Are you looking to purchase a property? If you are, then you’ve probably told yourself many times that this or that property wasn’t worth the money. You may be right sometimes, but unfortunately, you might also be wrong sometimes. You won’t honestly know whether you’ve made the proper judgement unless you have a pre-purchase inspection done!
A pre-purchase inspection is exactly what you think it is. A professional comes to inspect the property before you buy it to help you understand the property’s true condition. This enables you to judge whether it is worth your money.
That being said, do you know what happens during a pre-purchase inspection? You might want to know, simply for the fact that when you understand what pre-purchase inspection does, you know why exactly it is so important.
With that in mind, here’s what happens during a pre-purchase inspection:
The Exterior Inspection
When the inspector first arrives, they will typically check the property’s exterior and surroundings first. This includes looking at the overall state of the landscape and any possible issues on the building’s exterior. They do this to check for any potential threats posed to your home by the surroundings or an issue on the property’s exterior that may worsen and hurt living conditions, noting any issue that will concern you. For example, they may spot a landscaping problem that can affect drainage or the deterioration on the building’s exterior that may threaten structural integrity.
Regardless, this exterior inspection is vital simply because problems won’t only spawn from inside the building but the outside as well. Many homebuyers miss this simply because their focus is the home itself and not what’s outside.
The Interior Inspection
Once done with the outside of the building, the inspector will go ahead with the property’s interior. Here, they will check for many things that can be of concern, such as cracks, moisture buildups, ventilation issues, and a lot more. With their experience, they know exactly where to look and what kind of problems to look out for, recording any issue that will be of your concern. Keep in mind that they will not outright note down an aesthetic issue as a problem. However, if the problem that has caused the aesthetic issue has caused a more significant issue that poses a threat to the home, they will record it accordingly.
With interior inspection done, any of the problems you missed in your brief moment of inspection can be caught. Many sellers tend to hide things that they know you will miss, but these problems have nowhere to go with a professional by your side.
Conclusion
Simply put, an inspector’s job in a pre-purchase inspection is to catch as many problems as possible that the home may have. With that information, you can do several things. For example, you can discuss the issues with the seller to see how they can fix them before you purchase the home. Also, it can act as leverage for you to lower the home’s price down to give you enough money to fix the problems yourself. Finally, you can use this list as a way to justify your decision to look at another property. Of course, the final decision is up to you, but always remember that a pre-purchase inspection is vital. It may cost you a few hundred dollars, but that’s nothing compared to the potential money you will have spent trying to fix a hidden issue you missed.
Home Inspect SA offers independent building inspections done comprehensively and by licensed professionals. If you are looking for Adelaide building inspections for pre-purchasing purposes, reach out to us today and get your free quote!
