Home Inspections are for Everyone!

Never let anyone tell you that you don't need a home inspection. Period.

This post could have ended right there. But we'll go on just in the interest of explaining ourselves more.

There are some possible reasons why someone would tell you not to have a home inspection, but understand that none of them are legitimate. Here are a few we've heard over the years and our responses:

1. Everything looks fine - you're just wasting money on an inspection. We don't know who in each particular case has said this, but it's wrong. In fact, money that you spend on an inspection just might be the best money you ever spend, as noted on our website in the Homebuyer Guide. No, they're not cheap, but in the very best case scenario, when nothing is found (and we've never really seen one of those), at least it can give you some peace of mind that the biggest investment you've made in your life so far is pretty sound.

2. This is a brand-new home - no inspection is needed. Wrong. New construction homes should be inspected just like every other house, believe it or not. The added benefit of a newly built house is that almost every builder expects a "punch-list," that is, a list of items that needs to be completed before closing, which may not be the case with an existing home. Not having an inspection done assumes that because it's new, it's perfect. 

3. You're getting an FHA loan, so the appraiser does the inspection for you. NO. This is the one that bothers us the most because we've heard real estate agents (not from our company, thank you) actually say this to buyers. While FHA or VA appraisers, in addition to determining the market value of the property, do an additional assessment of the property to ensure that it meets government guidelines for that type of loan, this assessment is NOT a substitute for a professional property inspection. 

We're sure there are a lot of other reasons why people would tell you not to have an inspection, but we've yet to hear a good one. As we've said before, we can't require buyers to have a home inspection - but if we could, we just might. For more information regarding home inspections, visit our website at www.springfieldfirsthome.com, email us at firsthomebuyers@remhob.com, or call/text us at 417.872.9222.