While a home inspection can kill a deal, it’s really the condition of the house and the response to the results of the inspection by the seller of the home and the potential buyer that will ultimately kill it.
There are many reasons why you don’t want to avoid paying for a home inspection especially on a resale home but it also helps to understand exactly what can happen directly after the home inspection and what your options are.
Home inspectors draw your attention to current problem areas and potential problem areas that could be costly to repair. What happens next is the key part.
Here are the common ways that a potential house sale can end up going down after a poor home inspection:
- The buyer may have second thoughts and decide to focus on buying another home.
- The buyer asks for repairs to be made at the expense of the seller.
- The buyer asks for a discount on the price of the house.
- The buyer can choose to walk away from the deal.
- The seller can choose to walk away from the deal.
At the end of the day, a seller and buyer’s perspective is largely based on their options and how badly they want the deal to go through.
Let’s take a closer look at both side of the home inspection: From the perspective of both the seller of the home and the potential buyer.
How sellers view home inspections
From a seller’s perspective, their motivation to sell the house and their options (i.e. other offers on the home) is what drives them. If they’ve bought another home and need to move, they may be more willing to deal a bit and work with a seller.
If they have another offer to consider or feel confident they can sell the house regardless of how they deal with you, they may walk away and decide to take their chances elsewhere should you make requests they may not want to address.
A bad home inspection – assuming you find out what the results are since it’s normally organized and paid for by the potential buyer – might help you understand areas that you should fix in order to sell your home quickly and for the best price possible.
If you feel that your home has problem areas that may cause you trouble, you might consider getting an inspection done on your own home to find out about this before putting it up for sale. That way you can address the problem areas proactively.
How buyers view home inspections
From a buyer’s perspective, their motivation to buy the home is largely predicated on how badly they want the house and what their other options are.
People who have never bought a home or never had trouble finding one they like might not believe this but if you’ve looked for a home long enough, you can get to the point where you find one that is good but not great and convince yourself it’s good enough.
You really can fall in love with a house that you shouldn’t and overlook things can cost you down the line.
You can choose to ignore the results of a bad home inspection but you may not be able to ignore the price you’ll pay to get certain things repaired or replaced should you buy the house and have to take care of it, at your expense.
Summary
While home buyers and sellers often focus on hard details – condition of the home, price, conditions for sale – both sides may forget the emotional part of real estate too.
Buying and selling property is normally the single biggest investment decision people make. It’s natural that emotions and feelings come into play for both buyers and sellers.
A seller may ask: Am I insulted by the buyer offering me a lower price and being nit picky on repairs? Do I have other options to sell the home? If I hold firm, will they end up buying the home anyways and if not, do I feel confident someone else will?
A potential buyer may ask: Can I see myself living in this home for X number of years? Am I willing to overlook potential problem areas and still buy the home? How far can I push the owner on price and repairs?
So while a home inspection can technically kill a deal, it’s really the people behind the deal – potential buyer and seller – that will ultimately determine that. It’s just a matter of how they choose to proceed, based on their personal motivations.
Check out my other article on home inspections called 9 Questions About Home Inspection You Need Answered to learn more.