Home Inspection Clause
Next to financing, the home inspection is probably the most important contingency in your purchase contract. No matter what the housing market is like in your area, most experts would strongly urge you not to waive the home inspection contingency.
Wording of the inspection contingency varies by state, so be clear what you wish to have happen and what is written in the contract before you sign it. The contract should specify, for example, whether you or the seller will pay for the inspection; cost varies, but is usually in the $200 to $400 range.
You will also want to spell out what will happen if the home inspector finds problems that were not previously disclosed by the seller. For example, the clause might stipulate that you can decide which defects you want the seller to correct, or to renegotiate the price based on the estimated costs of such repairs. The home inspection clause may also be written to let you cancel the offer outright, without letting the seller try to correct or repair the problems.
Bear in mind that the seller doesn’t have to make every repair and, in fact, may refuse to make any. If both parties want the sale to go through, however, it is in both your interests to discuss and negotiate how defects will be repaired and who will pay for them.
