Inspection Expectations

So, what does an inspection report look like and what should you expect?

First off, once you are under contract on a home you should hire a licensed inspector to go through the home to see if there is anything wrong with it or if you will need future repairs. Once that is done they will email you a report with any of their findings.

Once the report is delivered, the buyer and realtor will have a chance to review it separately or together. This is where things can get a little complicated. If your realtor doesn't prepare you for what can show up on the report or let you know there is going to be quite a bit of finding, then this can scare buyers away, especially first time home buyers.

An inspection report shouldn't scare you, but it should make you aware of what is going on with the home. A good inspector will bypass a lot of the small imperfections that you could go to Home Depot and spend $200 on and do it yourself. They should be looking for any major items that can arise like the roof, appliances, water leaks, crawl space, etc. 

You could either get back a report that is 20 pages long or 50. Don't let it scare you. Instead, go page by page and see what you think is the most important and urgent to have fixed or replaced by the seller. Remember, it is ultimately up to the seller if he/she will want to those fixes but they can't un-sell you the house just because you asked for a lot!