Straight Shooting Real Estate

Every now and again, the Arkansas Realtors Association (ARA) feels it necessary to remind homebuyers to get a home inspection prior to purchasing a house.

Why? A lot of disgruntled buyers would have been in much better shape had they gotten a home inspection. Most homes have a problem or two so it only makes sense to find out what those problems are prior to purchasing the home.

Buyers will often fall into the trap of waiving their right to a home inspection because they either don’t want to spend the $200 to $500 to get one or they worry about hurting someone’s feelings. Perhaps they’re buying a home from a friend or a family member and feel the seller will take offense if a home inspection is ordered.

While home inspections will certainly unveil any sneaky tactics shady sellers are employing to actively conceal defects, most sellers are simply unaware of problems in their homes. Ordering a home inspection, then, should not be viewed as a challenge to the credibility of the seller – even the most honest homeowners may have problems in their homes of which they are unaware.

As for the inspection fee, it is a small price to pay to defend against problems in the future. Let’s say, for example, there are foundation problems in a home that aren’t readily apparent. The seller might not know about the problems, but the buyer will certainly want to be aware of them prior to purchasing the home – foundation problems are expensive to fix, so why not spend a few hundred dollars on an inspection fee in order to avoid potentially thousands down the road?

All Realtors in Arkansas used contracts that give buyers the option of either requesting a home inspection or waiving their rights to one. The ARA tells its members to encourage buyers to get an inspection in hopes of saving them a lot of trouble down the road.

Of course, if an inspection reveals expensive problems in a home, then the buyer and seller will likely negotiate over how to deal with them. If there are too many problems, the buyer may simply choose to walk away from the home.
More often, the buyer and seller negotiate over repair costs and who will assume them. It’s not uncommon for sellers to agree to provide a few hundred dollars to pay to repair minor problems in the house as most inspections reveal but few troubles.

In general, that’s all a home inspection will reveal – a few minor problems that are easily repaired. However, they uncover major defects, too, and no one wants to commit to spending thousands on a home only to find they’ll have to shell out big bucks to repair the problems that were lurking under the surface.

House to House is a weekly column I write on behalf of the Arkansas Realtors Association . It is picked up by about 20 newspapers and publications in Arkansas.