What Should You Do Before a Home Inspection?

Here is the ultimate checklist of the seven things to do before a home inspection.

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If you’re like most sellers, you feel a ton of anxiety going into your home inspection. Today I’ll walk you through seven things you can do to make it so much less stressful.

• Make sure everything is accessible. This includes crawl spaces, outbuildings and sheds, panels, HVAC systems, etc. That way, the inspector can get to everything needed to give the home and all its systems a thorough inspection. If they can’t access it at the time, they’ll have to come back, which could delay your inspection period.
  
  
• Make sure it works. By this, I mean things like your smoke detectors, lightbulbs, fixtures, and appliances.
  
  
• Check the attic. In Georgia, we have a lot of rodent entry spots, so be sure to check your attic and anywhere else you find tunnels in your insulation or other evidence of rodents. Clean up any mess made by pests, fluff up the insulation, and get rid of any old traps that may be in there, as well. Getting flagged by the inspector here could cost you $3,000 to $5,000.

"A long inspection report is totally normal, so try not to get too frustrated."

• Make repairs if possible. Go into your crawl space and check the vapor barrier to make sure it touches the perimeter of the foundation. If you have any leaky plumbing, get that taken care of now while you can still pick who does it. Paint over any old water stains on ceilings too so you don’t get flagged. Also, be sure to tighten up any loose railings on your deck.
  
  
• Do your chores. If it’s been a long time since you last cleaned your gutters, clean them out. Remove any extension cords that you might have in the attic or basement. If your HVAC system is older than 10 years, hire an HVAC company to come out and inspect/service it. Be sure to get a new filter for it, as well—a dirty filter could get you flagged for the whole system.
  
  
• Remove pets from the property. The inspector needs to be able to access all parts of the property, and pets can get in the way.
  
  
• Treat it like an important showing. Make the inspector and buyer feel welcome by leaving a handwritten note, drinks, and/or cookies.

Beyond those seven points, be ready for the inspection report after the inspection is done. It will be a long list of every little thing that’s wrong with the house. This is totally normal, so try not to get too frustrated. Once you get the list, you can negotiate the minimum amount of repairs that you need to do in order to keep the contract going.

If you need help with preparing your home for the inspection or you have any questions, don’t hesitate to reach out to us. We are here to help!