Home Appraisal and Home Inspection When Buying A Home
When buying a home, after you get your offer accepted, an appraisal of the property is ordered and the buyer has the opportunity to hire a licensed home inspector to do a home inspection.
An appraisal is required by the lender. This is how the lender decides how much money to lend you to purchase the home.
During the appraisal process, the appraiser is looking at the condition of the property and trying to determine if the home is habitable.
An appraiser is primarily looking at three things in regards to the condition of the home:
Safety: Protect the health and safety of the occupants
Security: Protect the security of the property
Soundness: Conditions affecting structural integrity
Common repairs required by the lender
- Leaking or worn out roofs
- Lead based paint in homes constructed prior to 1978
- Faulty electircal, plumbing or heating
- Exposed wiring and uncovered junction boxes
- Active and visible pest infestation
- Rotting window sills, eaves and support columns on a porch
- Smoke detectors
- Carbon Monoxide detectors
- Leaning or broken fences
- Water heater straps
This is just a small list of required repairs that would prevent you from getting approved for a home loan. Different loan programs may require different inspections or repairs.
Conventional loan programs tend to be the most lenient, FHA and VA home loans tend to try to protect the buyer more and are often considered more “strict”.
Strict, actually translates into greater buyer protection, whereas conventional tends to lean more toward buyer being responsible for doing your own additional inspections to protect yourself.
Besides the appraisal required by the lender, a home inspection can also be performed at the buyer’s expense. This is highly recommended and should only cost a few hundred dollars or less.
Often repairs found during a home inspection are for the buyer’s awareness only and are not required by the lender to provide financing on the home.
Repairs found during a home inspection may or may not need ot be paid for by the seller depending whether or not the repairs could affect safety, security or soundness.
Most lenders or loan types do not require that a home inspection be done, but it’s a good idea to always hire a home inspector if for nothing more than knowing what you’re buying.
A home inspection tends to be much more detailed and can seem like there are a lot of things that need to be done, but the reality is that most things found in a home inspection are minor and cosmetic at best.
714-805-7268
Scott Schang
Manager at Broadview Mortgage Katella in Orange, California, I am passionate about educating and empowering consumers. Feel free to call, text or email me at (714) 805-7268 or ScottS@broadviewmortgage.com
