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Frisco TX First Time Home Buyer Series

If you missed the previous articles prior to this:

Part 1 - Your First Steps to Homeownership

Part 2 - Difference between Pre-Qualification and Pre-Approval and how to strategize a better negotiation

Part 3 - What makes up a house payment in Frisco TX

Part 4 - How much funds are needed to buy a house in Frisco TX

Part 5 - Setting yourself for real estate success with tools you need

Part 6 - Should you use a Realtor(R) when buying your first home?

Part 7 - A Real Estate contract is a legally binding contract

In this part, you will read about:

Frisco TX First Time Home Buyer Series - Home Inspections & What To Expect (Part 8)

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As a Frisco TX first time home buyer, you dream of owning your first home. The contract you negotiated is finally accepted and you are one step closer to the American Dream. You are ready to move on to the next step.

Here in greater Frisco TX, first time home buyers normally perform a General Home Inspection during the Option Period, as described in Part 4 - How much funds are needed to buy a house in Frisco TX. The buyers purchase an Option Period from the Seller for a specific timeframe. During this time, the Seller takes the property off the market to give the buyers an opportunity to inspect the property. The buyers purchased a period (timeframe) of unrestricted right to terminate the contract for whatever reason, or no reason at all. During this period is when a Buyer can walk away from the contract.

Here's what to know about Property Home Inspections:

• Inspections are performed as a "general" evaluation of the property condition AT THAT TIME. It does not warranty future performances.
• Inspections are typically "visual" by eyesight. The inspector will not take Seller's property "apart" - to destroy, dismantle or perform any destructive or invasive inspection. During the inspection, some conditions may obscure the inspector from reaching the areas/ items to inspect.
• Some property conditions may only be discovers after occupying the property. A home inspector will not be able to discover all items during a 3-hour inspection. Hence, a hom
  
  
  e warranty package will be important to include during the home purchase to ensure during the 1st year of homeownership, some of these items will be taken care of by the home warranty policy.

Why some issues are not discovered during an inspection:

• Some occurrences occur when the right "condition" arise. During home inspection, the inspector only visually inspects the property and may sometimes miss the "conditions" in which homeowners live in the property.
• Home inspectors are typically "generalists" to property conditions. Should a "specialist" be called for further evaluation, you should never hesitate to do that even though there may be additional costs to incur. Spending several hundred dollars will save you some further problems down the future.

A home inspection is called to understand the current property condition. It is NOT an insurance policy to eliminate all risks. It is designed to better your odds at purchasing a lemon.

The home inspector you hire should be a licensed home inspector. All Texas licensed home inspectors must adhere to the minimum standards for inspections by TREC (Texas Real Estate Commission). Having worked with many home inspectors, just like Realtors(R), all are not created equal. Some are more thorough while others are not detailed-oriented. It is important to select a highly-organized home inspector who would correctly describe the issues/ problems or concerns about the property. If you need a good home inspector, your Realtor(R) should be able to provide you several recommendations.

What first time home buyers should take away with this:

• There is no perfectly built home out there (new or existing). So, it is natural to uncover flaws in the home. The amount of imperfections depend on the age of the home and how well the home has been maintained.
• Discuss with your real estate agent about what may or may not be reasonable repair requests.
• Repair requests are negotiations between Buyers and Sellers. In a Buyer's market, you could expect for Sellers to agree to fixing "more" than normal items. However, this also depends on the property value. If the Buyers purchase the property at "less" than market value, do not be surprised that the Sellers will not make any repairs at all.
• During the option period, buyers purchased an unrestricted right to terminate the contract for any reasons or no reasons at all.
• First time home buyers should be objective towards the problems uncovered. For every problem, there is a solution. Whether it is the solution of seller taking care of the problems or buyers accept a price reduction or closing costs in lieu of repairs are also part of a solution.
• Until the Amendment towards repairs are completed, it is not a fully executed contract.

Should you attend your home inspection?

My quick answer is YES. It is one of the best opportunities to learn about your new home. A good home inspector will teach you about your house and how to maintain it from here on out. Be sure to keep out of inspector's presence especially when he/she needs to make notes about the property condition.

Articles in the Frisco Texas First Time Home Buyer series:

• Part 1 - Your First Steps to Homeownership
• Part 2 - Difference between Pre-Qualification and Pre-Approval and how to strategize a better negotiation
• Part 3 - What makes up a house payment in Frisco TX
• Part 4 - How much funds are needed to buy a house in Frisco TX
• Part 5 - Setting yourself for real estate success with tools you need
• Part 6 - Should you use a Realtor(R) when you purchase your first time home?
• Part 7 - A Real Estate contract is a legally binding contract
  Part 8 - Home Inspections and what to expect from it
  Part 9 - Going through with your home loan process
  Part 10 - What to expect at the closing table

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