Final Home Inspection

The Final Walk Through

A final walk-through will be carried out before the closing, in the majority of cases.

If you were listed with a real estate agent, the buyer's agent would normally do this walk through.

Because this site is dedicated to for sale by owners, we will look at what not to do and what you should do to ensure a smooth and non-eventful closing on a house.

You should be aware that you the seller, will probably have to do the home inspection walk-through.

A final home inspection is NOT an opening for the buyer to start re-negotiation. They had their chance before they signed the contract for negotiations.

Do NOT fall into this trap. It happens when a buyer or buyers go back for that final home inspection and decide that they are going to get real picky.

The conversation could start something like the following:

Buyer: John, I never noticed that the garage floor had that big crack in the center when we viewed the property back in June. We'd like you to either fix the problem or we can have an estimate done for the repair and take it off the selling price.

YIKES! Didn't see that coming!

Nope, the final home inspection is not about the buyer bargaining for a better price or for you to make repairs to the property.

The buyer had every opportunity to take care of any of these issues before the final walk-through.

The buyer could have addressed the problem when the offer was being made. The buyer did or could have had a building inspection to address any issues that they were concerned about.

Your answer?

You: Why don't we bring that up with our individual lawyers when we see them and get their advice, OK?

Why would I suggest an answer like that? Because you don't want the final home inspection to get ugly.

Don't buy into the buyer's demands. It will more than likely turn into an argument which will, at the very least, cause hard feelings with everyone involved.

When you see your lawyer, mention the silly demand to him or her and just to make sure, tell him or her you are not willing to compromise and the contract remains as written.

Unless the crack, or whatever the problem is appeared after the sale was made, you will not have to repair or compensate for anything.

An exception would be if you purposely hid or mislead the buyer. Even then, the buyer would probably have to prove failure to act in good faith on your part.

For a refresher on negotiations go from Final Home Inspection to Real Estate Negotiation

The whole purpose of the closing home inspection is to protect the buyer. The buyer wants to make sure of the following:

• You the seller left all the items that were included in the selling price.
• You the seller are leaving the property in the same state of repair as when the buyer viewed the property last.
• You the seller, have not switched any items that were included in the purchase price.

When you are doing the final home inspection with the buyer(s) try to make it as relaxed, friendly and helpful to them as possible. Here are a few pointers:

• Relax
• Be helpful by pointing out shut-off valves, warranties and literature of items in the home.
• Use positive language about how much you enjoyed living there and how you are sure the buyers will have the same experience.
• Ask if they have any questions or concerns.

Should you react negatively? No. By being aware though, you can alert your attorney of the concern being brought up before or during the closing.

Again, don't argue, don't try to "fix" the problem. Here is why. In the vast majority of cases, the buyer's attorney will explain to the buyer(s) why their concern or demand will never bear fruit.

You may say; "Well I know that. Why don't I just tell them right there and then?" Here is why. They will believe and trust the attorney's judgment. You, maybe not so much.

Make sense? Of course. But, I'm sure you already figured that one out.

For a few more ideas, you might want to check out Final Home Inspection from a Sellers Perspective

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