Purpose for Home Inspection

To discover serious problems not readily apparent to the untrained eye. If something serious is discovered with the structure, the buyer has four options:

• Buyer elects to buy property as is.
• Seller pays for repairs.
• Buyer and seller can split the cost of repairs. (50/50 or other)
• Cancel contract.

Remember: You are not purchasing a newly constructed home. There may be minor items that are not perfect about the property. The home owner has usually factored those items into his selling price. Therefore, the seller will usually want to sell the home as is instead of repairing a number of items.

Home Inspection vs. Appraisal

Appraisers look at a property in order to determine its value. Specific things that are looked at include quality of workmanship, square footage, location, size of lot, # of bedrooms, # of baths, etc.
Home inspectors check the house for flaws. An inspector looks at the age & condition of wiring, condition of plumbing, soundness of foundation, age of roof, etc.