What’s involved with a home inspection?

After a purchase offer for a home is accepted, the due diligence period starts. This is usually 10 days in our area, and allows the buyer to terminate an accepted offer for any reason during that time.  The intent of the due diligence period is to allow time for the buyer to have a home inspection and get answers to any other concerns they may have. A document called “Amendment to Address Concerns with Property Inspection” is used to request repairs be done by the seller, after the inspection report is reviewed.

There are many home inspectors in the Athens area and the charge depends on the size of the home, if it’s on a crawl space or basement, and age of the home. Although inspection costs vary, in general you can expect to pay around $300-$450 for a typical home inspection.

The home inspection usually covers the following areas of a home:

Structure – grade/drainage around home, foundation, settlement,

Electric -adequate power service, entrance cable, lighting circuits, broken, missing, burned or frayed wiring, grounding, breakers, junction boxes

Heating/Air Conditioning systems – proper installation and function

Plumbing -leaks, proper drainage, plumbing pipe materials

Kitchen appliances – working properly

Interior – fireplace, garage slab separation or cracks, light fixtures,

Exterior – windows, cracks in siding, foundation cracks

Basement – leaks, seepage, high moisture conditions, flooding, slab settlement

If you would like more information on home inspections, we are happy to provide a list of inspectors we work with.