Preparing for a Home Inspection

The 10 ways to prepare for a home inspection. (including how to prepare for a home inspection during a pandemic) These are the Top 7 items that get flagged in a home during a home inspection.

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1. Make room for the home inspector. – Now, for some people, it may feel a little invasive having someone come in and thoroughly inspect your home. But it’s important to know that inspectors themselves are not allowed to touch or move personal items. In fact, if they can’t access an area, they’ll likely wait and return after that space has been cleared. With that said, we don’t want the inspector having to leave and come back later because they can’t access something, which just prolongs the process! And we don’t want that right, so we wanna make room for the inspector. Clear your space of any clutter that may be in the area of electrical panels, water hearts, heating and cooling units, and EVERY single Outlet! This also includes the garage. Be sure that your vehicles or recreational items are entirely cleared from spaces with outlets, vents, panels etc. Inspectors will also need access to attics and crawl spaces, so make sure they can easily access those spaces, including bedroom closets, as that is where the attic is usually accessed.

2. Meet with the inspector before the inspection or leave them a detailed note. It is in your best interest as the seller to meet with the inspector before they start their inspection. Go over with them how some of your appliances work. Those tricky little appliances that sometimes others have questions about and take a few moments to write out or explain any other home nuances would help make the inspectors job more seamless. Again we don’t want the inspector having to come back, nor do you want to risk the inspector marking something in your home as “Inoperable” because they couldn’t figure it out. If for some reason you can’t be present for the inspection (or don’t want to be) it would be in your best interest to create an instruction sheet for the inspector to refer to, to prevent mishaps like messing up a system settings or again deeming something They Couldn't Figure Out as inoperable.

3. If you’re feeling worried about the pandemic, it’s important that the inspector is informed and asked to follow safety protocol: Mask, hand sanitizer, gloves, and booties. Either you request this beforehand and have supplies available for the inspector when they come into your home, with a detailed note attached. Your realtor will be happy to relay your health safety protocol to the inspector as well.

The top 7 items that OFTEN get flagged during an inspection – simple things that, if you can fix before hand, will save you lots of time, energy, and headache!

1. Have the HVAC serviced

2. Check Lightbulbs

3. Caulk – If you as the seller have any apparent areas in need of caulking around countertops in the kitchen and bathrooms. Go through and caulk those areas or hire someone to do the job for you quickly. I am also happy to come around and do it. It’s such a little thing that we don’t want flagged and often times does. You especially want to pay attention to areas to any wet areas such as sinks and tubs.

4. Turn on your Ice Maker – If you have an ice maker in your freezer, make sure that is turned on and making ice for the inspection. If it’s off, later you’ll have to turn it on and demonstrate to the buyers that it is, in fact, making ice and working as it’s supposed to, which having to do that isn’t terribly awful but it’s another common thing that occurs and will be one less thing to worry about down the line.

5. Vents – swap out air vents and even dryer vents! This is something that many sellers forget or ignore but often turn up as a common issue on inspection reports. So, swap out your air vents and remember to clean out your dryer vent.

6. Test Locks and sprinkler systems- If your home has a sprinkler system or a drip system, be sure that the sprinkler heads are hitting the areas they should, that everything is working correctly, and there are no leaks. This is a common issue that you’re going to have to resolve, so might as well get it taken care of before inspection to prevent having to go back and prove it’s been fixed. Same thing with locks, hinges and doors in the home. Go through and be sure that doors don’t stick and that everything is functioning properly.

7. Windows – just as with doors and locks, you want to make sure your windows are in proper working order and the window locks are too.