Buying a home can be very exciting for you and your family. However, if you find out the house you have purchased needs renovation, all that excitement will be gone. Therefore, before making this important purchase, it’s recommended to do a home inspection. Here are the top 5 reasons you should do a pre-purchase home inspection. Read on!
- Uncover Potential Safety Issues
Purchasing a property without doing a home inspection is like driving a car blindfolded. Although you move forward, you have no idea where you will end up. For instance, you can’t know what needs to be fixed or if the house has any mold.
Also, there could be poorly installed appliances that produce carbon monoxide, which is extremely harmful to your health. A home inspection allows you to come to know about the hidden defects. This way, you can ask the owner of the house to fix the issues before you close the deal. Remember, safety comes first!
2. Find Structural Problems
Most people who try to buy a property inspect it themselves. The Do-it-Yourself (DIY) task seems interesting, but if you don’t have the experience, you can end up buying a house with many structural defects. It is important to hire a professional home inspection service to look for any potential structural issues such as cracks in ceilings, door frames, walls, etc.
Doing so will save you a lot of money in the long run. Fixing structural issues is the responsibility of the homeowners. So, before you pay the owner and buy the property, ask him to fix all the issues identified by the home inspection team.
3. Reveal Possible Pest Problems
It is no surprise that pest infestation can destroy a house. Although the likelihood of pest problems varies depending on location, temperature, and humidity, they can cause problems in a home. Termites, for instance, can be a big issue if not discovered.
Research shows that termites cause over C$5 billion in damage to houses yearly. A home inspection team has all the tools available to find whether or not the house has pest problems.
4. Forecast Future Expenses
Another reason to have a pre-purchase home inspection is that it helps predict the potential future expenses. If the inspection team indicates that the wall, roof, floor, furnace, or any other thing has a low life expectancy, you must start to budget for a new wall or roof. A home inspector can help you create a plan for future expenses.
Pre-purchase home inspections determine where expenses for upgrades or replacement may arise in the future. For example, these include windows, roofing, heating systems, plumbing, electrical, air conditioning, and appliances.
5. Negotiate Seller Repairs
You (the buyer) is the only person who can ask the homeowner to correct the issues found by the inspection professional. Some buyers don’t want a minor defect in the house. Others don’t get alarmed even by the significant defects detected by the inspection team.
After completion of a home inspection, you can ask the homeowner to repairs the issues found. The homeowner can then either agree or disagree with the repairs. Remember, without a home inspection, you can’t request repairs from the home seller. This is the reason why a home inspection is recommended by experts.