How a Home Inspection Works When Your House Is in the Hot Seat

How does a home inspection work and how can I be prepared? We answer your questions so you can get ready for a smooth inspection.
You’ve done the work to get your home ready to sell — repainted rooms a neutral color and taken care of minor repairs, hired a great real estate agent, staged it to perfection, kept it clean for open houses and home tours — and now you’ve accepted an offer. Up next: The home inspection. But now, you can’t help but wonder, how home inspection works and what impact it might have on your sale.
Once the buyer orders a home inspection, your home is in the hot seat. Even if you’ve gone through the house with a fine-tooth comb and listed anything and everything on the seller’s disclosure, the home inspection might reveal issues that you weren’t aware of or are worse than you thought.
It can be a stressful process for both sides as buyers and sellers await the results and then negotiate repairs or other issues that were revealed during the inspection.
To help ease your mind, we’ll walk you through what a home inspection is, how home inspection works, and how to be prepared when your house is under the microscope. Remember: no home is perfect. But you can take steps to ready yourself (and your home) for the home inspection to minimize unwanted surprises.