By Barry Stone
Dear Barry,
The home I'm buying is occupied by the owners and will remain so until the day before the sale is completed. With all of the furnishings and personal effects covering walls and floors and filling the closets and garage, how can my home inspector possibly do a thorough job? -Erick
Dear Erick,
Home inspections typically occur while a home is occupied by owners or renters. This is one of the obstacles around which home inspectors must work, and in some instances, property defects definitely can escape discovery. A hole in a wall may be concealed behind a sofa, moisture damage might be covered by storage in a garage, someone's bootleg plumbing work might be hidden behind a stack of suitcases, or an ungrounded outlet behind a piano might go untested.
In the majority of cases, furnishings do not prevent discovery of major defects, but exceptions are unavoidable. This is why final walk-through inspections are conducted by buyers and agents just prior to completing a sale, when personal possessions have finally been removed from the premises. It is also one of the reasons why sellers are required to disclose all known defects. Sellers are often aware of conditions that might not be apparent to the home inspector. With all parties working together in good faith - buyers, sellers, agents, and inspectors - significant defects have a good chance of being revealed. But no one can guarantee perfection in these processes.
. Questions of a Do It Yourself nature should be submitted to our "