Home Inspection Checklist

Searching for a new home should be fun but, in all honesty, it can be a stressful task at times. Depending on your situation you may find your process to be rushed or overwhelming. A good realtor should be there every step of the way and ease your mind by finding the perfect fit(s) for you to go view. Considering all options, locations, styles, neighborhoods, future potential, investment opportunities, ensuring the home meets all your criteria and so much more; there’s a lot happening when purchasing a home. Although you should be able to rely on your realtor to guide you through the process, as a buyer, being prepared and well organized will help build your confidence level and lesson any uneasy doubts through this crucial decision making process.  One of the hardest steps comes during the “comparison” phase where you find yourself liking certain aspects of multiple homes. Which one is truly right for you? Most of the time you’ll find yourself, very easily, dismissing many homes once you’ve done a walk through. From the moment you pull up to the home you are already assessing and by the time you walk through the first floor, you know if it isn’t the right one for you. But, if there is potential in the one you are viewing, you are attempting to make as many mental notes as possible to remember what you liked and what you didn’t like so you can determine if it might be “the one”. If you find yourself doing this with multiple homes it can prove to be confusing when doing the overall comparisons. Which house had what features, did this one have that nice backyard or was it the other one? There are a few easy steps you can take while doing a walk through that can help relieve the need to remember every aspect and allow you to enjoy viewing the home.

1. Create a checklist of must haves, what not to have, and what would be nice to have. Having this visual reminder in front of you will help immediately rule out properties as you go through the process.
2. Take pictures to help remind you of what you liked. You can go back through later and take more time to make your notes.
3. Have a handy inspection checklist that you can mark off and make notes on as you walk through the property. Only do this for homes that have potential, don’t bother doing it for ones that you immediately dismiss. When you have a good feeling in a home, use a list like this Home Inspection Checklist to make notes of what the home features. This will be a huge help when and if you have to pick between multiple homes.