Home Inspections for Military and VA-loan Buyers
When you decide to buy a house, the standard steps include making an offer, handling a counter-offer from the owner, and settling on a price.
Then you complete a purchase and sale agreement, sign it, and schedule a home inspection. Home inspections are crucial for buyers; a home inspector will go over every detail of the house, explaining any problems and noting any major repairs or damage to the property.
For members of the military, who often cannot be there when you need to buy a home at a new duty station, the home inspection is critical. If your spouse is going ahead to a new location and buying a house, he or she may not understand how the local weather affects home materials, or how local environment issues might change housing standards. This is where a home inspector comes in.
Most home inspectors are licensed by individual states and know exactly how to evaluate a property. A home inspector will look at the major home features such as:
- roof
- plumbing
- electrical system
- heating and air conditioning
- foundation
The home inspector also examines the home for signs of pests (termites, rodents, insects), checks attics and basements for mold, examines insulation, any wood rot, and looks for toxic situations such as dangerous molds, asbestos, or radon gas issues.
Home inspections are worth it, and most home inspectors charge between $250 and $500 for an inspection that will last anywhere from 90 minutes to three or four hours (depending on property size).
Once you complete the home inspection, the home inspector will give you a report of his or her findings. If major structural or system problems are in the home, you can renegotiate the house price. No one wants to buy a house that needs $5,000 in plumbing repairs, for instance. You can go back to the seller and ask for a reduction in price, or ask the seller to do the work before you buy the home.
Of course, the seller may refuse and in some cases home sales fall through as a result of information learned from the home inspection. Whether you continue with a home purchase is your call, but the home inspection report gives you peace of mind knowing exactly what you're getting into.
If you are buying a VA-owned property, in many cases the property is sold "as-is". This does not mean that you can't get a home inspection, but it does mean that the VA-owned property price will not be reduced, no matter what you learn from your home inspection. Unlike a sale from a regular seller, the VA will not lower the price if a major problem is discovered. Home inspections are even more important with VA-owned properties, then, because you need to know exactly what you are buying.
