What Do Home Inspectors Look For?

The Inspection Checklist: What Gets Examined and What Doesn't

A standard home inspection runs top to bottom in 2 to 4 hours, follows the ASHI Standards of Practice, and costs about $300 to $500 (Bankrate puts the national average near $343). Outside, the inspector covers foundation and structural integrity, the roof and attic, gutters and flashing, siding, windows, doors, and how the lot grades and drains away from the house. Inside, it's the plumbing system and every water fixture, the electrical panel, breakers, wiring, and outlets, the HVAC equipment, interior walls, ceilings, floors, and built-in appliances and ventilation.

The red flags inspectors write up most often: water damage and moisture problems, foundation cracks, outdated electrical work like knob-and-tube wiring or Federal Pacific panels, roof deterioration, and HVAC equipment near the end of its life.

Just as important: what a standard inspection skips. Radon, termites, asbestos, lead, and mold all need separate specialists. Cosmetic wear, anything behind walls or below ground, pools, septic systems, and well water are excluded too. The written report, usually with photos and severity notes, lands within a couple of business days.

The Numbers Sellers Get Wrong Before an Inspection

Here's the number that should reset expectations: 86% of inspections find at least one issue. A perfect report isn't the goal. The real goal is not handing the buyer an opening over something you could've fixed for twenty dollars.

The common seller mistake: spending on the wrong end of the list. Sellers pre-emptively replace big-ticket items, a full HVAC replacement runs around $7,500 on average per Angi, hoping to buy a clean report. Then the inspector writes up missing GFCI outlets, a running toilet, a dripping faucet, sticking doors, and a blocked attic hatch anyway. Cheap function-and-access fixes change the tone of the whole report. Major replacements rarely pay you back, because 46% of buyers use the inspection report to renegotiate, and they negotiate off their own contractor quotes, not your receipts.

Worth doing before the inspector arrives: replace burned-out bulbs and missing GFCI outlets, fix running toilets, slow drains, and dripping faucets, free up sticking doors and windows, clear access to the attic, electrical panel, and water heater, and leave the HVAC service receipt on the unit. Not worth doing: major roof, foundation, or HVAC work right before listing, or chasing cosmetic flaws the inspection ignores.

How Your Two Offers Handle Inspection Findings

The inspection round is where traditional sales can wobble. The report lands, the buyer's agent sends a repair addendum, and the price you already agreed to starts moving. Remember: 46% of buyers renegotiate off that report.

Cash Flow Deals gives you two offers to compare: the Fast Cash Offer, where we buy your house as-is and close, and the Premium Cash Offer, where a pre-approved FHA or conventional buyer we already have, ready to go, pays more and buys directly from you. You choose.

With either offer, the number is agreed before any work starts, and it changes only if you agree. The one exception: if something structural surfaces that was not visible or disclosed before we signed — foundation issues, hidden moisture, old wiring, cast-iron drain failure — we re-cost it and bring the number back to you. You decide. You can walk away. We disclose what we know at offer time so this almost never happens.

We cover repair costs, and we figure out a way, so nothing comes out of your pocket. With the Premium Cash Offer, only what the buyer's lender requires gets fixed; we arrange for those repair costs to be covered and settled from the sale proceeds, from our share rather than your agreed number. With the Fast Cash Offer, you sell as-is without making repairs.

For the Premium Cash Offer, you sign with us at the agreed number and give us permission to bring in a buyer in our place. Your home may be listed through Silver Door Realty, a licensed Florida brokerage, with a licensed agent and scheduled showings. Your buyer signs a new contract directly with you, title passes directly from you to that buyer, and their lender funds the purchase. Cash Flow Deals is a Florida real estate investor, not a brokerage, and is paid as a separate line item on the closing statement.

If the buyer's loan falls through, that is our problem, not yours, and you can still take the Fast Cash Offer at its own number instead of proceeding with the Premium Cash Offer.

If you're concerned about a long inspection report, see how your two offers work in Florida.

Here's how Cash Flow Deals helps you work through inspection concerns. We review your property's major systems: roof, HVAC, electrical, plumbing, and foundation, the same categories a home inspector checks. You receive a written price within two business days of the evaluation: the same turnaround a standard inspection report takes to land. You review both offers and the structural exception before choosing. With Premium, the buyer's lender determines which repairs are required; with Fast Cash, we buy as-is. You help pick the closing date.