House Inspection Report

As a homeowner I have always had mixed feelings about whether house inspection reports are required when you’re making a purchase of a home, particularly an older home. This is another series of posts about adult children moving home with their parents. Then buying a house to move out from their parents home. In this post we’re going to talk about house inspection reports.

Our daughter and her husband requested a house inspection report for a house that they were interested in. The report was completed by a house inspector. It consisted of both narrative as well as many pictures to support some of the comments and thoughts that he was making with regards to the home.

There were no significant surprises or concerns associated with the house that would prevent them from buying the home. There were a number of significant small issues, easily fixed and repaired that were identified in the house inspection report.

House Inspection Report – Negotiation

These items were used to negotiate a slightly lower price in the overall cost of the home from the seller. Fortunately when they moved in all of these items were fixed or left as agreed by the agreement of purchase and sale. There were no major surprises.

I observed secondhand the process of arranging a house inspection report. I was able to review the report itself compared to the home that was actually purchased and moved into. A house inspection report can actually be quite good value for many homeowners. Even though in this case there were no significant items that were identified, which was a good thing. All of the major repair or potential repair items were notified and a status provided.

For example the state of the roof and the shingles were reviewed. Also the state of the furnace and air conditioning units were reviewed. The list included all potential items that could be a significant issue from a structural, and cosmetic perspective.

Had any of these items been a major issue e.g. the roof needed to be replaced, this would’ve been either a major roadblock in terms of purchasing a house or a major negotiating tool in terms of negotiating a lower price.

Based on some of this kind of analysis this home owner definitely feels that a home inspection report should always be arranged for by anyone who is buying a home. If nothing else it will give you peace of mind when you’re making an offer on a home that you’re planning to purchase.

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