This post is sponsored by Travelers Insurance ; all opinions are my own.
When it comes to buying a home, an inspection is critical! Read these questions to ask your home inspector so you can be prepared, equipped, and ready to handle issues you may come across with your potential home. This is a sponsored post with Travelers – as always, opinions are 100% my own.
Getting a home inspection is critical for any homebuyer. As much as I love old homes, they certainly come with their own quirks and issues that need to be addressed! A home inspector can be an invaluable resource IF you use them correctly. Here are the most important questions to ask your home inspector before and during an inspection.
Questions to ask your home inspector:
Are you insured?
The most important thing to find out about your home inspector is if they’re liscenced and insured.
- Once you find out they’re licensed and insured, you can ask them:
- How long have you been inspecting homes full time?
- How many homes do you inspect a year?
- Are you working for my realtor? (If yes – find another home inspector!)
- Are you familiar with inspecting this kind of home?
Can I attend the inspection?
It’s really important that you’re able to attend the home inspection. Having the home inspector walk you through your potential new home and talking you through an issues they see is truly invaluable.
Once you know that you have a reliable inspector that will let you attend the inspection, here are some very important questions to ask your inspector during the actual inspection:
How much does that cost to fix?
When you hear issues that your home inspector brings up, it can raise alarm. To us, people who are untrained, some issues may sound scary and like a big problem. But sometimes the issues home inspectors are talking about can cost under $100 to remedy! But then of course the opposite may be true – you could hear something that doesn’t sound terrible to you, but could be a major expense for you. So make sure you ask how much things can cost to get fixed before you get too worried about the problem.
The floors we uncovered under our rug in our first house – we were so scared by how they looked but it was able to be remedied kind of easily!
If this was your home, what would you do?
We asked this question a few times during our last home inspection and it was really valuable. Sometimes we would think an issue would need to get remedied immediately, but our home inspector was able to reassure us that this was not a pressing issue at the moment. We still needed to be aware of the problem, but we were able to prioritize our finances for the projects we already had to do.
WOW our house has come a long way! I remember looking at it here saying “it has to get worse before it gets better, right?”
Can you show me how to work this?
A good home inspector should be able to help you figure out how to work many of the things in your potential home. This is the time to ask questions – don’t be shy! If you see a machine that you’re unfamiliar with in the basement – ask! If you see a knob and you don’t know what it controls – ask! Your home inspector can really be invaluable for these questions.
Buying a home can be an exciting but stressful time. By using these tips above and these tips from Traveler’s (all for before you book your inspector) you can make sure you’re using a highly qualified home inspector who can help make the process less stressful. Not only does Traveler’s have this article, but they have MANY more helpful resources that can help you when buying or selling your home – and they’re all free on their website through Home Central! Come check it out here – so much helpful information for your buying/selling/home ownership journey.
Thanks again to Travelers for sponsoring this post – as always, opinions are always 100% my own.
Are you following on Instagram? We’ve got a large & engaged community of people who are committed to loving their homes as they are TODAY. Follow along here!
I truly believe that every home has potential to be great! I wrote an ebook for you and it’s FREE – come download “A Character Filled Home” here.
Leave a Reply