At some point in the process of buying or selling a home, you will be faced with the uneasy process of walking through a home inspection. As a buyer, you want the inspector to find as much as possible so you don't mistakenly buy a home in need of hidden repairs. As the seller of a home being inspected, if you are not upfront about any small problems a home may have, now is when they are uncovered!
In this home inspection article, we want to look at the different aspects of what you can expect during a home inspection, so you can best prepare both the home and yourself for what the inspector may find.
How Long will The Inspection Take?
Home inspections can take anywhere from 45 minutes to several hours, depending on the home, the number of areas being inspected and how much added work is involved for the inspector to get to all those areas.
For instance, if the home has a crawl space versus a basement, it may take the home inspector longer to inspect the foundation and sub-structure due to crawling into the areas under the home.
In most cases, a typical home inspection will not take longer than 3 hours.
Do I Have to Be there for the Inspection?
The only person who really needs to be present during the inspection is the realtor or the person charge of the home at the time of the process.
That said, as a buyer or seller, you may want to be present in order to get a better understanding of any findings the inspector makes during the home inspection.
What Main Things are Inspected?
Since a home purchase is a rather large investment, you can expect all the inspection to cover all main structural and mechanical aspects of the home.
Starting at the street or driveway, the inspector will look for any dangers or damages to the property, by trees, limbs, overgrowth, etc. They will also inspect all outside structures like storage buildings, decks, etc.
After they move into the home, you can anticipate the home inspector will look at the main structural areas of the home. The roof, walls, floors, sub-structure, and foundation, very thoroughly.
Once they complete the structural portion of the home inspection, they move to the mechanical inspection that covers the plumbing, electrical, hating and air conditioning systems, as well as any other features the home may have installed.
A Home Inspectors Report
When the inspection of the home is completed, the company will prepare a written report for both the buyer and seller, and in some cases, a copy is sent to the mortgage company for their records as well.
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