East Idaho Home Inspections – a buyers guide

This blog series is sponsored by BOSS Real Estate. We work hard to educate our buyers and sellers on the different aspects of real estate in East Idaho. Check back each week to see new posts and videos!

So you’ve picked the home you love and you’re under contract. Your agent most likely will have encouraged you to have the home inspected. Here’s a step-by-step of how we do Home Inspections in the East Idaho Real Estate Market.

Chances are, you’re new to the area, or just don’t know any inspectors.  We at BOSS Real Estate have many tried & trusted options for Inspectors in East Idaho to choose from if you don’t have an inspector you already like to use. In the state of Idaho, there are no formal requirements for residential home inspectors. They aren’t even required to have insurance. Inspectors who have opted to gain accreditations, licenses and insurance seem to have an edge when it comes to knowledge, new building codes and access to homes during inspections.

There are 3 main national certifications that Home Inspectors can obtain.

These entities require inspectors to uphold a higher level of service by requiring home inspectors to hold insurance, gain extended knowledge about building codes, structural components and more. While it’s not required, it is nice to know these inspectors strive to be better for their clients.

Realtor Note on Inspections: As a seasoned real estate agent in Eastern Idaho I believe the most important factor in choosing an inspector is that he/she is good at explaining their findings. A great home inspector will explain why they are concerned about certain aspects of the home. They will help the buyer understand how systems work, why it’s important for roofing nails to not be exposed, for example. And they will help buyers understand how hard or easy a remedy would be to respond to the issue. Great inspectors understand that not all buyers should be expected to understand everything about owning a home and that it’s their job to explain things in a non-judgemental way.

Your realtor will have already indicated in your Idaho Real Estate Purchase and Sale Agreement the number of business days allowed for your inspection period. This inspection period is designed to give you time to take a deeper look at the home and have a professional inspect the systems and hard to see areas to ensure you are comfortable with proceeding with the purchase of your home. Inspectors in East Idaho are typically 2-5 days out on their schedule and often return the report within 24 hours of the inspection. After you choose your inspector, you will reach out to them to schedule a time within your inspection timeframe indicated on your contract that works for both of you.

Most inspections will take around 4 – 6 hours depending upon the size of the home. The inspector will likely prefer to be alone at the home and will have access using the Supra E-key system. They will do their full inspection and then invite the buyer to join them either in person or by video to go over their findings and help explain some nuances of the home. Some real estate agents prefer to be present during inspection. As an agent, I like to leave that between the buyer and the professional inspector, since I am not one. I am always available during that timeframe to make sure information is understood.

Typically within 24 hours of the inspection, the Home Inspector will send you a full Inspection Report of their findings. This report will include pictures, items of concern, items that might be of concern in the future and recommendations. If there is something they aren’t sure about, they will encourage you to have a professional from the corresponding industry weigh in on it. For instance, if there is a deteriorating roof, they might ask you to seek further clarification from a roofing expert. Your realtor will also receive a copy of the report. You don’t have to share this report with anyone else if you don’t want to. It’s your report. You paid for it. When your realtor looks it over, they will have a discussion with you about the items of concern. You will need to decide how you choose to proceed based on the inspection.

After the inspection report is reviewed by you and your agent, your agent will create a document named the Idaho RE-10 Inspection Contingency. This document will outline how you, as the buyer, choose to proceed. This is a proposal to the seller. Here are some options you can choose using this document:

A. Choose to proceed with the original contract with no repairs

B. Ask the seller to repair items from the inspection report

C. Ask for the purchase price to be adjusted based on the findings

D. Terminate the contract

The seller can now respond by either signing this document, or countering back with another RE10 Inspection Contingency with their revisions.

Realtor Note: My take on a home inspection is that it is a tool in our toolbox that helps you as the buyer be informed about what you are purchasing. I do NOT prefer to use inspections as bargaining chips, nor do I like to use the inspection period as a timeframe to lock one home down under contract while searching for others. This isn’t fair to the sellers who have taken their home off the market. We at BOSS Real Estate work with full transparency and prefer to keep integrity in the process.

I hope this was helpful in understanding the Home Inspection process in East Idaho. Please reach out if you have any questions about Home Inspections or if you need some referrals of experts in our area who we prefer to do Home Inspections.

Some of our favorite Home Inspectors we like to use:

The inspection cost for a home in East Idaho is dependent upon a few things: The size of the home, the distance the inspector has to drive to get to the home, number of heating systems, etc. The cost of a home inspection in East Idaho will typically range from $300 – $550

A home inspection will typically last from 4-6 hours depending upon the size of the home.

Every inspector is different, but typically the inspector will arrive at the home and do the full inspection first, then invite the buyers to join them at the home for the last part of the inspection. During this time the inspector will point out first-hand some inspection items that are of concern and explain.

While family members and friends CAN be a great source of information from their experience in homeownership, they may not have all the info a professional can have. And they might carry biases. It’s always our recommendation to have a professional inspect the home.

After examining your inspection report, you can ask the seller to fix those items or ask for some financial compensation instead of fixing the item.

This blog post was written by Andrea Jardine. Andrea is a Realtor at BOSS Real Estate in the Greater Idaho Falls area. She and her husband have been building homes in Eastern Idaho for 20 years. With special skills in Data Analysis, Andrea has a keen understanding of the Idaho Falls Real Estate Market and its history and inner-workings. Call her today for a free consultation about your real estate needs in East Idaho.