Buyer or Seller: Who Pays for the Home Inspection?
A home inspection is a worthy investment for buyers and sellers alike
Highlights
Buyers are typically expected to pay for their own home inspection.
Sellers pay for their own pre-listing home inspection.
Detailed home inspections make for faster, simpler real estate deals.
As a buyer, an inspection helps you determine potential issues in a home, so you can make a more informed purchase. As a seller, an inspection lets you set a fair price for your listing and avoid unexpected hassles with repairs later on. But who pays for the home inspection—buyer or seller? While buyers are typically expected to pay, sellers can also choose to take on the home inspection cost. In this guide, we’ll break down when each party might pay for an inspection.
When Do Buyers Pay for a Home Inspection?
In most cases, the main home inspection is performed after a buyer places an accepted offer on a home. The inspection often acts as a final condition for the sale. What a home inspection does is provide a detailed look at a home to ensure the buyer knows as much about the property as possible.
It’s usually up to the buyer to schedule and pay for this home inspection report. Technically, it’s not required for a buyer to get a home inspection—they may decide to buy a property sight unseen. However, the majority of sales will have an inspection, leaving it up to buyers to cover the cost.
The average cost of a home inspection is around $300 to $500, but location, square footage, and special services can change this figure. Buyers normally pay for the inspection shortly after the time of inspection and before closing on the home.
Why Do Buyers Pay for Home Inspections?
Buying a home is a big expense, but it makes sense for buyers to schedule and pay for the inspection as a way to get a full, unbiased picture of the property, including any serious issues that may be lurking beneath the surface. Sellers naturally want a quick sale at a high price, so there could be a conflict of interest if they were to hire the post-offer home inspector.
When Do Sellers Pay for a Home Inspection?
Who pays for the home inspection when selling a home? Unlike buyer inspections, which are usually performed after an accepted offer, sellers might choose to get a pre-listing home inspection before their home is up for sale.
Unless you opt to get additional specialty services done with your inspection (more on those in a moment), the costs for a seller’s pre-listing home inspection should be similar to a buyer’s inspection—about $300 to $500 depending on the size and location of the home.
Why Do Sellers Pay for Home Inspections?
Naturally, people selling a home want a quick sale at a good price. Rather than waiting until accepting an offer to get an inspection (and risking the deal falling through if something significant is discovered), sellers might choose to get the inspection before even listing.
If there are any immediately necessary repairs, these can be made before listing the home, ultimately raising the price and making for a smoother transaction later on. Sellers may also opt to pay the costs of an appraisal inspection to help them set their listing price.
Who Pays for Specialty Home Inspections?
So far, we’ve been looking at standard inspections, which examine the whole home in general. But what about specialty inspections which might be needed after the main inspection? Examples of different types of home inspections include:
Radon gas inspection
Pest inspection
Septic system inspection
Mold inspection
Lead paint inspection
Pool inspection
The need for these specialty inspections is usually revealed by the general home inspection. In most cases, these additional inspections are also covered by the buyer.
Can You Negotiate Who Pays for a Home Inspection?
Buyers do have the option of negotiating to have the seller cover the general and specialty home inspection costs before closing the deal. Whether or not this will work in their favor depends greatly on the specific listing, the individuals involved, and the state of the market.
Whether you’re a buyer or a seller, home inspections are a helpful part of the process. A great local home inspector will ensure nothing is missed in the report, giving you all the information you need to make your next home transaction smooth.
Who Gets the Home Inspection Report?
Only the person who pays for the home inspection is required to receive the full inspection report. While sellers will get some sense of the issues discovered when the buyer sends a list of requested repairs, they won’t have the full picture without getting a pre-listing inspection of their own.
Who Pays for the Repairs?
As with the rest of the process, determining who pays for home repairs after the inspection is also up for negotiation. In most cases, the seller will either make the repairs themselves as a condition of the deal going through or lower their price to make up for the buyer paying for the repairs. Of course, it’s entirely possible for the seller to refuse to make any repairs or price alterations if the listing is in high demand.