As a Home Seller what do you need to know about home inspections. What can you do to prepare yourself for the information in the inspection report? Now that you have accepted an offer from a buyer, the buyer will set up an appointment or appointments to complete investigations of your property. According to home inspection houston cost of home inspections vary from state to state. There are several ways the buyer can accomplish this and I will explain below the different options.
Traditional home inspection companies that are used every day across Southern California for purchasers of residential real estate, will come out and conduct an inspection of the property including pool equipment if there is any. The home inspection industry is not regulated, nor is there a requirement for the inspectors to have a contractor’s license. While these inspections are generally reliable, if issues come up that are outside the scope of what they can do, these inspectors will urge the buyer to bring in licensed contractors for further investigation.
The buyer may also opt to bring in contractors and not use a home inspection company. For example, they could hire an electrician, a plumber, heating and air-conditioning contractor, chimney inspection, and roofing contractor. Additional experts could include a termite inspector, structural engineer, soils engineers, grading contractors, and foundation contractors. These trades may be brought in depending on the condition of your property and/or how detailed the buyer would like to be.
The buyer may have the main sewer line scoped with a camera. Especially in older homes where sewer lines were installed with Clay or Orangeburg, those lines are susceptible to blockage or breaks. Newer construction tended to use ABS plastic which is what a plumber will use to replace the line on an older home today. Sewer Inspection Video
I have been on many home inspections, the home inspection companies are not perfect, but do provide valuable information. As a home seller sometimes it is difficult to listen to the items that come up on these reports, but to ease your mind a little, please know that I have been on many of these inspections and every home has a list of small items that are very easy to deal with. It’s the larger items that could surprise you that you need to take time to think about before making an initial reaction.
Most inspections take approximately 3 hours. Some companies run 6 hours per inspection.
A home inspect is not an automatic fist list for the Seller. Sellers and Buyers typically negotiate to correct items on the inspection reports if any. Sometimes Seller will offer the Buyer a cash concession in lieu of doing any work. The important part is to keep an open mind and don’t react quickly to any information in any inspection.
Please note:
California has some of the strictest seller disclosure laws. As a seller you need to disclose everything you know about the property which may affect the buyer’s decision to purchase your property. If you omit information about your property which should have been disclosed to a buyer, it will come back to haunt you and possibly cost you quite a bit of money in a settlement with the buyer. One thing I know from personal experience and have seen over the last 20+ years; once the buyer completes a sale and moves into your property, your neighbors at some point will tell these buyers everything they know about your home.
You will be provided with a Seller Property Questionnaire and the required California Transfer Disclosure Statement. Please fill those out as complete as possible and if you need more room, you can make reference to the back of the paper and use the backside of the form. From experience, homebuyers tend to handle issues with your home better when you disclose those issues up front, rather than waiting for it to show up on an inspection. Most homes have a list of minor items so understanding this process will help us work through any home inspection issues.
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