Lehigh Valley Home Inspections when Buying or Selling a Home

A Lehigh Valley Home Sale can have 3 different inspections performed on it. Any or all of these inspections may require the seller to perform work or become a negotiable item throughout the home selling process.

The 3 possible Inspections are:

• CO (Certificate of Occupancy)
• 3rd Party Property Inspector
• Appraisel

A Certificate of Occupancy (CO) is an inspection done by the municipality that looks for safety items (handrails, GFI outlets, smoke detectors...etc). The Certificate of Occupancy is dependent on the municipality and some require this inspection and some don't. Although the PA Agreement of Sale makes the CO repair work a negotiable item, most buyers believe it is up to the seller to provide a "clean" CO.

Each municipality has different requirements so the home seller should check with their municipal inspections office to make sure they are in compliance. CO repairs MUST be done within a certain time frame (whether the seller or the buyer does the work).

The Agreement of Sale includes a section regarding inspections that will be done specifically by the home buyer. In this situation, the buyer hires a 3rd Party Inspection Company to inspect all or certain parts of the house (property, termite, radon, well, septic). Since these inspections are requested and paid for by the buyer, it is up to the buyer and the terms in the agreement of sale on how any problems are addressed with the home seller.

The third inspection is actually done by the appraiser. Depending on the buyer's financing (FHA, VA, Conventional), the appraiser may note items that need to be fixed before a mortgage can be obtained. Once the UnderWriter tags these items, they must be fixed before the mortgage company will give the buyer a mortgage. These inspections can stop a buyer from purchasing the property.

So, in summary the house may have all 3 or none of the inspections:

• CO - may or may not be required by the municipality
• 3rd Party - may or may not be required by the buyer (dependent on agreement of sale)
• Appraisal - dependent on the type of mortgage the buyer is getting

Visit www.lehighvalleyhomesonline.com for more information about Lehigh Valley Home Buying and Selling.