Purchasing your first home in Adelaide is one of the significant financial decisions you will make in your lifetime. Therefore, before you sign any agreements, ensure you buy structurally sound property. To do that, many property inspections must carry out during the purchase journey to confirm that you make the right decision.
1. Personal Inspection
The first opportunity you get to review the property is at open-house viewing. It provides potential buyers with an option to analyse the property and see what they think. Open inspections typically last for 20-30 minutes and give an excellent opportunity to get an overall feel for the general features and quality of the house.
If you can, take someone along to assist you in inspecting a property as it may help you with a second perspective and pick out possible faults and issues you may otherwise overlook.
Walking through the property with many other buyers, let you view the property in general, including what you like about it and what you do not.
2. Building Inspection
While a personal inspection can inform you about the house, you must get a specialist to evaluate the property if you are interested and considering purchasing it. It is comprehended as a standard property report or building inspection report.
A professional building inspection review can be conducted by a licensed architect, a surveyor or a builder.
The specialist you hire to complete the report will check the property for structural flaws or other issues, for instance, increasing damp. The untrained eye may overlook that. The inspector will ensure that the property conforms to the Australian Building Code.
Such inspections are typically held before signing the agreements, enabling you to determine the problems that could be costly to fix in the future. If the inspection report indicates significant issues with the property, you can withdraw your offer.
3. Pest Inspections
Similar to building inspection, a pest inspection can help you save a fortune when it comes to potential future repairs. If you live in an area prone to termites or different pests, this type of inspection is critical for your peace of mind before buying your first house.
You must carry out a pest inspection before you complete the contracts, and sometimes it is likely to get an integrated building and pest inspection.
4. Pre-Settlement Inspections
It is one of the final steps in the house purchase and settlement process. Also, a pre-purchase or final inspection happens before you take the property’s ownership – usually on the same day as settlement.
The objective of this inspection is to make sure that the property is in the same shape as when you seal the deal. You can review that all the fittings and fixtures work, no damage has been done to the property, and any rubble has been removed since you signed the agreement.