Why Home Inspections Are Now More Important Than Ever

With a competitive housing market favoring sellers it’s becoming more necessary for buyers to forego contingencies, such as home inspections and related ancillary testing as part of their purchase contract.

In addition many agents may be encouraging their buyers to offer above the listing price when making their offer. To win the offer these tactics seem to be the new norm. But I ask you to stop for a moment and think about how this could affect a buyer’s long term financial well being and even their health and safety.

Does it make a lot of sense going further into debt offering thousands above listing price AND foregoing the home inspection?

Homebuyers are further extending themselves financially without knowing anything about the condition of the house they are trying to buy. Sure, costly updates like the kitchen and bathrooms take away the likelihood of having to do those things for a while, but how good is the rest of the house?

• How old is the roof, the heating system, water heater, the electrical, plumbing? Everything has a useful life, nothing lasts forever.
• How is the attic insulation and ventilation?
• What is the condition of the foundation, basement and/or crawlspace like?
• What is the radon level in the home?
• How is the septic system, what repairs and maintenance have been done and when was it cleaned out last?
• What is the condition of the well, how much water will it supply and what is the quality of that water in the well?

These are all things a home inspection and ancillary testing addresses that are not usually apparent to most buyers during a 30 minute showing with their agent before signing on the dotted line. If you are going to forego these services with a contingency to buy, I urge you to consider getting them done as soon as possible regardless.  A home inspection and/or ancillary services, regardless of when it’s completed, will always aim to protect your health and safety living in the home.