Why Buyers Need Home Inspections Today More Than Yesterday
That title may be a bit of a mouthful but there is no denying the concept behind it. When buying a home, getting an inspection done and acting on the report quickly is a must. In the past, sellers were fairly honest. What you saw was what you got. There was little in the way of hiding problems – a good inspection would always uncover them anyway. Today it is a little different.
We have gone through a tough economic period where many people struggled to pay off their mortgages. Repairs were almost always at the bottom of their finance lists, unless the problems became urgent. It then became a catch 22 with the cost of repairs being done at the expense of the mortgage. There are many properties on the market at present that are not in great repair.
Don’t get me wrong, in most cases they are not serious issues. However, and here is where buyers need to be careful, because many sellers are cash strapped, they are not in a position to have costly repairs done to satisfy a sales contract. You will more likely receive credits – just be sure you negotiate fair credits.
This will require an inspection done quickly since sales contracts contain time limits on certain activities. More importantly, you will need to negotiate repairs or credits quickly as well. With this in mind, be sure you have a good idea of what costs will be involved to have repairs done yourself – you should receive that value as a bare minimum in credits.
It’s unfortunate, but if individuals are in a position where they are forced into selling, the chances are the house will not be in a great state of repair. Home inspections are designed to find problems before you hand over your money – make the best use of them.
Related posts:
