Why You Need a Home Inspection

So, you are getting ready to buy a home in the Phoenix area – that’s great! Home ownership is an exciting opportunity for a number of reasons. You have a place to call your own, you have made an investment in your future, and you don’t have to worry about dealing with a landlord. For many people, buying a home is a major life goal, and a huge accomplishment when it does finally happen.

If you are already in the middle of the home-buying process, you have already learned that there are plenty of steps to manage along the way. Despite your excitement, it is important to take each step as it comes, leaning on your real estate agent for advice and guidance. One of the most important steps of the entire process is a home inspection. Including a Phoenix home inspection as part of your offer is a smart move, for a variety of reasons. Let’s take a close look at this topic.

A Huge Investment

In all likelihood, this home purchase is the biggest purchase – from a dollar value perspective – that you have made in your life. With so much money on the line, there is no reason to take chances. The cost of a professional home inspection is a drop in the bucket as compared to the amount of money at stake with your home purchase. If the home inspection reveals expensive repairs which need to be performed on the property, you will be glad you didn’t skip this step.

Don’t Be Distracted

When a homeowner gets ready to sell their residence, they are likely to ‘stage’ the home in such a way that it is attractive to potential buyers. This means cleaning up the inside, working on the landscaping, etc. There is nothing wrong with staging, but it may distract you from some meaningful problems that are affecting the structure of the home. The expensive parts of a house tend to be the parts that you can’t see as you walk through – which is why an inspection is so critical. An experienced home inspector will thoroughly investigate the state of the property, providing you with valuable feedback that you can use as you move forward.

Gain Some Leverage

It is quite common for at least a few items to come up on a home inspection. Even homes that are in good condition tend to have a couple issues here and there. Those issues aren’t necessarily a reason to walk away, but they might give you a bit of bargaining power in the negotiations. For instance, if a couple problems pop up that you would like to have fixed, you can work the price of those fixes into your offer. Buyers who skip out on a home inspection altogether will not have the opportunity to negotiate in such a manner, meaning they may wind up paying more in the end.

Peace of Mind

At the end of the day, it is likely the peace of mind that you gain from a home inspection which will be most valuable. When you sign the papers and take the keys to your new home, you want to know that you have made a sound investment and provided your family with a comfortable and safe place to live. The few hundred dollars that it may cost for a Phoenix home inspection are well worth the peace of mind that will be gained, along with all of the other benefits listed in this article.

Don’t be in such a rush to purchase a new home that you agree to forgo a Phoenix home inspection. The home inspection doesn’t add much time to the process, and it doesn’t require a significant investment of funds. There is a lot on the table when purchasing a home, and having a professional inspector offer their analysis and input is a great way to reduce the overall risk of this transaction.