Preparing for an inspection (San Antonio, Anton: mortgage, appliances, house)

[LittleTPot]

My husband and I are doing a relo to San Antonio from Chicago, and the new company offers a mortgage buyout after 90 days. In order to receive the buy out we have to fix any and all issues that come up in an initial inspection. My husband called the relo company today for details and they ended up scheduling our inspection for tomorrow. Lovely! Is there anything in particular we should do to prepare for the inspection? I'm assuming that the inspection won't include cosmetic issues, but I'm willing to spend the entire night on the house if it will help the inspection.

Any feedback is appreciated!

[Bo]

Unless you're a builder or a home inspector yourself, the things that a home inspector will flag are not likely to be things you will notice.

[LittleTPot]

So I shouldn't climb up on the roof and monkey with the chimney?

Thanks for the feedback!

[scuba steve]

Make sure the trees and landscaping are not touching the house, and that there is no mulch within 6 inches of the siding or brickwork. They pick up on that fast.

[johnrex62]

Clean very good around any plumbing fixture and ensure there is no water damage visible anywhere. Try to emply the under sink cabinet and make it clean.

It is likely too late to to do any significant repairs or patches before the inspection, so make it as pleasant for the inspector as possible to make their checks. A good mood may do more for you than anything else. Do you bake cookies? Chocolate chip are a favorite.

[songinthewind7]

We just had an inspection done on our house in Texas a few weeks ago. There's probably not a whole lot you can do yourself overnight.
She came out and checked under the house looking at the pipes, looked at the roof, checked the heater/ac unit, the water was tested, she looked for holes and dents or damage to the house inside and out. Looked under the sinks at the pipes, checked the water pressure. I'm trying to think of everything she did but these are the main ones. Going up on the roof and under the house might give you some peace of mind. They also check for termite damage. Our house is over 30 years old and it passed all this.....now trying to get out of the flood plain but that's another thread.
Hope this helps some. Good luck with the inspection.
Oh yeah, I forgot to add, like the above poster, cookies are a good idea.

[kevcrawford]

I'd just wait for the inspection and see what it says. Inspections often turn out differently depending on who is paying for them. If you're paying for it, tell the inspector your situation and that you'd like as little to show up as possible. They'll still mark big things down, but won't pick up on the ticky-tack items that one would for someone buying the house.

That might appease your relo company enough to do the buyout. Besides, the buyer will have another one done, so it's not like you're hiding anything from the buyer. You're just making sure that anything big is taken care of so it won't hinder the sale, should your relo company buy it back from you and have to sell it on their own.

You're LUCKY that your relo company is doing a buyout. They've really scaled back on buyouts now because of a slower market. They don't like being stuck with properties on their books. I know that when I take out buyers and we see a relo owned property, my eyes get pretty big because I know we can buy it right.

[Corvette327]

They look for termite damage or live termites, leaky water pipes (mold), old or loose wiring, roof leaks, ages of appliances (water heater), holes in walls, worn or torn carpet, sticky doors (may be foundation problems), drippy faucets, cracked tile ....mostly on the serious side. Actually, about the same thing YOU might look for in buying a used house. Hope this helps a little.

[LittleTPot]

Thanks so much for the information. Our house is 110 years old, so there will likely be all sorts of fun things on the list that we'll have to repair. We did a lot of work when we moved in, but I'm sure there will be other issues. We cleaned up the house last night and tried to make things accessible in terms of getting into the attic and the basement. Our new realtor will come on Sunday, and I'll do a scouring job to get the house in shape for them.

Oh, and we feel really lucky about the buyout, although it really hinges on a strong appraisel. Hopefully we'll do well. We're really looking forward to starting the home search process in Texas, but our budget is contingent on how we do on our house in Chicago.

Thanks again for the information!

[songinthewind7]

Let us know how it goes, Tpot.