What Causes You to Fail a Home Inspection?

Selling a home is stressful, and regardless of how much you’ve prepared, the stress of failing a home inspection is easily one of the bigger stress items that is associated with selling a house. Inspections are required for all home purchases and sales, and a failed inspection more than likely will mean that the sale and purchase of the property will come to a halt until the items that caused the failure are assessed, fixed, and meet the requirements provided by both the inspector and buyer. While there are a multitude of things that could cause you to fail your home inspection, there are a few larger ticket items that are the most common culprits that lead to failure.

Roofing

"If your roofing is reaching the end of the “life” oftentimes the inspectors will ding your report and require that repairs or replacement are to be made prior to selling or closing escrow. In some cases, even with little life left, if the roof is free of leaks or damages, you may be able to avoid the repair or replacement, however, this is up to the inspector’s discretion." - Rio Del Mar Realtor®

Drainage

"While you should ensure you have good drainage throughout the whole property, your home inspection will be affected when the drainage is causing standing water near the actual home itself as this could cause foundation issues as well as lead to potential mold or mildew growth."  - Gregg Camp, Capitola CA Real Estate Agent

Plumbing

"Especially true in older homes, poor plumbing, or outdated plumbing can easily fail your inspection as plumbing repairs are not only costly, but pending on the materials used, may require the plumbing throughout the whole home be replaced with more modern materials as many older plumbing materials are no longer available for purchase." Aptos Home Agent

Foundation

"While some fixes may be minor, foundation issues are often a red flag that buyers simply don’t want to deal with." - Scotts Valley Realtor®

Pest Infestation

Not much explanation needed here. If your home is infested with any form of pests, your home inspection will fail until the problem has been addressed. Most buyers will complete an additional termite inspection in addition to a home inspection to ensure the home is free of any and all pests.

Mold

The one word you never want to see within any real estate transaction is mold. While in some cases this may be an easy fix, in others, the mold will require a professional to remove and treat the affected areas to ensure that there is no lingering mold, and that the cause of the mold, such as a leaking pipe, is also addressed and fixed.