A whole house inspection is the most important thing a buyer can do to protect themselves from buying a house with a lot of costly problems.

How to pick an inspector?

Although realtors are not allowed to suggest an inspector, they will usually have a list of inspectors that their company has used in the past. The buyer can select from the list if they choose.

Whoever you choose to perform the inspection make certain that they have errors and omission insurance. That is your protection if the inspector fails to discover a defect that should have been found. Without errors and omission insurance all you may be able to recoup is the money you paid for the inspection. Hardly compensation for an undiscovered defect that may cost thousands of dollars to repair.

Note: Inspectors are not allowed to destroy property when conducting their inspection.

Setting the Appointment

When making the appointment make certain that you allow time to be present for the entire inspection.  In most cases the agent does not stay for the inspection. You need to ask questions during the inspection.

At the end of the inspection you will be given a written report. You need to contact your agent right away so you both can go over the report and prepare an addendum if necessary for any needed repairs. Your agent will negotiate the repair addendum with the listing agent. Please note that as part of the negotiating several things can occur:

Seller can refuse to make any repairs. You then need to decide if you want to still buy the house.

Seller can renegotiate terms of the contract i.e. price, closing cost etc.

You, the buyer, may decide not to buy the house because of the defects and don't want to negotiate with the seller.

Termite Inspection

The termite inspection should be conducted the same time as the whole house inspection.