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Home Inspection Checklist: What To Expect

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Are you feeling anxious about your home inspection because you are unsure of what to expect? Many new homeowners, and even veteran homeowners, find the home inspection process stressful. We believe we can alleviate this stress by telling you what you can expect through a home inspection checklist. This way, you can feel confident as you walk through your home with your inspector.

Plan to be there

One of the most important steps you need to take is to attend your home inspection. Plan to be there for at least 3 hours. A good home inspector will walk you through all of their findings and detail the report.

Interior of the Home

Your home inspector will start with the interior of the home. Any and all spaces, including attic and crawl spaces, will be inspected. You won’t be expected to go into those small spaces yourself unless you want to.

Exterior of the Home

After inspecting the interior of the home, the home inspector will inspect all areas outside the home. This will include gutters, the roof, the driveway, and the backyard. Again, you are not expected to go into all areas, such as the roof, unless you really want to.

The inspection report

Finally, at the end of the process, you will receive your inspection report. This report will detail everything the home inspector already detailed as you walked through the house with them. This report is great to refer back to, will be required by your bank or home insurance, and is good to keep on file.

If you hire Divinity Inspection Service we will keep your property inspection report on file in our online system for up to one year. Now that you know what to expect in your home inspection checklist, go ahead and schedule your appointment now.

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What Are Home Inspection Deal Breakers?

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A home inspection comes at the end of your home buying process. This position has a tendency to be stressful to home buyers. In fact, fear of home inspection deal breakers is a common misconception. In this blog, we will address some potential home issues that could make or break a deal. Keep in mind, at the end of any home buying process, the decision to complete the purchase is completely yours. No matter what home issues are uncovered during a home inspection any issue can be repaired or resolved.

New Roof

A new roof can be one of the most expensive repairs. However, if a home needs a new roof many sellers will include the cost of the new roof into the home price. This means the seller will decrease the price of the home to accommodate for the cost of the new roof. During a home inspection, your home inspector will walk on the roof and look for damage or any indication of need for repair.

Plumbing and Electrical

One of the most common home issues is with the plumbing or electrical. A leak in the wall or pipes, faulty wiring, or both can be an expensive repair. Worse, if you have to replace anything. The good news is most of these home repairs aren’t huge and can be taken care of fairly quickly. Home inspectors use infrared lights to detect water leaks behind a wall so you can feel confident that we will find any leaks even if it is not obvious to the naked eye.

Sinkholes or Foundation Issues

In Florida sinkholes are becoming a nuisance. For this reason foundation inspections are one of the most important inspections you need to have. Inspecting the foundation should be included with any home inspection. Any good home inspector will go into the crawl space if it is available and properly inspect the foundation. Any issues or concerns will be included in the detailed report.

You can schedule your home inspection directly on our website. We will walk you through everything you need to know about your potential new home and answer all of your questions. Schedule your home inspection now or give us a call!

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How Much Should Your Home Inspection Cost?

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The Value Of A Home Inspection

Some home buyers don’t see the value in getting a home inspection. Maybe you think a home inspection costs too much or maybe you think because the home is a new build it doesn’t need one. Whatever the reason might be, no reason is big enough to avoid getting a home inspection.

The average home inspection costs between $400 – $500, depending on the size of the home. A home inspection will take a few hours to complete and you’ll be left with a detailed report. You are paying for time, the report, experience, and you are paying for saving yourself from potentially major issues.

So how much should your home inspection cost?

Let’s look at the potential problems a home inspection is saving you from and their value.

Some of the major issues that could break a purchasing deal include foundation issues, electrical wiring, plumbing, a new roof and mold. Any one of these difficulties could create quite the quandary if they were a surprise. A new roof could costs $15,000 to replace. Mold could make your new home unlivable until extracted. Between your down payment and closing costs, unless you have a few extra thousand or more put away for emergencies, you could be facing a predicament. We don’t want to see that happen to anyone.

No matter how much you love the house you absolutely need to have it inspected.

Our goal is not to kill your deal.

Our goal is to make sure you are well educated before you complete your purchase so you can do so confidently. Home repairs come in all sizes. Some big, some small, some minor, and some major. When you get a thorough home inspection like Divinity Inspection Service offers, you can find peace of mind knowing that any issue will be identified, listed, and detailed in our home inspection report. All of a sudden $500 doesn’t sound like a lot now does it?

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How the Rain and Heat can effect your Home Inspection

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Weather can and does effect your home inspection. However, sometimes the weather, such as rain and heat, could help your home inspection! As we enter into the rainy season in the Tampa area we can celebrate for the much needed rain! Not just for the dry areas and the brush fires we’ve been battling, but also for our lakes and swamp land. Here’s how the heat and rain can help better your home inspection.

Rain, Rain Don’t Go Away

Heavy rain can show you issues in your home that would otherwise be difficult to detect. Leaks in the roof, clogged gutters, drainage issues, and flooding are all affected by rain. In fact, we recommend that if you have an opportunity to check out a home you are considering purchasing while it is raining then do so. Drive around the neighborhood as well to check for potential flooding hazards.

One delay you don’t have to worry about is your home inspection. We inspect in the rain and complete the inspection as normal. If you’re worried about scheduling a home inspection during a week that expects bad weather, don’t worry about it! Give us a call anyways.

What the Heat can do for you

The heat can effect certain areas of the home more than others and be a tell-tale sign to serious issues. Improper insulation in the attic can cause your attic to overheat and your A/C to overwork. Improper insulation within the house means high electric bills.

Extreme high heat can be dangerous for home inspectors. When the roof get very hot it can make inspecting the roof difficult. Small spaces like the attic and crawl spaces can be very difficult for a home inspector to inspect during very high temperatures. That doesn’t mean we can’t get the job done so make sure to give us a call!

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The 5 Best Home Updates

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You’re looking around your home and wondering, “What should I update?”. Better yet – what do you need to update? Maybe it feels like everything or maybe it feels like nothing, either way we’ve got a simple guide of the some of the best home updates. These are especially effective if your goal is to increase your home’s value. Whether you plan to put your home into this current seller’s market or potentially sell your home down the road, these updates will only be beneficial.

Minor Bathroom Remodel

Not every remodel has to be a complete gut and replace. In fact, very minor but effective touches can make all the difference in the world! Update your fixtures such as the hardware. A new toilet seat can go a very long way. If you want to do something a little bigger, add a window. Bathrooms with windows are significantly more appealing to buyers. Re-caulking your bathtub is also an easy DIY project that can put a finishing touch on an old bathroom.

Landscaping

If you watch Flip or Flop on HGTV you will notice how they always talk about the importance of good landscaping. Women, it’s like putting on lipstick. It’s a finishing touch but one that is most noticeable. Men, it’s like getting the right TV stand or mount. It’s just necessary to support an already valuable piece of property. Landscaping has a 100% return at resale every single time.

New Paint

Oh what a fresh coat of paint will do! Do not use the pain to hide any major repairs, such a water leaks. They will be discovered during inspection anyways and trying to make it look like a cover-up will only reflect poorly on you. However, a fresh coat of paint can make any room feel updated almost instantly. Consider painting the exterior of the home as well to increase the curb-appeal.

Replacement Windows

If eyes are the windows to the soul then the same goes for your home. Windows do so much for a house! Sunlight, especially in Tampa bay where we have plenty of sunlight, can make your home look bigger and feel more inviting. The warmth of the sunlight adds a warmth to the home. So make sure the next time you leave your home so your agent can do a showing, open up all the shades. Updating your windows can be expensive but the investment will yield a return during resale.

Updating Perception

Selling a home has a lot to do with perception. When a person steps into a house they start imaging what it would look like for them if they lived there. This is very hard to do if the house is already filled with what it looks like while you live there. In other words, you need to de-clutter and organize. Pack some of your belongings away and clear some of the space around the home.

Don’t forget you also have the option to do a pre-listing inspection. Our pre-listing inspections will inform you of any issues about your home before you list it and also shows home-buyers that you are serious about selling. Call us today to schedule one!