Buying a property is just like buying any other stuff, like a car for example. When you want to buy a car, you should take it for a test drive then have a trained mechanic to have a look and give an assessment whether the car is worth buying or not. The same applies for many different things including property. But instead of a trained mechanic, you will need an experienced to have a look on the property to see if there is any potential problem that will cost you a lot of money in the future.

What is Home Inspection?

Home inspection or building inspection is a thorough examination of a property’s condition. The examination should cover all of the electrical, mechanical, and structural aspects of the property. A good home inspector will check the plumbing system thoroughly, both drainage and supply. This is to make sure that there are no leaks or other potential problems that might happen to the plumbing system. Then they will examine the electrical system as well to check for unsafe wiring that can cause fire. Basically they will make sure that all the electrical work are being done properly to avoid any danger. Finally the home inspectors will analyze the whole structure of the building, making sure there are no structural flaws on the property including the outer sheathing, roofing and rafters, footing and foundation, as well as the framework.

All these building inspections will cost you some money, mostly the home inspection cost depends on the size of the building and some extra work being done. For example you can also ask the house inspector to do a pest inspection, some house inspection companies are also able to do this for an extra charge.

After The Inspection

After home inspections are finished, usually the inspector will give you a report about current and potential problems they found in the property. Based on this report you can then negotiate the final deal with the seller. There are a few different decisions you can make as a buyer after receiving the home inspection report:

1. Continue with the purchase because the home inspector didn’t find any current or potential damage, or they only found some minor flaws that won’t cost you a lot of money to fix.

2. Re-negotiate the price based on the damages found by the building inspector. Usually licensed building inspectors are also experienced contractors, so they can actually give an estimate of the cost to repair the property. You can re-negotiate and ask the seller to reduce the price based on the estimate of total repair cost.

3. You can ask the seller to do the repair and you continue with the purchase by paying for the agreed price before the inspection.

4. You can withdraw from the deal completely because there are too many issues with the building and even if the seller offers to repair the damage it will take too much time for you to wait before the property is finally ready.