Home Buyer Tips: Why You Need a Home Inspection

In a perfect world, you wouldn’t need a home inspection. But the real estate world isn’t perfect, even in awe-inspiring Mammoth Lakes. Home sellers are required to disclose all known issues — you may have heard of “disclosures”— but that doesn’t mean they always do.

As soon as your offer is accepted, you should pay for an inspection by a licensed home inspector and have it done right away. In addition to assessing the condition of the property, a good inspection will find any red flags you need to know about.

Home inspectors evaluate the roof, plumbing, electrical system, heating and AC units, insulation, doors, windows and more. The price of the inspection varies based on the size of the property, but the average for a Mammoth Lakes home is about $400. The buyer generally pays for this. In my experience, it’s a very sound investment.

There are still some things an inspector can’t see or catch. They won’t go into the crawl space, and they can’t look through the walls, floor or ceiling to see the inner workings of the property. But they’ll catch anything that’s visible to their highly-trained eye.

If an inspector finds major problems or expensive issues to fix, you can still walk away from the purchase as long as you included an inspection contingency. I recommend this contingency for all of my Mammoth Lakes home buyers.

If you still want to move forward with the purchase, you can ask the seller to make the necessary repairs, bring down the purchase price, or request a credit at closing so you can make the repairs yourself.

A home inspection may save you from making a huge mistake with the purchase. At the very least, it’ll give you peace of mind. It’s worth every penny, and may well pay for itself several times over if major issues are discovered.

Keep in mind that a home inspection is only as good as the home inspector. In Mammoth Lakes, I recommend Eastern Sierra Home Inspections, CIP Inspections and Ferguson Home Inspections. I’ve worked with each of them and have had nothing but positive interactions.  

Learn more about buying a home in Mammoth Lakes with my Ultimate Home Buyer’s Guide. Give me a call with any questions: (760) 914-4664.