OK, you have found a property you really like, you think. You hope the home inspection doesn’t find any major problems. It’s easy to take a look at the outside or inside of a home and assume it is in good condition. As you correctly thought, the professional home inspector will see more. The home that you plan to buy or sell could have issues that are unseen by anyone but a professional. But that doesn’t have to mean the end of the potential purchase or sale.
 
The home inspector should help you put things in perspective and point you to resources that can help you further assess the problems and the potential costs of remediation. There are almost always optional ways of dealing with uncovered issues.
 
When buying a home, or preparing to sell, it is important to use an inspector that will offer more than a list of issues in their report. Often the major issues uncovered are not as major as they appear, if, careful consideration is given to the optional ways which can be used to deal with them.  If the home inspector simply points out flaws and doesn’t help you to understand options to deal with the issues found, either directly or by consulting a qualified resource (say an electrician or a foundation specialist), that sale may be doomed. Most issues within a household do not just go away on their own and generally get worse over time. Making an informed decision as to how to proactively and economically deal with issues found maximizes the chances of a positive sale/purchase outcome.
 
To the buyer, a home is a large financial commitment, so it is important for the buyer to make sure that they are not investing money in a home with major issues or paying too much for a home because some issues are not immediately noticeable. The home inspection and inspector should help the buyer make an informed decision.
 
Just like a buyer should have their potential home inspected, so should the seller. When selling a home, the seller should want it to be in the best condition at its fairest price for the buyer, especially if they wish to make a quick and profitable sale. Often issues that might be deal breakers can be handled economically if proactively found and dealt with. Home inspections can be a great determining factor for buyers. Seeing that a home has something that a buyer wants or doesn’t have something they don’t want is a great way to move along a pending sale.