The nature of the inspection on a home is one which needs to be explained carefully. It may mean something different to everyone.
Some may feel that an inspection unearths everything about the house – the good, bad & the ugly. The reality is that isn’t possible on a number of levels. The inspection is visual in nature and is not technically exhaustive. Given the time spent / allowed for an inspection during on a real estate transaction and the amount of money most want to spend for an inspection based on a home they don’t even own yet yields results which are good…but they are not intended to be perfect nor flawless.
Here’s one great example. In the process of performing a visual home inspection, the inspector must assume that there is no fraud, concealment, cover-up or misrepresentation on the part of the vendor or anyone else for that matter. To approach the inspection on some other level would take significant time and money for the potential home buyer. The vendor’s may not permit such an extensive investigation of their home or be willing to offer up such a considerable length of time in the home to even do this. Further, this type of inspection would not be warranted in all cases in the first place. As a result, the inspection is not a forensic audit of the home and it does not set out to look for such.
In addition, the inspector may make inquiries of their client, the buyer, vendor, realtor or others during the inspection process and will rely on this information & representations in performing the inspection, in the absence of any other readily visible evidence.
Please take the time to understand the nature of the inspection, the limitations and exceptions of performing a visual home inspection. If you feel something more is warranted, talk to your home inspector about it and get quotes for this added work.
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