Why You Should Get a Home Inspection
When you see a home, and you like it, it can be tempting to skip the home inspection, especially if other people are interested in the home. However, that can prove to be a costly mistake. Here are some reasons why you should get a home inspection.
For Peace of Mind
When you decide to skip a home inspection, you’re taking a lot of risks. A home may look fine to the untrained eye, but there could be not too obvious issues hidden beneath the surface. Costly issues can include a cracked foundation, leaky roof and slanted chimney. Do you know how to identify all of those?
Even if you bring in your handy uncle, things can still be missed. Nothing beats the unbiased review of a home inspector who does this for a living and knows the most common issues to look for. By getting a home inspection, you can rest assured that the home you’re buying is a rock-solid investment, not a money pit.
To Negotiate with Home Sellers
Besides peace of mind, a home inspection can also be a great tool for negotiating with home sellers. When conducting your home inspection, if you come across a costly repair you weren’t anticipating, you can use this to negotiate a lower purchase price with the home sellers. For example, if the chimney will cost $3,000 to repair, you can ask the home sellers to reduce the purchase price by $3,000. If the home sellers don’t want to lose your offer, they’ll have to address the issue, which works in your favour.
To Learn About the Home
Are you a first-time homebuyer? Buying a home is a learning experience. Sure, you can ask your parents about their experience as homeowners. That’s certainly helpful, but it’s important to remember that each home is unique. The home inspection is the perfect opportunity to learn about the inner workings of the home you’re interested in buying.
Make sure you attend the home inspection. Many homebuyers choose to skip it because they’re busy. This is a huge mistake. You want to be there so the home inspector can take you on a walkthrough of the home and show you any potential issues. This also presents the perfect opportunity to ask the inspector any questions you might have, such as where the water shut-off valve is or how do you restart the furnace.
For Budgeting Purposes
While homeownership is generally a good long-term investment, it comes with expenses along the way. Besides property taxes and utilities, another big one is maintenance and repairs. This includes stuff like replacing the roof, windows and furnace, to name a few.
By getting a proper home inspection done, you should have a good idea about when those might need to be replaced, and you can budget accordingly. If you know that your roof is good for another five years, you can put money aside over those five years, so you have enough saved for a new roof when it needs to be replaced.
The Bottom Line
A home inspection is a good learning opportunity and money well spent. Don’t give in to the temptation to skip it on your next home purchase.
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