Buying or selling a home can be a stressful situation at the best of times. An essential part of the process more often than not is the building and pest inspection.
As a seller, performing a building and pest inspection prior to going on the market can provide you with added peace of mind regarding your property when it comes time to negotiate a sale contract. As a buyer, you want to go into your new property purchase with eyes wide open.
Sellers should use a pre-sale building and pest inspection as an opportunity to fix minor issues and tackle any major ones that may be revealed. For buyers, the primary aim of the pre-purchase building and pest report is to determine whether the new home or investment property is structurally sound and termite free.
It is strongly recommended that buyers be in attendance on the day of the inspection because something written, versus something seen, can be perceived two different ways. Being present at the inspection also provides you with the opportunity to discuss firsthand with the inspector any issues that may be found at the time, and their severity (as the case may be).
Building and pest reports can be overwhelming to read, but the thing to keep in mind is that you are paying a company to be extremely critical of the property that you are looking to purchase. This is where a skilled agent and agency can provide assistance in deciphering the report for you.
Should the report you receive come back unfavourable but you still love the property, the building and pest report can (in some instances) be used to help renegotiate a mutually beneficial outcome, whereby the seller accedes to the necessity for a potential price reduction to facilitate the sale of their property, and the buyer is happy to proceed with the purchase.
There would be nothing worse than going for what you think is a great deal, only to find that the inspector you used missed important information or aspects of the property, so (as with all things), do your research before engaging a Building and Pest Inspector.
The average cost for a combined building and pest inspection is $500 for a standard, 3-bedroom home, and a good Real Estate Agent will have a list of credible Building and Pest Inspectors to recommend.