Walk-through Consultation

We are now offering Walk-Through Consultations for homebuyers who may choose to skip a home inspection. These are consultations where we’ll walk through the interior and exterior with a potential home buyer to share our observations, concerns, and insights about the home. Walk-Through Consultations will likely be scheduled on short notice, and they’ll be short, no more than a half-hour.

Clients will be expected to take notes, and we strongly encourage them to get a full home inspection if they decide to purchase the home.

Length: 30 minutes. The Walk-Through Consultation occurs with the real estate agent and client present during a showing, usually scheduled for 15 to 30 minutes. That’s the maximum time for us to walk through the property, so we’ll move quickly.

Report: No report. Our clients take notes, as we will not be producing any reports.

Tools: Flashlights. Since this is not a home inspection, we will not bring a ladder to inspect the attic or walk the roof, remove the electrical panel cover, use a combustion analyzer on the furnace, or do anything else we usually do during a home inspection. This would have the potential to make for some upset home sellers. We want to draw a prominent line in the sand between a walk-through and an inspection.

Timing: We expect to receive requests for these on concise notice, and we’ll do our best to accommodate these requests.

What’s covered: We’ll cover as much of the property as possible during this short window. We will do our best to cover potential foundation issues, plumbing concerns, neglected furnaces and air conditioners, major electrical concerns, moisture staining, visible roof problems, visible chimney problems, major siding issues, water management, and desk concerns. We’ll focus on these items, but the amount of stuff we can cover will be limited by our time there, the home’s size, and the home’s condition. We’ll also cover specific client concerns, within reason and time permitting.

Price: $500 for the first home, $350 for each subsequent home of similar value or size, provided these showings are scheduled back-to-back and the distance from one house to the next is less than 5 miles.

Coordination: Scheduling will be done by our office and the buyer’s agent. We will accompany the real estate agent and the home buyer during the showing. We will not be setting up the showing ourselves. We will ask the buyer’s agent to notify the seller’s agent that a home inspector will be accompanying them during the showing but will only be there to walk and talk. As mentioned earlier, the home inspector will not perform a home inspection.