So, you have made one of the most important choices you will ever make. You’re buying a home in New Orleans! You are excited, and you’re under contract, ready to move in — but what comes in between?
The next part of the home-buying process is the all-important home inspection. At first glance, property inspections can seem daunting, especially if you’ve never been through the process. That’s where Satsuma Real Estate come in, equipped with the network of contacts, to provide a trustworthy and certified home inspector.
The majority of first-time homebuyers don’t realize that they are monetarily responsible for the home inspection before closing. This is a voluntary step in the home-buying process, and it costs around $350-$700 — depending on the size of the home and the home inspector’s fee.
Though this crucial step might seem unnecessary, as well as like an unneeded expense, it is absolutely imperative to perform your inspections on the home. It digs deep into the home’s ins and outs, often highlighting many deficiencies that you would never have known about.
Let’s face it, you are not crawling around the attic when you look at a home. You are more likely to ask where the countertops came from than what kind of insulation was used in the house. The general rule of thumb is to give yourself enough time to schedule the inspection(s) for when both a qualified inspector, any specialty inspectors, your agent, and yourself may be present for 3-4 hours. When dealing with luxury homes the process will normally take longer because, as a norm, these homes are larger.
At Satsuma we generally recommend between a 10- and 14-day inspection period on the Residential Contract. If you are unsatisfied with the condition of the house in any way, you are able to simply terminate the contract and generally have your deposit returned. The key component is to ensure you back out of the contract in good faith.
Once you are under contract, it’s important to line up an inspection as soon as possible. Home inspections are very prudent and it’s important to know that the home inspector really works for you, not the seller. He or she is there to point out all the potential defects in the home, as well as to highlight all of the working components of the home and how they operate.
This process is advantageous since it will teach you everything there is to know about your new home. It can also potentially allow you to negotiate further with the seller to cover the cost of some repairs if you find any deficiencies that were hidden during your initial viewing of the home.
Home inspections cover the majority of your house, but there are some things that the inspector just cannot look at, such as the inside of the walls of the house, the chimney (older chimneys may terminate before the roof line causing foundation issues), and parts of the foundation under grade.
Just because something isn’t covered in a home inspection doesn’t mean that it can’t be inspected. You may simply have to ask your Realtor about the possibility of getting it checked out by a licensed technician in that specialized field so that you can go through the rest of the home-buying process with confidence.
Please feel free to contact a Satsuma realtor TODAY for a free consultation on buying or selling a house as well as a list of preferred vendors, including a list of professional home inspectors.