When you make an offer on a house, your agent will recommend getting a home inspection completed just to make sure the house does not have major defects and flaws. When this happens, the inspector will present you with a report of the findings, and it may include a lot of problems or it might not have any. If you are wondering if the seller must fix everything listed, here are several things you should know.

Sellers Are Typically Responsible Only for Major Issues

The first thing you should know is that the sellers of the house do not have to make any repairs if they choose not too; however, if this happens, you can back out of the deal if the house has major issues the seller will not remedy. In most cases, this is one of the only ways buyers can back out of deals without losing any money.

A second thing to realize is that home inspections are not designed to tell you about every little issue the home has, and that is because homes develop problems over time. For example, if there is a lock broke on a bedroom door, the inspector might see this, but this would not be a reason to back out of the deal.

You Might Need a Second Opinion

You should also realize that a home inspection is typically very general. Home inspectors are good at locating problems, but they are not always experts in the fields of certain things. For example, the inspector might see signs of mold in a house. If so, the inspector might not be able to tell you how severe the problem is, but you would have the right to hire a mold remediation inspector to look at it. This is always a good idea for any major problems an inspector finds in a house.

You Can Ask for Minor Repairs if Desired

As the buyer of the house, you always have the right to ask the seller to make repairs the inspector thinks are needed, but the seller does not necessarily have to. If they are major problems, the seller would need to, but the seller does not have to agree to fix little issues that are trivial. You still have the right to ask, though. The seller might agree to make the fixes, or the seller might deny the request.

If you are looking around the area for a house to purchase, talk to an agent for help. 

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