Don’t Skip The Home Inspection. Here’s Why.

Shopping for Palm Springs real estate is often an exciting blur of viewing listings, touring open houses, and scouting neighborhoods. Since you want to find your dream home in a great neighborhood, once you fall in love with a property, you may be tempted to cut a few corners in order to win it over at all costs.

While you can make a few concessions in competitive markets, such as the Rancho Mirage homes for sale market, you should never skip the home inspection. Although these inspections can set you back a few hundred dollars, they can potentially save you thousands down the line. They are a vital part of the home buying process.

Thinking of skipping a home inspection on your potential property? Here’s why that's a bad idea and why you shouldn't do that.

 

While a house can look perfect on the outside, beneath the surface, there may lie serious structural or technical issues that require thousands in costly repairs. A quality inspection of Palm Springs real estate can uncover those hidden problems.

Chances are high that most houses will need some sort of repair or update, however minor they may be. Yet, houses that require costly repairs for major issues may not be worth your time, even if you’ve already fallen in love with them. They could end up being a money pit that depletes your entire budget.

Still, if the inspection does reveal major issues and you don’t want to back away from the sale, you can request the seller to fix those problems before the closing date. In most cases, sellers will agree to pay for any major repairs or, at the very least, offer a credit to the buyer for overseeing the repairs themselves.

When inspecting Rancho Mirage homes for sale, inspectors also look for potential safety concerns that could affect the health of the occupants. These concerns include carbon monoxide, radon, and mold. Since these issues pose a significant hazard to one’s health, you must look out for them during the inspection.

Make sure your offer and contract state that should any of these hazards be detected, then you have the option as the buyer to cancel the sale.

That incredible extra room added onto the garage of your new potential home may not be legal. Illegal additions are rooms or additions that were built without obtaining the proper permits and following legal codes. Having such an addition means you own property that doesn’t officially exist, which could land you in hot water with home insurance and property taxes.

Getting a home inspection can also reveal these illegal additions. The inspector will check that additional rooms, basements, and garages are built within the legal code and hold the proper permits.

If the inspection reveals an illegal addition, you can either require the seller to obtain the permits now or use it as a bargaining chip to spark renegotiations. If the addition seems like a nightmare to deal with, you can always back out of the deal.

Another great advantage of Palm Springs real estate inspections is the ability to forecast the cost of future repairs. While a home’s equipment and systems appear to be working fine, they may actually be on their last legs.

A home inspection can closely examine these things and paint a fairly accurate picture of future costs for repairs. Although these anticipated repairs may not be enough for you to back out of the sale, they can help you budget for them now. You can also try to use these repairs as bargaining chips to enter renegotiations.

Most insurance companies won’t even insure a home if it has not received a certified inspection. Two of these include Wind Mitigation and four-point inspections.

Since insurance companies don’t want to risk covering a home that may require costly repairs in the future, they want to know the full picture of your potential house. A home inspection is one way they get that picture.

Your home inspector will ensure your house receives the proper inspections, which can save you time and money in the long run when dealing with insurance companies.

Most inspections of Rancho Mirage homes for sale will reveal several issues. If the problems are minor enough and you’re still interested in the property, you could use them as a way to enter negotiations with the seller and renegotiate the price of the property. Or, if the problems are slightly more serious, you can attempt to get the seller to cover the costs of the repairs or issues.

Utilizing the home inspection as a bargaining chip is a great way to knock some money off the price of the house, as well as ensure that the house you’re buying isn’t a nightmare in the waiting.

During the home inspection, you can arrange to follow the inspector around as they complete their job. The inspector can provide you with invaluable knowledge, such as tips on how best to maintain your home and its equipment and systems. Their tips could ultimately save you thousands in the long run.

Home inspections are crucial parts of the home-buying process that should not be overlooked. While you may be tempted to save a few hundred dollars and skip it instead, you would be making a huge mistake. Inspections can not only uncover hidden problems and issues, but they can also help you forecast future costs, obtain insurance, and potentially renegotiate the price of the house.

Working alongside a Palm Springs real estate agent will help make sure your potential property gets the proper inspection. Once the report is done, your realtor can sit down with you, explain the findings, and formulate a bargaining chip to enter renegotiations.

If you’re looking into inspections of Rancho Mirage homes for sale, contact Gregg Fletcher to see what’s on the market.