Home Inspection:
Hello I just wanted to take a moment to talk to you a little bit about the value of a home inspection and the whole process.
Whether you started a home inspection before you make an offer to purchase or do you start that process
down the road after you’re under contract and it’s a subject to a condition of your purchase.
There’s a lot of people out there in the home inspection business and quite frankly there’s some really great home inspectors and there’s some home inspectors that do, from my perspective, and awful job.
A case in point. A couple years back one of my kids purchased a home for me and I had made a few recommendations of home inspectors that they contact. Unfortunately they were all busy the day
that my daughter wanted to perform home inspections so she blindly picked one out of the yellow pages.
I’d never met the guy before but he was in and out of the house in about an hour and charged her like 350 or 400 dollars. From my perspective that was a lousy home inspection. Pretty hard to go up in attic, go into a crawlspace, go through the house, check out the electrical system, check out the furnace, check out the plumbing and be in and out in an hour.
Home Inspection Cost:
Well it just doesn’t really happen if you want to be thorough. So the typical thorough home inspection is going to generally take about three hours.
Price ranges on home inspection anywhere from maybe $250 on a condominium, where you’re just checking out the interior to $350 or $400 for say a home up to 3,000 square feet. Duplexes are a little bit more, they typically running like the $500 range because your basic basically
looking at double the systems.
Finding a Home Inspector:
So, how do you find a good home inspector?
Well a good source would be talk to your friends about what their home inspection process was like and did they like their home inspector; did they think he or she did a thorough job or they think they kind of sped through the process and we’re basically just interested in picking up a check.
Talk to your real estate agent he or she is also a great source of whom they would recommend or even not recommend as a home inspector.
When to Perform the Home Inspection:
Now back to the do we do an inspection before you make an offer or do we wait until we’re under contract. In some instances I would recommend doing a pre-purchase home inspection and that does require the permission of the seller but it also gives you you know, a one up on the competition. Because you basically could make your offer, inspection completed and buyer is satisfied with the property condition in its present state. Versus making your offer subject to satisfaction of a home inspection.
There’s the situation’s more common and that’s generally the way it is done but there is that escape clause as a buyer. That if you’re unhappy with the inspection results, you can get out of the contract or you could negotiate some repairs.
In either event, I can’t stress enough the value of a home inspection, whether it be a pre-purchase or after you’re under contract and the second point is, please use a licensed, competent, good professional home inspector.
Thanks for listening.
Until next time, Rick Jusenius saying goodbye for now.
Rick Jusenius | Real Estate Broker
Washington Realty Group