Why a Professional Home Inspection is Essential for Every Homebuyer

Imagine that you've been searching for your dream home for months. You've seen countless houses and many of them are not the right fit for you. Occasionally, you find something you like. You put offers on these properties but you keep getting outbid by other buyers. Then one day, your Realtor takes you to see 'The One'.

It's everything you've been looking for and much more. You love the house and you love the location. The house looks pristine. After getting outbid on other houses, you decide to break the bank and tell your Realtor to draw up an offer for $35,000 over asking price. To make your offer more enticing to the seller, you tell your Realtor that you are waiving your right to do a home inspection. Your Realtor advises against waiving your right to inspect, but you insist. In your mind, this house has to be yours and you will do anything you can to get the seller to accept your offer.

The next day, you get the good news. Your offer was accepted! You are over the moon. The transaction goes smoothly and you close days later.

About a month after you moved in, you get sick. After several doctor visits and tests, your doctor thinks you could have a mold allergy and asks if you have mold in your home. You haven't seen any mold in your home and you say no. Two more weeks go by and you start feeling worse. You call your Realtor and ask for a mold inspection company. Your Realtor refers a company and you schedule an appointment. The inspection gets done a few days later and you learn there is a major mold issue in the attic.

The inspector thinks that mold spores are being spread through the heating ducts in the attic, down to the living areas of the home, which is why you are sick. To make things worse, the estimate for mold remediation is $25,000. The mold was caused by water penetration around the chimney. The attic lacks proper ventilation, which creates an environment that allows the mold spores to spread and thrive. All the insulation in the attic needs to be replaced and ventilation needs to be added. You also need to replace all the plywood on the ceiling, along with the roof, in order to fix the problem.

Suddenly, your perfect home doesn't seem so perfect. You start to feel like you overpaid for the house just to get it and now you have a massive repair bill. You need to get all the work done as soon as possible, both for your health and the health of your family.

This is just an example of what can happen if you choose not to have a home inspection when purchasing a house. Sometimes people don't want to spend a few hundred dollars on a home inspection because they think it gives them an advantage over other buyers when negotiating an offers with sellers. However, trying to save a few hundred dollars on a home inspection could cost you thousands of dollars in the long run.

Any home can look great to the naked eye, but there are a lot of potential places that issues could be hiding. A good inspection company will check the structure of a home to make sure it is safe and well built. They will also check the electrical system, plumbing, heating and other mechanical systems to make sure they are functioning properly. In the example above, chances are an inspection company would have discovered the mold issue in the attic and the buyer could have negotiated with the seller to make the necessary repairs.

Even when purchasing a newly constructed home, it is always a good idea to do home inspection. Just because the home is new and comes with a 1 year warranty doesn't mean that there aren't issues that could be of concern. Let's look at another example of an issue that could have been avoided with a home inspection...

Johnny Knowitall bought a newly constructed home just over one year ago and chose not to have a home inspection before he purchased the home. Then one day, he spoke to a neighbor, who mentioned that her home inspector found high levels of radon in her home and the developer was required to install a radon mitigation system, free of charge. After hearing this, Johnny had his house tested and discovered his house had high levels of radon gas.

Johnny called the developer, demanding that he fix the problem, but the developer refused to install a mitigation unit because the 12 month warranty had passed. In the end, Johnny had to pay $1500 out of pocket to have a system put in. This is money he could have saved if he had just spent $200 on a radon test before he purchased the home.

If you are a homeowner who is thinking about selling your property, you may want to consider having a home inspection done before listing your home. By doing a home inspection, you will learn of any major issues with your property that can potentially

impact the value of your home in a negative way. You can either fix the issues prior to putting the home on the market or reduce the listing price of the home to reflect the cost of repairs needed. A lower price will attract more buyers and some buyers may be willing to purchase the home at a discounted price knowing that repairs will need to be made.

Ask your Realtor which pricing option may be best for you.There a many different types of inspections buyers and sellers can have done. Some of them were mentioned earlier and other inspections such as lead, water quality tests and septic tests are property specific. You should speak to your Realtor to see which inspections you should prioritize. A typical home inspection can cost between $500 to $1500 or more, depending on the style and size of the property, as well as the number and types of inspections you do. If you are considering buying or selling a home in Rhode Island, contact me for a free consultation.