The type of thing that buyers will skip is Pre Purchase Building Reports, as they are emotionally invested in a property and are secretly terrified that they will hear bad news and thus the deal will die. It is quite natural that you are scared–you have located the house, you have had the image of your furniture in your living room, you have even already painted the front door in your mind. The last thing that you want is a report, which comes into your inbox and you see that you have the dream turned sideways. However, this is the bad news that all every level buyer will come to learn, delving in love with the house without getting to know about its state is the same thing as proposing on the first date. The emotions are genuine, but the facts are fatally wrong, and something you are not informed about can certainly do you no good.
The inspection procedure is extensive than the majority of the buyers anticipate. A building report also investigates the structural integrity of the building – foundations, load-bearing walls, roof framing, subfloor, drainage, moisture, electrical installation, plumbing fittings, apparent evidence of pest infestation or damage. Inspectors are operative with the educated scepticism which comes with seeing quite how badly things may go wrong behind freshly painted walls and staged furniture. That wet spot by the window which the agent so off-handly referred to as minor condensation? It could be considered by an inspector as the sign of a long-term problem with water ingress that has been undermining the wall cavity over several years. The distinction between the two interpretations is possibly tens of thousands of dollars in clean up expenses.
The time is everything in this case, and the majority of buyers make a small mistake. You are in a weak position when you order a report when you have already signed a contract with few exit clauses, you are reading bad news with fewer opportunities to act on it. The better one is to get the report commissioned first and at least have a clause in your contract stating that you will inspect thoroughly before committing, or, at least, have an avenue to go to in the event of any major defects being found. Other purchasers use the report information as a bargaining instrument, and this is quite reasonable. A written list of repairs necessary can provide you with solid reasons to renegotiate the price of purchase or insist on certain problems to be fixed prior to settlement. Knowledge is leverage and a building report is basically a professionally compiled leverage document.
The most common objection that has been raised is cost, and it never passes the logic test. The typical pre purchase inspection costs several hundreds of dollars depending on the size and location of the property. And that would cost little by comparison to the price of a foundation repair, a complete roof replacement, or some major timber pest damage – which can easily reach into the five digits. Consumers that overlook the report in order to save a few cents and later realize significant flaws after settling do not find anyone in the market to sympathise with them due to the presence of the protection at a price that they could afford. Consider a building report the same way you consider travel insurance, no one would like to use it and everyone complains of the price, yet the people who have really needed it will never complain that they had to pay.