Home Inspection: Know Your Rights Posted on September 21, 2011, 10:59 am, by Rob, under Movers.com Advice, Real Estate 101, Tips.
If you’ve never gone through the process of buying a new home, it’s easy to be overwhelmed by the whole process. Like anything else in life, buying a new house requires a certain amount of knowledge and experience that can only be gained from having gone through it before. So, if you’re new to everything and your home-buying innocence is surpassed only by the innocence of a wide-eyed child on Christmas morning, you might be overwhelmed or intimidated by others around you who are looking to benefit themselves.
One example of this is the home inspection aspect of purchasing your new house. When you buy your new home, you will have to hire an inspector to come in and inspect the house to assess the property and make sure that everything is in working order there is not any extensive damage.
When having your new home inspected, it is important that you know your rights, because after all, you are the one that hired the inspector and so you should be aware of what is allowed and what isn’t when it comes to the home inspection process.
For example, if the inspector tells you that you cannot attend the inspection of your new house, he is WRONG. If you hired the inspector and paid the inspector’s fee, you have every right to be there at the inspection to ask any questions you might have or to learn about the property firsthand, without having to read the report you get in the mail weeks later. After all, this is your new house. Would you let a doctor tell you that you can’t be there with your newborn baby during an examination. No. At least I hope not. So make sure that you attend the inspection and make sure that the inspector that you paid good money for gives a good, thorough inspection of the home.
You should think of your home inspector as your own consultant and advocate, and you want to make sure that there is full disclosure on all aspects of the house. Any troubling or potentially dangerous defects should be pointed out and inspected thoroughly.
A home inspector’s job is to give you a better understanding of your newly purchased property and preventing you from attending the inspection not only goes against the purpose of the whole process, but it also displays a lack of professionalism and customer service.
So, when it comes time to purchase your new home and you are ready to have to it inspected, make sure that you know your rights and that you are fully informed on what is expected of your home inspector, because at the end of the day, your home is your investment and it’s something that you don’t want to be left out of the loop about.
