A home inspection is not necessarily mandatory. However, certain conditions indicated in the purchase contract or mortgage terms may make it obligatory to have one carried out. It is, however, impressive that 88% of property buyers make these inspections a core part of their transaction. When done right, these checks can save you lots of money in the long term. So, whether you are buying a house abroad or not, you can benefit greatly from home inspections.
- It helps you negotiate a lower purchasing price
According to real estate experts, no house is built to optimum perfection. At some point during the construction stage, builders are compelled to make a few adjustments and alterations to the planned design. Although these modifications may not exactly be problems, the idea here is to help you understand that perfection is quite a stretch for built homes. That said, it is vital to know that some design alterations are done to cover up a building defect. For example, some builders use beautifully textured walls to hide surface imperfections in houses. For an unsuspecting buyer, the textured walls act as diversions from what is underneath them. Fortunately, with a home inspection, a licensed professional can detect these anomalies, and their report will help make your decision to buy the property.
You can negotiate a lower purchasing price when you know more about these details. In many cases, a seller would be compelled to lower the price for your benefit. Moreover, if you decide to take up the cost of repairs, that will be an excellent bargaining point for a reduction. Another option is to ask the seller to take up the full cost of all repair works detected by a home inspection. That takes away the pressure of buying the house at the full cost and taking up the responsibility of repairs as well.
- The benefit of long-term savings
Buying a house costs a fortune, and for most people, it is the single most important purchase they will ever make in their lifetime. Naturally, you will want to protect anything you spent a fortune on. The last thing you want is to pay a huge sum for your dream house only to be saddled with expensive repairs a few years after purchase. Unfortunately, it is a reality faced by new homeowners who failed to conduct home inspections. According to bankrate.com, the average cost of a home inspection in the US is $399. There are variations depending on your home state and neighborhood. If you think skipping this payment is a way to save money, you thought wrong.
Home defects and damages will cost you more than ten times the value of a home inspection fee. Therefore, while skipping may sound opportune, it is a costly mistake you will likely pay for in the short or long term. For instance, if you fail to have a home inspection done, you may miss damages to the house’s roofing. Roofing repairs are steeply-priced, especially when deterioration or damage is extensive. On the other hand, finding it early can spare you the headache of paying for expensive roofing repairs. The funds you would have used for these repairs could have been diverted to paying some monthly bills instead. Therefore, although home inspections are not mandatory, it is in your interest to have them done.
- It helps you take up repairs you can afford
The whole objective of a home inspection is to determine whether the property is in good condition to be purchased. Even when faults or deteriorations are detected, it is an opportunity to assess more details regarding the most appropriate. Perhaps, except for a few problems, the house you found checks all the categories you put down. In that case, you will need to know the full extent of the damage, to determine whether it is worth the purchase. Repairs have three categories, and they are minor, moderate, major, and extensive. The first two are manageable because they don’t require much money to be fixed. In sharp contrast, however, major and extensive repairs usually cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. If you had known about them earlier, you would have moved on to check another property. Knowing and planning adequately for repairs you can conveniently take care of is vital.
According to reports, the less costly repairs potential homeowners often take up are window reframing, door changes, and repainting. Some may be willing to take up the cost of replacing old grooved fittings galvansied pipes to modify the plumbing system. Meanwhile, buyers who fall within higher income brackets may be more inclined towards footing the bills for expensive repairs. The question, however, is, why buy a pricey property that needs costly and extensive repairs? It will only make sense if you are buying a cheap fixer-upper.
- Provides guidance to invest wisely in property ownership
Capital gains, safety, and income are the three elements governing any kind of investment. Long-term asset ownership requires investors to make several decisions to protect their assets. It is the same with your property. The house you just purchased is an investment because it builds equity. How does a home inspection help you protect it? Remember that one vital investment element is safety. A home inspector checks to ensure your property (investment) is safe for habitation. More importantly, these checks provide vital information to determine if investing in a particular property is worth it.
As a potential investor, your natural inclination is to protect your assets. Doing that saves you money in the long run. The measures you take to secure your property play significant roles in ensuring that the house stays in excellent condition for a long time. The less money spent on extensive property repairs, the more you will have to expand the house to increase its value. When you see it from this perspective, you will understand why a home inspection is a crucial part of any property purchase. Nobody wants to invest in a property only to lose it a few years later because they suddenly realize it was a bad buy. All the years spent saving money to make a down payment on a house would have gone down the drain. It is better to know what you’re up against before signing your name on the dotted lines of any property document.
- It saves you money for future property upgrades
One way to upgrade a property is to renovate or remodel it. According to data, an upgraded property automatically receives at least a 25% boost in value. If you want a higher value boost, you may have to check what other properties in your location offer. Based on your findings, you can include all the extras buyers look for in your renovation or remodel project. A vital thing building engineers check for is the property’s structural stability before renovation commences. This is done to determine if the foundation is strong enough to withstand the additions and modifications to be carried out.
If you failed to conduct a home inspection when you first bought the house, you might face some problems when it’s time to renovate. Assuming the house has a foundation problem that wasn’t detected at the pre-purchase stage, your renovation may stall until the defect is attended to. Even worse, there is a huge risk of damaging the entire house if you overlook weak load-bearing walls and a defective foundation. You benefit from this when you conduct a home inspection before making any financial commitment. To escape these safety hazards, you cannot compromise this. Therefore, when you have the opportunity to buy a house, it would be best to bring in the home inspector for everybody’s good.
- It helps you avoid problems with your insurance coverage
Do you know everything about home insurance? If you are not too conversant with the inner workings, read up all you can about it. Insurance companies send their personal inspectors to appraise the property you want coverage for. These insurance inspectors’ main job is to access hazards in and around the home. The more problems they spot, the less likely the chances of getting ample coverage for your property.
Additionally, they are out to protect company interests and limit paying out large claims. So, you would be disadvantaged if you bought a house without conducting an inspection first. In the event of compensation, you will likely lose out on getting what could have been due to you. On the other hand, if a home inspection were carried out, you would be spared the problem of getting the house up to standard in hopes of benefitting from ample insurance coverage.
Now that you know the importance of home inspections, it is advisable to stick with the process. There is so much to benefit from than lose when you have an inspection carried out at the pre-purchase stage of your dream home. It is always advisable to hire experts to help you with the process.
