How can you tell that you are really getting the home of your dreams…and not a construction or maintanance nightmare?

When you went through the offer process you saw at least 12 pages of information about possible items you may want to inspect in your new home….but how do you do that?

A professional Home Inspection is the best first step toward determining the overall condition of a home under consideration.  There are as many different types of inspection as there are specialties or trades used to build a home…but a good general home inspector can quickly identify many substandard items and offer insight about possible repairs.  Occasionally a buyer will need an expert engineering or trades inspection…and we have great referrals available for those situations.

Here are a few questions to consider about home inspectors and inspections:

• What are the qualifications of the inspector you are hiring to do the work?
• Do you have specific questions that need answers? 
• What common defects would cause you to cancel a purchase contract?

The purchase contract always allows some fixed time period for the prospective buyer to verify the property is in satisfactory condition.  We get started just as soon as possible and schedule your home inspection so you have the most time to investigate any negative findings from the initial inspection and prepare your repair request.

 Once you are satisfied you have all the information you need about the condition of a home we prepare a Request for Repairs asking the seller for specific items to be replaced or repaired.   This is a request, and the seller must agree, so here is another place to use our negotiation skills to get you the most work possible.

Here are a few things to consider about Repair Requests:

• What is the overall dollar value of the repairs you are requesting?
• Would the seller need to do these repairs to sell to any other buyer?
• Do you want the seller to complete these jobs before close of escrow?
• Would you rather have a cost credit and do the work yourself?

My goal is to make every negotiation a win-win situation for both buyer and seller…and the key to most negotiations is perspective.  We present the requests in a way that emphasizes the reasonable nature of the repairs, and paves the way for a “yes” answer!

Once you’re finished with the repair request process you are ready to move toward Closing Escrow