If a seller shares their pre-listing home inspection report with you, there’s no need to
arrange your own inspection, right? Wrong! We’ll explain why.
You’ve heard it time and again: A home inspection is an essential part of buying a home. A quality home inspection helps keep you and your family safe—both physically and financially—and gives you the power to make a confident, informed decision.
Usually, the buyer is the one who hires an inspector to assess the home and property they are
purchasing. Sometimes, however, the seller will arrange for an inspection before they list, known as a pre-listing inspection.
When sellers hire a home inspector to complete a pre-listing inspection, it’s usually to find and fix any
issues before listing. The seller may then choose to share the pre-listing inspection report for free with
potential buyers.
This may seem like a great deal if you’re the buyer—no need to spend time, effort, and money to arrange your own inspection, because the existing report will give you all the information you need to make your decision. Right? Not so fast.
Choosing to rely on a pre-listing inspection report rather than arranging for your own pre-offer
inspection is a huge gamble. Why? Because there is no way of knowing how thorough the inspection was and how reliable the report is.
Not all home inspections are created equal. As with any profession, there are home inspectors who do excellent, top-quality work, and there are those who do subpar, slipshod work.
So how do you know if you can trust that pre-listing inspection report? You don’t. As the buyer, you didn’t arrange for the inspection. You didn’t research and vet home inspectors to find one with an excellent reputation and track record. You didn’t enter into a contractual agreement with the inspector.
So, essentially, that report wasn’t written for you—and you have no idea as to its quality.
An alarming trend
We have inspected thousands of homes across the GTA over the last two decades. Recently, we’ve seen a trend of buyers choosing to rely on seller-supplied pre-listing inspection reports rather than arranging for their own pre-offer inspection. This is concerning, because in many cases, those gambles have not paid off and have left buyers with unexpected and costly repairs.
For example, a client of ours purchased a home without getting a pre-offer inspection. The seller had provided a pre-listing inspection report, which had revealed no issues with the home. After the purchase, the client hired us to perform a home inspection. Our inspection revealed a significant structural issue that had been missed in the previous inspection. Now the client was facing a $50,000 repair bill. The shock and stress of this discovery could have been alleviated by having an experienced inspector perform a comprehensive home inspection before buying.
What will you do?
If you’re buying a home, don’t make the mistake of trading short-term benefits for long-term, serious problems. Whether or not the seller has an inspection report available to you, the best and safest way to get the full picture of the health and state of the home you are purchasing is to arrange for a pre-offer inspection from an experienced, trustworthy home inspector with a reputation for quality work.
Key Home Inspections has been protecting consumers since 2003.
Choose the home inspection company that really cares about you
Call us today! At 416 878 0248
Or visit our website www.keyhomeinspect.ca