04/20/2023
A home inspection is something that protects your financial interest in what will likely be the largest purchase you make in your life—one in which you need as much information as possible.
Home inspections can uncover potentially hazardous items in a home—such as bad wiring, unsafe heating or cooling equipment, or even structural issues—that the average person won’t likely notice with a quick look around.
A home inspection is a few hundred dollars for your peace of mind, as opposed to maybe tens of thousands of dollars down the road for something that you could not detect on your own.
Offers that waive a home inspection contingency can be more attractive to home sellers since there’s less likelihood that the buyers will find some expensive problem that they’ll demand is fixed before they move forward.
One option you have is to include a home inspection “for informational purposes” in your contract. This means that you won’t hold home sellers responsible for making repairs, or fronting the money for them. This could make sellers more likely to accept your offer.
This way, the buyer will still be afforded the inspection, and the seller will know that there will be no negotiations or requests for repairs.
In this case, if there are major issues that arise from the home inspection, you can still back out of buying the home. You might have to forfeit the earnest money deposit you’ve put down with your offer, but not necessarily if you’ve worded your contract right. And even if you do lose your deposit, it might pale in comparison to paying for whatever required repairs the home inspection brings to light.
Still, the main point is that an information-only inspection means you can go into the deal with your eyes open to the potential costs, and back out if you find flaws that feel like too much for you to handle.
Bottom line: Spending a few hundred dollars on a home inspection is almost always money well-spent.
