Home Inspections and Negotiation

Once the offer has been made and accepted, and the house is under contract, the usual next step is to have a qualified home inspector take a look at the property.

Why? What is he or she looking for? What does the buyer DO with that information?

Inspectors--and I'm not an inspector,I've just been through a bazillion inspections--give their expert opinions on the various systems and components of the house. These include:

• Electric
• Roof
• Exterior
• Plumbing
• Foundation

The idea is that having an inspection helps remove some of the surprises of owning a house.

Remember this: In the Barre and Montpelier area, most sellers fill out the Sellers' Disclosure (Seller's Property Information Report). That gives the buyer a good idea of what to expect. If the seller says the roof is 25 years old, then the buyer can expect that a roof job may be around the corner.

So, in that case, if the inspector says the roof is old and needs replacement, the buyer can come back and renegotiate, right? Not really. The house was priced knowing the roof was shot. The buyer agreed to the price after having read in the disclosure that the roof was 25 years old. What was the surprise? The only surprise could've been if the inspector said the roof was still in pretty good shape. But then, can the sellers' re-open negotiation? No.

I put this out because I hear buyers in Montpelier and Barre asking for concessions on things they already knew needed work. Sometimes sellers give the concessions, and sometimes they don't. If they don't, they're not being jerks. They're just sticking to the contract.

Around here, inspectors do a good job letting buyers know that the biggest benefit from the inspection is information. Buyers learn about the house they've agreed to buy. Is it going to be a perfect house? Heck no! Even new construction has blemishes.

Do the inspection. Learn about the house. If you liked the house before, and no major surprises came up, then you still probably like the house.