Preparing Your Home For A Home Inspection
What To Do To Help The Inspection Go Smoothly

If you made it to this page, congratulations! You have a potential buyer for your home or structure and now you can kick back and relax, sort of. Your buyer has requested a home inspection be performed. What's this mean for you?

Well, really it couldn't be simpler. We manage all the needs from here on out for our client and part of that means making sure you, the seller, are kept in the loop. So, what can you do for us to help make the home inspection a smooth process, without hiccups that could derail closing?

Here is the list, simple and straight forward:

1. Make sure we have access (confer with your Realtor as to whether we will have access to a lock box). If no Realtor is involved, make sure you coordinate with us to ensure we can access the property at the designated time and date. If we can't get in, we can't inspect. If we can't inspect, it gets rescheduled. Someone will have to pay us for a return trip.
2. As part of this access, make sure all alarms are off, or that we have been given clear directions for disarming an alarm. We do not re-arm alarms.
3. Make sure all utilities are on. If something isn't on, we can't test associated components. If we can't test, we may need to come back. If we have to come back, you will have to pay us for a return trip.
4. Make sure your crawl space access (to get under your home) is not locked, or otherwise obscured from entry.
5. Make sure your attic accesses (yes, many homes have more than one access point) are not obscured from entry, or locked/blocked from safe access.
6. Make sure gates are unlocked.
7. Make sure stored items will not hinder us from accessing most areas (we understand that sometimes you can't do much about storage -- we will document accordingly).
8. Make sure your animals are relocated, or leave us a note to say that "Rusty" won't bite, but shouldn't be left out -- cat or dog. We are animal friendly, but it helps to know the situation. If your animal may bite, or otherwise misbehave, make sure he/she is crated or relocated for the day of inspection. Please, do not leave your animal in the garage. We must open and close the garage door. 
9. If radon testing is scheduled as part of the inspection, you should receive a separate email forwarded from your Realtor. Otherwise, we'll talk with you directly regarding pre-testing standards for radon.

Is It Really That Simple?

Absolutely. As long as we can get to where we need to be, and all utilities are on, we mostly can manage the rest. If something comes up, we are very prompt to reach out to your Realtor. However, feel free to leave your contact information in a clear location for us. While we can't share the report findings with you, we are happy to reach out if we have a particular question, or if we feel you need to know about something immediately (e.g., a gas leak, or an overhead garage door that malfunctions during testing). And, we'll leave a card behind for you. Once you are given information from the buyer, or buyer's Realtor, if repairs are needed and agreed to, then we'll gladly field your questions and help navigate direction for proper repair.

Congratulations, again. Thank you for reading this and wanting to be a proactive home owner!