How to Pass a Home Inspection

By Jim Troth

Selling a home can be a long tough ordeal. Once you and your agent have located a potential buyer you want to avoid having the home inspector find many things that are concerning to the buyer. Below are some tips to help home sellers.

One of the purposes of the home inspection is to help remove the normal fears, doubts and concerns a buyer has. Anyone who has ever purchased a home understands that combination of emotions. It is a combination of excitement and nervousness. Home buyers, especially first time home buyers will always have concerns about a home purchase. They have a concern of unknown problems with the house.

To greatly reduce the concern about the unknown, home sellers should make sure that the home inspector has full access to all areas of the home. If the access or crawl space is not accessible because the openings are sealed shut or there is a motorcycle parked under the access they seller may wonder why you left it blocked. There is often a little wonder on the buyers part if the seller is being completely honest about everything. A situation where some areas can not be inspected increases these concerns in the mind of the buyers. So make sure stored items are out of the way of getting into the attic and the crawl space.

Lights that do not work are often the result of burned out light bulbs. Burned out light bulbs show lack of regular maintenance and lack of care for the home. This is a very easy fix. Walk around your home and replace all the bulbs that need replacing. If you have some bulbs that are dim or very low light output then consider installing brighter bulbs in those locations. A brightly lit home looks more attractive.

One area that gets checked during a home inspection is the bathroom. The outlets will be checked for the function of the GFCI (ground fault circuit interrupter). These are the outlets with the test and reset buttons on them. Test them to see that they operate and reset properly. If not then replace them. Home inspectors also check for moisture at the base of the toilets. Moisture there is an indication that the wax ring which seals the toilet to the drain pipe is no longer working. Because some inspectors will use moisture meter to check this area, be sure to avoid mopping the floor the day of the inspection. The water from your mopping the floor may not have dried yet and will give a reading of elevated moisture.

Good luck on selling your home.

Jim Troth is a full time home inspector in central Ohio and the Education Coordinator for InterNachi Ohio. He has grown his home inspection business during the downturn of real estate. He attributes the growth to excellent customer service and referrals.
His home inspection company is Habitation Investigation LLC. The website is: http://www.homeinspectionsinohio.comJim also provides some marketing help to fellow inspectors at: http://www.homeinspectionmarketing.com