Get a House Inspection Before Buying
Before you finalize your house purchase, be sure the house is in good condition. The best way is to have a professional inspection.
Inspecting the physical condition of a house is an important part of the home-buying process. Before you close escrow, you should have the property inspected -- to look for defects or malfunctions in the building's structure, such as the roof, plumbing, or foundation, and to detect pest infestations or damage. Even if the seller provides you an inspection report, it's best not to rely on this alone -- the seller may have chosen an inspector who's not known for rooting out problems.
Ask for disclosures before you get an inspection. In some states, such as California, sellers are required to disclose considerable information about the condition of the house itself and potential hazards to the property. If the sellers disclose problems about the condition of the house, you can ask your inspector to determine the extent of the problem. But this is just the beginning -- not all sellers know about problems with the house, or honestly disclose problems they know about.
When to Have the Property Inspected
Most buyers get professional inspections only after making an offer on the property. The offer is commonly made contingent on the buyers' approving the results of one or more inspections. After the offer has been accepted by the seller, the buyer arranges and schedules the inspections.
Although it's possible to arrange for professional inspections to be done before you make a written purchase offer, most buyers prefer to be in contract with the seller before spending money on the inspections. On the other hand, in a very hot market, having an inspection done before the offer can be a useful bidding strategy, allowing you to remove that contingency from your purchase offer.
Before paying for a professional inspection, you can conduct your own informal inspection. The best time to do this is before you make an offer, so that you can save yourself the trouble should you find serious problems. Your local bookstore should have several useful do-it-yourself inspection books available.
Page 1 of 3
Next Page
Copyright 2007 Nolo
