Before a home buyer like yourself signs a contract of sale, most real estate experts will recommend having a building inspection and timber pest inspection carried out. Doing this gives you a better idea of the structure’s status prior to you forking out a considerable amount. Plus, the report places you in a stronger position to bargain for the asking price with the property vendor.
However, you have to make sure the building inspection and pest inspection is done in accordance to the Australian standards by qualified inspectors. Needless to say, organising this property assessment is a must as you expand your real estate portfolio.
Who Should Organise a Building and Pest Inspection?
Although property sellers can commission a pre-sale inspection, it’s mostly the buyer’s responsibility to organise (and pay) for this report. Before signing the sale contract, you’ll have around 14 days—a standard timeframe—to hire an inspector, complete the inspection, review the subsequent report, and decide whether to push through with the buying or terminate the transaction.
It’d be convenient if you already have a qualified inspector ready before stipulating in the sale contract the condition to have a building and pest inspection done. This way, you can maximise the allotted period for completing and reviewing the pre-purchase building and pest inspection report.
Ensuring a Smooth-Sailing Building & pest Inspection
As you’re prospecting one property after the other, you’ll have a lot of things to deal with on your plate. To make sure that your property purchasing venture will be smooth-sailing from start to finish, you have to acquaint yourself with how to organise the building inspection service.
Look up local building & pest inspectors.
In the beginning, you should be searching for capable inspectors. You’ll look up adverts and see many claiming to be the “best in town”, too. How do you pick one among the several names that pop up in your inbox, though? For one, you can ask friends and family if they’ve had experience working with these inspectors. If this isn’t an option at the moment, you’ll have to pick the phone and talk with a prospect inspector. Ask about their qualifications/experience and if they carry any relevant insurance with them.
Schedule the pre-purchase building & pest inspection.
After you find suitable inspectors, get the property inspected before you end up signing the sales contract. These contracts have time restriction clauses that give you ample time to withdraw from the agreement but this choice is subject to a building and pest inspection. You can do so typically within 7 to 14 days and you should have the building inspection report ready within this timeframe so you can notify the selling agent on whether you’re withdrawing from the contract or pushing through with the purchase.
It’s within that 7-day period when you want the inspectors to complete the assessment of the house you’re setting your sights on. In this phase, the inspectors will need to contact the property agent or owner to set the time when he can come over and inspect the place. This process can take anywhere from 1 to 4 days, depending on the accessibility of the property as well as the circumstances of both parties.
Review the final building and pest inspection report.
These days, you can get these reports within 24 hours after the actual inspection but it may take a few more if you had a sizable property checked. Once you receive the reports, go over the details because there will be quite a bit of information to digest. If something in the report confuses you, contact the inspectors to get clarifications. For sure, you can’t afford such a trivial oversight when you’re about to spend a fortune.
What to Do After the Building & Pest Inspection
No home is perfect and you can expect the building inspection report to point out a handful of structural problems. As you go over such reports, you can tell when a property is maintained better than others. You could even see when an estate has simply been jazzed up for a quick sale.
After doing due diligence, then comes the tricky part: assessing the cost and impact of structural issues. If they’re more than what you have anticipated, you have to take repairs into account as you bargain for the purchase cost of the estate. It’s worth noting that while minor ones won’t be enough grounds to withdraw from the contract, you actually can with the discovery of major structural defects and a termite infestation.
Sitting down on the negotiation table, you and the vendor will then have to agree on who will shoulder the expenses to fix the issues discovered by the building & pest inspector. You can take on this hurdle on the condition that the property’s asking price be lowered or you can back out of the purchase if the structural damage and faults are beyond hope or simply unacceptable to you.
A Word of Caution
You may come across brokers and estate agents who will try and talk you out of commissioning these inspections. They’ll urge you to proceed with a contract and tell you that somebody else is equally interested in the property so you better get in quick before the competing buyer makes his or her offer.
Whether what they say is true or not, take this as a red flag. Why is the agent or vendor trying to convince you not to conduct your own due diligence? Do they have anything to hide? The reason why some would go the lengths to stop you from getting a building & pest inspector is that a reduction in the property’s sale price means a pay cut to them.
Organise a Building Inspection with Ease
An initial ocular inspection helps in coming up with the decision to buy a house, but it might not be enough to uncover the real story behind the scenes. This is where an experienced and licensed building inspector & pest inspector can be a big help.
Call our team today when you want to get a building & timber pest inspection done fast by our experienced and licensed team. For sure, working with us should save you a few more phone calls and emails between you and the property broker or vendor.