When You’re Buying A House – Don’t Do This…

Good Morning!

One of my clients is currently buying a house.

He ran into a complication, and I wanted to tell you about it here – so you can learn from his experience.

Bobby got a home inspection for the home he was purchasing. …This is a smart thing to do anytime you purchase a house.

The home inspector is hired by the buyer to check the house for any current or potential issues with the condition of the house prior to purchase. The home inspection is typically a private report meant only for the buyer’s eyes.

Typically the home inspector will go out of his way to let the buyer know about every little light bulb and air register that has any type of imperfection in them. His goal is just to let the buyer know about them, and to cover his own bases if something were to happen to these items in the future.

Bobby’s realtor made the mistake of mentioning the inspection in the earnest money contract. Once the word “inspection report” shows up in the contract the underwriter can ask to see a copy of it.

Sure enough, the underwriter asked to see the inspection report. …and, the underwriter wanted every little item listed on the report to be fixed prior to closing.

This of course caused the need for renegotiation on the repairs, and very well could have killed Bobby’s deal.

Fortunately the seller was willing to cooperate with the buyer on the repairs.

The lesson here is don’t mention the inspection report in the contract – unless you don’t mind showing it to the underwriter.

I hope you have a great day! Thanks for reading!

Brett