After spending more than 10 years in the custom home construction industry, John Hagan made the leap to home inspections. Now, as the owner of Hagan Home Inspections in Raleigh, North Carolina, he helps both buyers and sellers know what they are getting themselves into before sealing the deal on the purchase or sale of a house. Here, Hagan explains the best ways that home buyers and sellers can save money on a home inspection.
When it comes to getting a inspection, homebuyers need to understand that any money they spent on the inspection itself will be made up for in the repair items a professional finds, such as pipes that need to be replaced or gutters that need to be cleaned. These are issues that the home seller will need to pay for. So in the majority of cases, a home inspection will save — not cost — a homebuyer money. At least that is the way that I see it.
If you pay $300 or $400 for a home inspection — the typical price for an inspection of an average-sized home in North Carolina — then there is a good chance that inspector will find at least $300 to $400 worth of repair items. And that is a conservative estimate as usually the repairs I find in a home are in thousands of dollars. So if a homeowner knocks the price of those repairs off the asking price of the house, then that is saving the homebuyer money right there.
One thing I commonly tell people is that you don’t want to be cheap when it comes to home inspections. This is not a project you want to ask your friend or your brother to take on. Instead, a responsible homebuyer should want to find someone with a good reputation who makes the inspection cost financially worthwhile.
For homeowners who enlist an inspector on their own — either for a regular check up or to prevent any issues before the homebuyer’s inspector comes in — there is no doubt that the process will help them save money in the long run, too.
Certainly in today’s real estate market, where there are more sellers than buyers right now, buyers are looking to purchase move-in-ready properties. They don’t want to be surprised by numerous additional repair costs, which is why knowing in advance what will need to be fixed, and making those repairs yourself if necessary, is an important way to prevent problems that could scare away buyers. The majority of homeowners these days would rather just buy a home that has already been fixed up, and one where the previous homeowner handled the repairs himself.
Whether you are a homebuyer, a home seller, or just a homeowner interested in making sure that everything is running properly and smoothly, getting a home inspection from a licensed professional will always save you money in the long run.
