Buyer: Do You Need To Get a Home Inspection?

By Doug Cary

Doug Cary has been selling real estate in Davis County since 2005. He is a 2nd generation top producing Real Estate Agent.

A buyer of ours recently decided against our council by not getting a home inspection. Let me tell you what happened.

The seller of the property bought the house only about a year ago, so they decided to share their home inspection with my client. Upon looking at it, they thought it was all good. Everything looked great. They decided against paying the extra fee to have any of the other inspections.

That turned out to be a big mistake. There was a bathroom in the property that wasn’t used much by the seller for about a year. It had a leak in the faucet underneath, which turned out to be a large, massive mold and plumbing issue. A lot of the flooring and mold had to be taken up, all because she decided not to do a home inspection.

A few of the issues my clients have found during home inspections the seller didn’t even know existed were dangerously high radon, mold, leaky roofs, broken trusses in the attic, faulty wiring, plumbing leaks, broken up sewer lines, and many more.

Our clients are advised to do any inspection they feel is necessary, including a general home inspection which looks at anything from the roof to the foundation. Then you can do more specific inspections like HVAC, roof, foundation, and radon test. You can watch another one of my videos to learn all about radon and the importance of having it checked. Other inspections include mold tests, sewer scopes, lead-based paint inspection, termite tests, etc. Within the due diligence period of the contract, you have plenty of time to do all of these things.

The bottom line is, you should do the home inspections your real estate agent advises you to do. Look into everything you possibly can. I hope this information is helpful. If you have any questions about buying or selling in today’s market, feel free to reach out to me. I’d love to be your real estate consultant.