What to expect on a home inspection?

[Lil' Peach]

We have a home inspection tomorrow afternoon and I'm just wondering what to expect. Our realtor said they will find everything that is the least bit wrong and write it up in a report. This makes me sooo nervous... I'm just afraid they'll find too many things that are wrong! What do they do? ... just go around and look at everything??

[dlj78]

Yes, the home inspector will go through everything. I think it takes a couple of hours to do the inspection, depending on how thorough the inspector is. I wouldn't worry too much about it. If you keep up on your house then everything should go ok. He may find little things that you may not have known were wrong.

Good luck! :)

[EmilyBronte]

My last inspection took over 4 hours on a 2600 square foot house. The inspector should check to make sure everything that is included in the sale of the house is in good working order. They won't be looking for the way anything looks, just the way it functions. They should run a test on the dishwasher, oven, and refrigerator. They should check to make sure the outlets are putting out the correct voltage. They should crawl into the crawlspace if there is one, and the attic to check it out. Also, they should crawl on the roof to check for broken shingles or major roof damage. They'll do a preliminary check for mold and termites (although most are not mold or termite specialists and will only suggest that the buyer contact a specialist for an additional inspection).

A good inspector will go through the house with a fine tooth comb and will be VERY picky (remember, they were hired by the buyers). After they leave, they'll produce a report to give to the buyer's agent. The buyer's agent will go over the report with their buyer and then they will decide which repairs they deem necessary, which they would like to have fixed, and which they don't really care about.

Then, the buyer's agent will contact you (or your agent if you have one) and will go over the repair requests with you. Just like when you received an offer on your place, treat the repairs like an offer. You can couter offer with whatever you deem reasonable. Remember, if you end up with a report that seems completely unreasonable, you can request a second inspection (even though you might have to pay for it yourself).

To give you an example, at my last home inspection, my buyers came out with a 12 page report (alot of explaining goes into the report) with something like 25-30 repair suggestions. Now, some of them were as petty as tightening the switch plates, so don't let that number scare you. Some, however, were more serious (like mold, for example).

After talking to my buyers, they picked the top 8 things they wanted repaired and the seller agreed to all 8 of them. The total cost to repair these 8 items ran well over $7,000, but the mold issue itself was a pretty hefty one.

Don't let it worry you too much. If you've taken care of your house you should be fine. Just remember it's the inspector's job to find ANYTHING and EVERYTHING even remotely wrong (ie the switchplates). Just keep in mind you don't have to repair ALL of them, but you can negotiate a compromise with the buyer.

Good luck!

[IrishMeg]

I'm not the OP but I was wondering the same thing. Thanks, EmilyBronte, for such a thorough explanation!

[jenji]

We bought a house a year ago and we had our offer contract contingent on an inspection. it took about 3 hours for an inspection of our 2000 sf house. he was in the basement, attic, crawl space under the porch, on the roof and all around the house. he let us follow him all around, then sat down with us afterward and reviewed the biggest problems (ours were electrical and a retaining wall). he gave us a whole binder with the report in it and we looked it over, did some research on the cost of the repairs and negotiated a new price on the house.
There weren't any major problems, but I learned a lot about our house in that 3 hours and it was really informative

[ks_piper]

We're in the process of buying our first house and I was at the property for the inspection yesterday. It took just over an hour and a half for 1,400 sq ft. The inspector checked EVERYTHING. Let faucets run, flushed toilets, ran showers, checked outlets, checked windows, walked on the roof, checked the crawlspace and attic, checked ceiling fans, dishwasher, oven, stove, garage door opener, etc.

I was amazed at the amount of detail that went into the inspection.

If you've maintained your home you should be fine. The house we're buying was built in the 50s, remodeled in the 80s and came through with flying colors. Only 6 or 7 minor things to fix. We asked the seller to do the most pressing things and agreed to do the rest ourselves.

Best of luck!

[Elenna]

Make sure the inspector also checks the HVAC or A/C and heating units in the house.