10 Tips for Passing a Home Inspection

When you have a prospective buyer interested in buying your home, scheduling a home inspection will be part of the process of the sale. While it might seem a bit intimidating to have your home inspected, we have ten tips to help you pass your home inspection so that you can sell your home as quickly as possible.

At Total House Inspection in Michigan, our Top Rated Local® home inspectors can provide the guidance and advice you need to make sure your home is sale-ready. Whether you need residential or commercial inspections, or an inspection of new housing construction, our team is here to help. Contact us today to get started.

1. Check Your Roof and Foundation

These two items are both critical to the security and safety of your home, which means that you want to ensure there are no major issues. If you suspect that there might be issues with either the roof or the foundation, contact a local contractor to come out and provide their evaluation. Doing this ahead of time will not only help you to pass the inspection, but also avoid the chance that the buyers will back out.

2. Check Drainage

Along with the roof, check that your gutters and downspouts are all directing water away from your home. They should be thick enough and long enough to handle heavy rain. If your gutters are not the right size, take a trip to your local home improvement store to find the right gutters to provide adequate drainage for your home.

3. Protect Your Home’s Exterior

You’ve heard it said before that curb appeal can make a big difference in the way that potential buyers view your home. With that, it’s important to make sure you take care of the other physical features that comprise the exterior of your home. From the driveway and fence to the windows and sidewalk, you want to be sure that each feature is in great condition. If there are problems with any of these, the good news is that most of these are probably items that you can take care of yourself.

4. Check the Electricity in the House

One of the easiest things you can do is to make sure that none of your lightbulbs have burned out or need replacing. When an inspector sees a lightbulb that won’t turn on, they could attribute it to faulty wiring. Check your circuit breaker as well as all of your light fixtures to ensure that everything is running as it should. If you see any problems, ask an electrician to come out and give an evaluation of things that need to be addressed.

5. Check Your HVAC System

It’s important that your heating and cooling system is able to provide the right level of air in each room of your home and that you don’t have major issues with insulation. If the inspector indicates that something is wrong with your HVAC system, make sure to have some of your most recent utility bills to show that your home’s consumption of energy is average for the area. If your system is working harder than it should, it would be worth conducting an energy audit to see if there are places the air is escaping from your home.

6. Update Your Home’s Insulation

Insulation is one of those home improvement items that most of us don’t think about. After all, we never see it, so it’s easy to forget about. The fact is, that insulation will slowly wear down over time, which means it’s not providing the same level of protection that it did when it was first installed. Once you’ve updated your insulation, take some time to go around to each window in your home to add caulking and tighten the hinges on all external doors. These additional steps will help ensure that no air is leaving or entering your home.

7. Eliminate Clutter

While your real estate agent has probably already advised you about the importance of eliminating clutter in your home, there are some areas that you may not have thought about. If you have boxes of things stacked around your water heater, furnace, or in front of the entrance to the attic, it’s important to eliminate the clutter. The boxes and items will not hide any issues from the home inspector, and will simply make the home inspection take longer, as things need to be moved.

8. Empty Appliances

This tip is a great one to follow, as it’s easy to forget what you have inside of the appliances that you use all the time. Make sure your dishwasher, oven, washing machine, and dryer are all empty and clean. Be sure to clean the surface of your stove and the inside of your microwave as well. The home inspector will need to check each of these appliances and you want to make it as easy and pleasant as possible for them to do their job.

9. Check the Garage

Whether you use your garage for parking or storage, you want to make sure that the door and any lights are all functioning properly. If there is a problem with your garage door, the good news is that it’s generally not an expensive fix. It’s important to take care of this as the potential buyers are likely to insist that you fix it.

10. Plan to Be Somewhere During the Home Inspection

When the home inspection is scheduled, you’ll want to make sure to take your kids and go somewhere else during that time. Not only do you want to ensure the inspector can complete their job without interruptions, it is likely the potential buyer will be present during the inspection. You want them to feel comfortable asking the inspector anything they might be curious about, and they’ll be much more at ease if the sellers aren’t present.

Top Rated Local® Home Inspection in Michigan

Whether you are interested in residential, commercial, or new home construction, the team at Total House Inspection is here to provide the quality home inspection you need. Contact us today to learn about the variety of inspection services we offer, and get started.