What exactly is a home inspection?
I’m not a licensed home inspector in the state of Maryland, but I can tell you that it’s basically a second round of negotiations. This does not open up the position for the buyer to start negotiating a different sale price for the property. What we’re negotiating, instead, is what the buyer wants to have repaired, and what the seller is willing to repair.
The items that are not typically negotiated are cosmetic issues like painting. The focus of these negotiations, rather, will usually concentrate on major structural or mechanical issues such as plumbing, electrical, roofing, or siding. Anything that can hinder the energy or the efficiency of the property will be where the buyers make their requests.
When I’m representing the buyer, I make sure we keep our repairs to a targeted agreement. By this, I mean outlining their five major concerns about the property and presenting them to the seller. If I’m representing the seller and we happen to be getting a laundry list of small issues that the buyer wants to be repaired, we break those repairs down by price. From there, the next step is determined by what makes the most financial sense.
Also, we can’t forget about lender repair requests. Sometimes, in certain loan programs, the lender will require you to make certain repairs in order to get the property financed.
A home inspection is not terms to start renegotiating the structure of the deal; it’s merely negotiating the quality of the property and what the buyer is willing to accept. A majority of the time, it’s a contingency in all contracts in order to allow both parties to be notified up front that it will be taking place.
A home inspection is basically a second round of negotiations.
