Unfortunately many homeowners defer maintenance to save time or money, and prospective buyers must decide how to respond to their home inspection. As a homeowner, you also want to consider things like how quickly you want to close and market conditions, i.e. is it a buyer or seller market.

The home inspector provides an impartial view, performing a service without emotional ties to either the buyer or the seller. Reuben Saltzman, Structure Tech Home Inspections, identifies four choices for the buyer to consider after receiving your home inspection report:

• Do nothing until after the closing
• Ask the sellers to make the repairs
• Ask the sellers to fund the repairs
• … or cancel the purchase based on the report

When you’re not sure, try listing your choices with the pros and cons of each option. Sometimes just organizing your thoughts and writing them down will help you find the answer. If you’re still not sure, call your home inspector and discuss these options with them.

Do Nothing Until After the Closing

Reuben suggests “Doing nothing is usually the best option for buyers.” Unless you’re buying a new home, you shouldn’t expect everything to be perfect due to normal wear and tear. Even with new homes there are flaws, as traditional “stick construction” is built by humans who can and will make mistakes. If you’re buying a home that is well maintained, then it is realistic to find several minor repairs you can handle after you move in. Asking the seller to address the entire list of minor repairs will typically lead to bad feelings and poor communications which exacerbates the stress associated with moving.

Ask The Sellers To Make Repairs

Conscientious sellers will automatically make the repairs listed in the home inspection report. If you need to ask for this, chances are you won’t be happy with the quality of the repairs and/or materials, making this the worst option. At My Handyman we sometimes go in days before a closing to correct repairs the home owner tried to handle personally. We deal with doors that won’t latch, light switches that don’t work and maybe they’ve removed old grout and/or caulking but ran out of time to finish installing the new materials or worse, they tried and it looks worse.

If you’re firm about having the seller do the repairs, use the following recommendations:

• Specify in the purchase agreement that work must be done by licensed contractors.
• Require that permits be pulled and inspections completed by the authority with jurisdiction, i.e. your town’s building inspector.
• State that written proof must be given to the buyer with work guaranteed for 1 year from date completed.
• Specify a date for the follow-up inspection if one is planned, preferably a week before the closing so there is time to resolve outstanding items.

Major repairs to plumbing, electrical, or HVAC require a permit. If a project is too small to require a permit, maybe it doesn’t make sense to ask the seller do it at all?

Ask Sellers To Pay for Repairs

This option is usually best for the buyer, as they don’t pay for the repairs. Often the seller will counter with an offer to split the projected costs. The buyer can then hire their own contractors to do the work, and oversee the project after they own the house.  This is definitely the most logical approach, but sometimes buyers think they’re not getting a good deal if they buy a house and need to do repairs right away.

Ask your home inspector which repairs need to be done right away, and do them. Other projects like re-wiring might make more sense a few years later when you put on that addition or replace the entire deck with low maintenance materials.

Cancel The Purchase

Unless you have experience fixing up homes, you may find yourself in a situation where there are too many problems, or they’re too large, complicated and/or expensive. This can happen when the home inspector finds serious problems with the foundation, structural problems or multiple whole house systems all needing to be replaced immediately. If you don’t have the time or skill to deal with these repairs, and the seller won’t correct the problems, then you likely will have to walk away from the deal.

When major problems are found and you are willing to mange the repairs, you need to make sure you have committed estimates from the contractors who will be making the repairs. Where the extent of the damage is unknown, you either need to add contingency to projected costs or find a way to get a more complete evaluation and estimate which is critical when there is water damage and/or mold issues that could cost $10,000s in repair.

When reading an article on ActiveRain, What is the Realtors Job in a Home Inspection, I was impressed by one inspector’s comment. He said when inspecting the exterior of the home, after doing a thorough review walking in one direction, you need to visually inspect the home from the opposite direction to catch things only visible from one angle. That type of experience is why you hire a professional.

In selecting a home inspector, buyers should understand that not all states require home inspectors to be licensed. When hiring any home professional, you should look for someone  committed to their profession through membership in an organization like one of those listed here. A good home inspector should also be familiar with local (town) building codes and may also have a general contractor’s license.

• American Society of Home Inspectors, ASHI
• National Association of Home Inspectors, NAHI
• International Association of Certified Home Inspectors, InterNACHI

Buyers Should Attend Their Home Inspection

The first lesson I learned is that buyers should participate in their home inspection which I’ve seldom done, but certainly agree with after owning a handyman business for several years. Here are hints and tips about who should participate in your home inspection and the role each person plays.

Inspector

• Arrive early and when the seller is home, introduce yourself before starting the inspection. If the buyer will participate, get ladders set up ahead of time to lessen time spent by buyer.
• Some inspectors will provide verbal commentary to the buyer(s) during the inspection while others prefer to focus on the inspection, followed by a review with the buyer, who can then ask questions at the end.
• Provide a written report including photos of all defects, which may be provided on site or often a few days later so the inspector can research things like stoves and/or appliances.

Realtor

• Provide recommendations on home inspection companies but the final choice must be the buyers. The realtor schedules the home inspection as that requires coordination with the seller.
• Attend inspection and review ground rules with buyer(s) and inspector. Some realtors advise buyers “to watch, take notes and be quiet during the inspection and NOT distract the inspector while working. … Others recommend buyers arrive at the end of the inspection so the inspector can do a walkthrough with them”. The inspector can explain “any shortcomings from minor flaws and imperfections to items that will require immediate attention, . . . and everything in between.”
• Help your buyers understand which concerns are important to focus on, when they otherwise might get overwhelmed with the amount of information being communicated.
• Negotiate resolution of defects with sellers to reach best solution for buyers.

Buyer and Sellers who get an inspection prior to listing their home

• Participate in the home inspection to gain first hand insight into potential problems.