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photo credit: Andres Siimon
When we write up the agreement of sale, you choose particular inspections that you might want to do. After your offer has been accepted, we will confirm which ones you wish to conduct and will schedule the home inspection. The inspections must be completed as stated in the agreement of sale. By default this is within 10 days of the execution of the agreement of sale, but we may have indicated 12 or 15 days on your agreement.
Who attends?
It is beneficial for you to attend the inspection, but your particular circumstances may preclude this. As your real estate agents, at least one of us WILL attend the home inspection. Please note that in western Pennsylvania, outside of buyers’ agents, only buyers indicated on the sales agreement may attend the inspection. If you wish to have someone else there, let us know and we will forward you an indemnification form for your signature. Once signed, it is sent to the home inspector, who is the decision maker as to who else may attend.
The duration of the home inspection is generally about 2 hours, but varies with property size. Inspections for radon, mold, and wood destroying pests occur at the same time. Other inspections you may have elected will likely occur at other times.
After the home inspection
After the home inspection (and after you have submitted payment for the inspection(s)), the inspector will email you a copy of the inspection report within a few hours (generally) and will copy us. We will all read through it. When you review it, think of any questions you might have for us and note items that concern you. Results of mold tests take a few days, but will also be emailed to you.
After we have reviewed the report, we will meet by phone to discuss your thoughts on the inspection results. Inspection reports are long, and you can expect to see things in it that are not of any concern as well as things that are significant. Generally the inspector places the observations into three categories:
- Things which must be fixed because they are not up to code and/or are an immediate danger (concentrate on these)
- Things which may need addressing/maintenance soon
- General observations
By the way, the inspection report is a great guide to your home, its structure, and its systems. Keep the report and refer back to it periodically during your ownership, as it can remind you which items to keep a watch on.
Post-home inspection follow up
During our discussion, you will decide which, if any, of the items you wish to have remedied with the help of the seller. You can choose to ask the seller to help you by lowering the price of the home, fixing or replacing particular items before the closing, or providing you with a credit at closing so you may get the items fixed/replaced.
If you decide nothing needs attention, great! If you decide that there are item(s) that need to be addressed by the owner, your agents (us!) put together a Buyer’s Reply to Inspection (BRI) delineating anything you are asking of the sellers. If the sellers agree to your requests, we create a Change in Terms Addendum (CTA) indicating what needs to be fixed/replaced/price lowered/credit at closing. Both buyers and sellers must sign the CTA in order to proceed with the sale. If an agreement between buyer and seller cannot be reached within 5 days after the end of the contingency period (i.e., that 10, 12, or 15 days we indicated in the agreement of sale), the sale is terminated and your hand money is returned to you.
