Home Inspection Checklist: 7 Areas a Home Inspector Reviews

A home inspection is a fundamental aspect of the home-buying process wherein a qualified professional assesses a house’s functionality, livability, and safety. This means carefully going over the outer grounds, roofing, electrical system, plumbing fixtures, and every other aspect of the house. After a home inspection, potential buyers can either rest easy that their new home is devoid of serious issues, negotiate a lower price if it needs any fixing, insist the seller makes repairs before the purchase goes through, or walk away from the sale completely.

The home inspection process is fairly intensive. However, the more rigorous the process, the more information you gain to make decisions about your potential purchase. Here are the five core steps you can expect to participate in with regard to the home inspection process:

1. 1. Add a contingency to your contract. Many home buyers, including first-time home buyers, insist on including a home inspection contingency in their initial purchase agreements. This allows the money in escrow to remain in stasis until the buyers and their inspector can ensure minimal to no red flags or potential problems around the property. Particularly if you’re thinking of buying an older home, it’s worth demanding such a contingency.
2. 2. Call in a certified home inspector. Generally, it’s the buyer’s responsibility to settle on a professional home inspector. Real estate agents often have relationships with reliable home inspectors who can assist their clients. Similarly, you can rely on credentials from a certifying body, such as the American Society of Home Inspectors (ASHI), to provide you with confidence about anyone you decide to hire.
3. 3. Do the inspection. From the crawl space to the chimney flue, your home inspector will search your new potential home from top to bottom for any possible issues. You’re also free to follow the inspector around as they perform this search, asking any questions you might have along the way. You should feel knowledgeable about all aspects of the home by the time the inspection is over—everything that’s right with the house and everything that’s wrong with it, too. Your inspector will conclude their work by giving you a home inspection report that contains all the necessary details.
4. 4. Fix any issues. Now that you know about any potential issues with the home, you can start to negotiate with the seller about what you want to do about them. You might be able to bring the sale price down lower or get them to make repairs prior to your purchase. Generally, big issues will allow for this sort of bargaining more so than smaller ones. For instance, lower water flow than you’d like in a shower might not lead to many changes, but discovering extensive water damage or a total lack of hot water in the house could.
5. 5. Make a final decision. Once you feel you’ve done your part to negotiate, it’s time to make a decision. You can move in and become a new homeowner, happy your house is in good condition, or you can tell your realtor, the seller, and mortgage lender there are too many deal-breakers and walk away.

When you hire a home inspector, they will have a comprehensive list of things to check around your home. You will likely see these seven categories on the checklist:

1. 1. Aesthetics: Throughout a professional home inspection, you’ll check both essential living conditions and more tangential aesthetic concerns. For example, you might notice whether there’s flaking on the door frames’ caulking or the paint seems inconsistent on the exterior walls or garage door.
2. 2. Electrical system: Your house needs to deploy power efficiently and adequately, so your home inspector should look at all the electrical outlets, fuses, and light switches to make sure they’re functional. They’ll also check the central electrical panel to rule out any deeper systemic issues.
3. 3. Grounds: The exterior of your house is as important as its interior. Home inspectors will make sure the downspouts, driveways, gutters, and walkways are all suitable for routine use. For example, they might notice there’s a high likelihood that standing water will collect underneath your patio after a storm. You could use this as a bargaining chip with the seller to get them to fix this landscaping issue before you buy.
4. 4. HVAC systems: You need air-conditioning and heating to be comfortable or survive in certain climates, so a home inspector should check the air filters, heating and cooling systems, and overall ductwork throughout your home inspection. Consider asking whether you can run the heating or cooling unit as you do your entire inspection to see how well it works in practice.
5. 5. Plumbing: An inspector will check all the faucets, sinks, showerheads, and tubs throughout your potential home for adequate water pressure and accessibility. The home inspector should also take a look at the garbage disposal, septic tank, and water heater to make sure they function properly.
6. 6. Roofing: The home inspector will look for all eaves, fascias, shingles, and soffits to be in order on your roof. This will ensure you discover ahead of time whether there’s any rotted wood or leaking stucco to deal with in your potential house.
7. 7. Safety features: Before you move into your new home, check that it’s free of asbestos, has working smoke and carbon monoxide detectors, and is devoid of any evidence of termites or other pests. Home inspectors will be able to address these basic safety concerns.

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