When is the right time to schedule a home inspection? Part 1
This post is going to be split into our 3 next posts, one for home buyers, one for home sellers and one for home owners. That’s simply because the answer does change depending on the category you fall into.
Let’s dive into the first category, when is the right time to get a home inspection as a home buyer. As Home inspectors, we get most requests for inspections on weekends. We’re happy to oblige, as we do what is easiest for our clients whenever we can, but we’re not always sure clients understand it can sometimes limit the time they have to follow up on anything they that might be in the report. In a “normal” real estate transaction, you put in the offer with a few contingencies. Financing being the one most people worry about, as most of the time that’s the biggest contingency to worry about. There is also normally a contingency to get out of the transaction if something is found in the home inspection. Depending on how your offer is written, it might be repairs exceeding a certain dollar amount, however it could also be as vague as just unsatisfactory information found in the home inspection.
In both of these contingencies, there is a timeframe that they’re attached to. Again, in normal transactions, the home inspection contingency expires first. In transactions we’ve seen, its not abnormal to have anywhere from 7-14 days to get a home inspection after your offer is accepted, but it will not be a range. For this example let’s use 10 days. That can seem like plenty of time but let’s look at that. You see a home on Saturday, put your offer in on Sunday and it is accepted on Monday evening. Monday is Day 1. Now, I know taking time off work is very difficult and it’s easier to wait for a weekend to schedule your inspection, but it doesn’t give you much time after that. Let’s do that, your Home Inspection is now scheduled for next Saturday, Day 6 into your 10 days.
The Inspection happens and if you booked with Short Notice Inspections, you’ll get your report on that day too, some others might send it the day after or the next Business day. We’re going to our delivery schedule for this example and stay on day 6, instead of pushing it out to the next business day, which would land you on day 8.
You get your report is overall good, but there are some areas where it says you want to further consult with a foundation repair specialist, or a roofer….or a plumber and electrician. Depending on the state of the property, you might be looking at a report that says you should consult all of those people for further evaluation of specific issues. That’s not really what you want to see on a Saturday night and the end of day 6 on your timeframe.
Day 7 is a Sunday and you’re trying to setup appointments for day 8 and day 9 in order to get quotes on the cost of the work to determine if you have the funds available to continue. That is going to add stress into your situation. Not just for you, but also for your real estate agent and the seller's agent as well. Everyone wants the transaction to be stress free and everyone knows it’s one of the most stressful transactions you’ll ever be in.
When is the correct time to schedule your home inspection? As soon as you can after your accepted offer. You want as much time as possible to go over the report, and have conversations about what the right choice is for you to make, based on the information you were provided. That may mean scheduling some more consultations to review repair or correction options, and you don’t want to rush that either. You want time to think rationally and not feel rushed. Sure weekends are easy to schedule things on, but it can put you under some unnecessary pressure. On the flip side of that coin, if there’s nothing found in the home inspection, then you’ve also saved yourself a lot of worrying that something is going to be found. Don’t wait, book your home inspection soon!