Stage Five: Escrow, Inspections and Underwriting
Insider Secret: It’s critical that you attend your home inspections.
Why: When it comes to inspections, many first-time buyers expect that a home will either pass or fail.  Except in a few jurisdictions where the government imposes certain condition requirements for a home to be sold, the home inspection is more about educating you, the buyer, as to the details and nuances of the home’s condition than about seeing if the place hits a particular target for “good” or “bad” condition.

Home inspectors don’t just look for things that need fixing, they also look to understand the home’s systems and features, as well as to point out areas that will require your ongoing maintenance, highlight emergency shutoffs and other need-to-knows, and indicating where you should have specialists further inspect items of concern. Many home inspectors create vivid, detailed electronic reports – some, complete with color photos. But that’s not enough!

If you’re physically onsite at the home during the inspections, the inspector can physically show you the shutoffs for water, gas and electric – and how to use them.  They can also point out, in person, any things that need repair, and give you some tips for maintaining the place in tip-top shape.  Also, in many states, the general home inspector is legally prohibited (vs. the pest, roof or other “specialty” inspectors) from issuing a written quote or bid for repairs, to avoid a conflict of interest where they’d try to fabricate flaws in the home to get the repair job. However, the repair costs are one of the most important things a smart buyer wants to know!

If you show up, many inspectors will give you a rough range it would cost you to do various repairs, or otherwise indicate to you whether the needed repairs are “big deal” or “$10 home improvement store” fixes; some will even give you a few references to contractors they trust.

All around, you’ll get much more of the detailed information you need to know whether and how to move forward with the transaction if you should up in person to the home inspections, rather than just waiting for a copy of the report to come to your email.