It’s common to hear questions like, ‘Do I really need a home inspection?’ or ‘Can I skip it?’ A home inspection is as important as buying the home itself, and it should not be ignored.

Ignoring this process can lead to costly mistakes and regrets. Whether you are a first time home buyer or not, ensure that you conduct adequate home inspection. 

This article outline the key reasons why a home inspection is a must-do before you close the deal on your next home

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Reasons Why You Need a Home Inspection

There are tips to consider before buying a home. This is in order to avoid certain mistakes that might cost you more or leave you in regrets.

A home inspection is examining a home to determine its condition. Also,  it helps discover potential issues it may have. 

A proper home inspection is conducted by trained and licensed home inspectors. 

Here are reasons why you need to conduct a home inspection before buying a house:

• To avoid safety hazards
• To detect pest infestation
• Check for future costs
• Reveal illegal addition and installations
• Protection
• Negotiation tool
• To reveal structural issues
• Save money

1. To avoid Safety Hazards

When a home is not maintained properly, it is prone to safety hazards. A proper home inspection helps you detect safety hazards. 

These issues can be carbon monoxide leakage, moulds or even any other safety concern. You can also discover bad electrical installations which can lead to fire hazards.

As a home buyer, you should make sure that your contract allows you to cancel an offer if these issues are detected.  

Home inspections allow you to carefully assess the safety conditions of a home. Also, it helps you determine if it is safe enough to live in. 

2. To Detect Pest Infestation

It’s important to check for pest infestation before buying a home. While you are looking at the physical goodness, check to see if the home is susceptible to pest infestation. 

Most homes are built with poor materials. These materials can be prone to pest infestation in the future. 

Pest can leave signs of their presence. These signs can be droppings, damaged wood, termite tubes and other signs. Moreover, they can even damage property.

A pest infestation can also lead to health issues. This is because some of these pests spread harmful diseases to humans.

In order to avoid these damages, it is advised that you conduct a proper home inspection. 

This is because you wouldn’t want to spend your money on a potential risk to your health and property. Also, you can spend additional money trying to get rid of these pests. 

3. Check for Future Costs

A home inspection helps you predict the expenses a property can cost you in the future. 

Home inspectors can check the current condition of systems and equipment in a home. These include plumbing, water heaters, roofings and others. 

This helps in knowing the current condition of the home. In addition to that, it predicts how long the home finishes are going to last. 

When you know the replacement time of these equipment, you can then make your budgeting decisions. You can decide if you can finance these additional costs.

Make sure you have a clear understanding of this before buying that home.

4. Reveal Illegal Addition and Installations

A proper home inspection helps you identify any illegal installations before buying a home. 

Most home builders go outside the plan for the home building. These installations can affect the insurance and property taxes on the home.

Also, once you close a home deal, these illegal additions become your financial burden. 

In order to avoid this, ensure you have a proper home inspection. 

5. Protection

Conducting a home inspection helps protect yourself. Moulds in houses can lead to severe health challenges. This will require additional expenses to cure.

Also, most home users don’t install protective measures in their homes. Buying such homes will put you at risk of burglary.

Ensure you take note of all these things when you go for a home inspection. This helps you weigh all your options before closing the home deal.

6. Negotiation Tool

Conducting a home inspection provides you with full information of the property. 

You can identify issues that need to be fixed. This presents an opportunity to ask for repairs or even price reduction or from the seller. 

Make sure you are working with your realtor. This helps you understand what requests can and should be made to close a better deal. 

7. Reveal and identify structural issues

Cases of building collapse are becoming rampant. It’s almost like there’s a new case every year. 

Structure is one of the most important elements in a home. And most developers do not meet the standards of building construction. 

Buying a badly constructed home can be avoided. This is by going with an expert engineer to conduct a home inspection.

The structural issues you can check for in a home include;

• Cracks or bulging on walls and ceilings
• Uneven gaps on windows
• Leakage in roofs.
• Crumbling concrete
• Damp floors
• Uneven gaps in a wall

8. Save Money

A home inspection can save you a significant amount of money in the long run. While the cost might seem like an extra expense, it can uncover hidden issues. These issues could end up costing you much more if left unchecked. 

Without an inspection, you will  be unaware of some certain problems. These problems can incur additional costs aside from the cost of buying a home.  

Skipping an inspection to save money can be tempting. However, you will spend extra to fix the issues you discover later. 

Conclusion

Skipping a home inspection is one of the common mistakes first time home buyers make. 

While it may seem like an additional cost, a home inspection can ultimately save you a lot of money, time, and stress.

It gives you a clear understanding of the property’s condition and helps ensure you’re making a sound investment.

Take the time to have a professional inspection conducted before you close on your next home.