inspections are critical to ensuring your home is in good shape for years to come, and when the time comes to sell, you can get the absolute best value. When you’re on the hunt for a new home, whether it’s your first or not, an inspection can save you from trouble.
Your electrical wiring in your home is one of those things that will be inspected, and poor wiring can put you at risk of fires or just annoying tripped wiring that costs a lot to repair on the fly. Protect yourself and get an inspection of your home’s electrical system by contacting 4Front Energy today for a FREE consultation.
