After you have found your perfect home, and received an accepted offer (hurray!), you’ll likely go through an ‘inspection contingency’ period. If you’re wondering what this is, and how to navigate through one, here are some helpful tips to get your started.

What is an inspection contingency?

Is a specified period of time outlined within the residential purchase agreement (the offer) that gives a buyer the right to have a home inspected. This right allows the buyer to assess the property's condition and negotiate repairs or potentially cancel the contract based on the inspection findings.

What happens during an inspection contingency?

The buyer or buyer’s agent will first schedule a general inspection of the property. This is where a licensed professional comes out and gives a ‘bill of health’ on the overall state of the property. The goal of this process is to ensure the home is in safe and functioning order, specifically the areas of focus to consider are the roof, foundation, electrical, and plumbing.

What happens if something comes up in the general inspection?

After the general inspection, the buyer’s will receive a detailed report (generally in 24 hours) that will outline all of the areas of concern that may need further investigation by a specified licensed professional. From there, your agent will help you schedule these inspections to gain a better understanding, and estimates on what it would look like to repair or replace.

Now what?

If you’ve completed all inspections, and have received estimates from licensed professionals on what it would take to resolve the issue, depending on the specifics that were agreed upon on the offer, you may have the opportunity to ask the seller for support. This process is called ‘request for repairs’, and you can request a credit or reduction in purchase price, based upon the estimates received, or you can have the seller take on resolving the issues themselves. This process is delicate, therefore, it is super important that you’re working with a Realtor that has experience in how to navigate, so that you ultimately end up with the best possible outcome.

Any other tips?

A few tips to further help you along

As mentioned above, it is so important that you have a Realtor who understands and has experience with the inspection process. This ensures that they can support your goals, while knowing how to manage the communication between the listing side, and ultimately creating a win for all parties involved.
There isn’t a home with a perfect inspection, so it’s important to manage your expectations. One things that I tell my buyer’s that are supportive of this is imagine you have a perfectly working vehicle, and it is the age of the home you’re buying, and you bring it into the repair shop and say, ‘make this a (insert current year) model’. They will have a whole bunch of recommended upgrades based on code, permit, and lifestyle changes, and the home inspection process is no different. The main thing is to ensure the home is in safe and functioning order, and meets the expectations of the day you saw it.
Ask the seller’s for their disclosures prior to the general inspection if you can. This will give you all of their knowledge of the home, so you can have the inspector double check any areas of concern.

If you are thinking of buying or selling reach out to me and we can discuss the best path forward. Believe it or not, it isn’t always a good time, depending on your personal circumstances, which I can advise to ensure that you are making the right choice for you.

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