Any real estate agent will advise home sellers to do some renovations before they put their property on the market. The main purpose of doing this is not only to increase the selling price but also to attract more potential buyers.

Because of this, any property that potential buyers visit will surely look its best. More often than not, the walls are going to be freshly painted, the floors are going to be neatly polished, and the rooms well laid out.

Even with the beauty that meets your eyes, you as a buyer should insist on a home inspection before you agree to buy the property. Doing so is not to insinuate that the sellers are masking structural issues. There are actually several good reasons to conduct a thorough home inspection, and we present the three most important here.

Uncover issues that even the seller is not aware of

The most life-threatening issues or disorders in the body are those that start out as asymptomatic, meaning they don’t give out any signals. The same can be said about a house. Some of its most serious defects might be those that are not readily obvious. Termite infestation might not be that easy to detect, especially if the colony is just starting out somewhere. A thorough home inspection, therefore, serves as a diagnostic test. Good house inspectors are equipped with special machines that ensure the success of such a test.

Allow you as the buyer to prepare better

When you know what the problems of your new home will be, you will be better equipped to make forward-looking decisions. Remember, not all issues are deal-breakers. Some issues can even make your deal better, especially if you are the type who can transform ugly truths to realities that can put you at an advantage. You see, when there is an issue, you can renegotiate the price of the property. You can argue, for example, that the money that will be deducted from the original price is going to be used for the necessary renovations.

Allow the sellers to convincingly sever their involvement with the property

A seller also benefits from the home inspection. All the issues uncovered by the pre-purchase house inspection are the only ones that the seller must address. Nothing else. Should the deal push through, any complaint that you as the new owner have after you move in can already be met with skepticism. Why were such issues not raised during and immediately after the inspection? In a way, the inspection draws the line as to where the responsibility of the seller ends and where the responsibility of the new owner starts.

Ordering an inspection can come from either party. But it’s the buyer who conventionally initiates this task. If you are to choose a home inspector, pick one with years of experience and a considerable number of good testimonials written for them.