Whether you’re producing a seller’s home inspection for the buyer or expecting the buyer’s home inspector to show up on your doorsteps, it’s best to be thoroughly prepared.
The following are steps which should be taken to ensure your inspection is a success. Many of these items can be done with little or no cost and many are regular maintenance items for a home.
1. Clean the House
This sounds so simple yet home owners often overlook this tactic. Home inspectors are people first and inspectors second. As people, they carry preconceived ideas of how well a home has been maintained. Clean homes say you care and take care of the house.
2. Be On Time Because the Inspector Will Be
Sometimes home inspectors are early. If an inspector makes an appointment with you for 9:00 a.m., have the house ready for inspection at 8:30. It’s also common for inspectors to start on the exterior of the home, so leave the shades down or drapes drawn until you are dressed. More than one unprepared seller has been “surprised” by a stranger stomping around in the back yard.
3. Leave the Utilities Connected
The home inspector will need to turn on the stove, run the dishwasher, test the furnace and air conditioning, so leave the utilities on, especially if the house is vacant. It’s impossible to check receptacles for grounding and reverse polarity if the power is turned off. Without utilities, the inspector will have to reschedule, which could delay the closing of your transaction and the removal of the buyer’s home inspection contingency.
4. Provide Workspace Around Furnace and Water Heaters
Remove boxes, bookcases, furniture and anything else blocking access to your furnace, air conditioner and water heater. The inspector will need three to four feet of working space to inspect these items.
5. Keep pilot lights lit.
For liability reasons, home inspectors will not light pilot lights on stoves, furnaces and water heaters. When pilot lights are not lit, inspections are rendered incomplete. Delays ensue.
6. Provide Access to Attic and Garage
The inspector will need to get into your basement and / or attic as well, so keep a path cleared. Move boxes away from the walls. Vacuum spider webs.
7. Leave Keys for Outbuildings & Electrical Boxes
Leave the remote controls for your garage door opener or a key if the garage is unattached to the house. Unlock the covers for your sprinkler system and electrical box. Leave a key for exterior building access.
8. Clear Away Brush from Exterior Inspection Points
Nobody expects you to shovel a tunnel around your home if snow drifts are blocking the foundation but, in the winter, do provide a path around the house. In the summer, cut down dead tree branches and clear brush from the foundation. Move trash cans away from the house.
9. Provide Repair Documents
Make repairs ahead of time.
Even minor blunders can present your home in a less favorable light. Fix the little things like handles, knobs and faucets. Repair major defects (like roofs), or be straightforward about them and adjust the asking price.
Make available to the home inspector all invoices and documents regarding remodeling projects or new items such as a roof or furnace. If you’ve upgraded the electrical from ungrounded to grounded, installed a new dishwasher or repaired a leaky faucet, find the paperwork. It will give the buyer peace of mind to know those items were reinspected.
10. Prepare to be Away for Three Hours Minimum
Often the buyer will accompany the home inspector, and buyers feel uncomfortable asking questions if the owner is present. Try to schedule a time for the inspection when you can be out of the house, and take the children with you. Crate your pets if you cannot remove them from the premises.
All home inspections are different and can vary dramatically from Province to Province , as well as across counties and cities. Much depends on the home inspector and which association, if any, to which the home inspector belongs. Because I am most familiar with home inspections conducted in accordance with the standards of practice established by the National Association of Certified Home Inspectors, I find that the VIDEO below from Service Magic is worth watching!
REMEMBER: REAL ESTATEHome Owners: If, you already own a home – good for you! May you be blessed with
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