Following is some great information (written by Home Inspector, Tony Stiles) for Sellers who are preparing for their Buyers' Home Inspection:
1. For liability purposes, please try your best to vacate the property during the inspection period if the home is occupied.
2. Make sure your utilities are on. It is common for vacant properties to have the utilities shut off. To give a fair evaluation of the property, our inspectors will need to have the utilities on at the time of the inspection. Furthermore, you will need to turn on any valves inside the home prior to the inspection that are in the "off" position and light any pilot lights that are not lit. The inspector on site can not turn valves on or light pilot lights for you because of the liability involved.
3. Clear away any storage around the attic and crawlspace access doors. If possible, leave a towel to cover the clothes or other items so insulation will not get them dirty. If there is a garage attic access, please move the car and/or other large items out of the garage.
4. If there are safety issues, (such as windows that drop quicker than the stock market) please let us know or identify them with a marker or sticky-note.
5. If there are water stains or recent drywall patching - let us know why and how it happened.
6. Please provide information regarding the age of the roof and whether there have been any claims for storm or weather related damage. An inspector will be walking on the roof. If it is unsafe, we will want to know.
7. If access to areas are hidden, please provide the location of access (common for crawlspace and attic).
8. Let us know if any component does not work or should not be test-run. Please leave this information on the kitchen counter for the home inspector.
9. Clear storage from around the inside of the foundation walls (2-4 feet). Inspectors will need access to the walls in order to give a fair evaluation of its condition.
10. The main electric and sub-panels should have an accessible area. Please remove any pictures, wood trim, drywall or layers of paint (if box is painted shut) from the panel so it can be accessed.
410-707-1840 Sue@BrazzelDazzle.com 443-745-4406 Dipper@BrazzelDazzle.com
http://localism.com/neighbor/suebrazzel
Great tips Sue... thanks for posting! I loved the windows that 'drop quickerthan the stock market' LOL!
-Karin :)
I agree that this is great advice, but most sellers seem to want to hide things rather than expose problems. We had an inspection on one home where there was so much box storage, the home inspector couldn't get to some of the walls. It cost him though, as we insisted he pay for the reinspect, otherwise my buyer was not going through with the purchase.