We have not seen your report, your contract or your house
We have not seen your report, your contract or your house. Nobody connected with this site has inspected the property you are buying, read the report that was written about it, or opened the contract you signed. We have no access to your photographs, your disclosure documents, your amendment, your loan file or your correspondence, and no way to obtain them. Every page here describes how an instrument works in general — what it is, who has to agree, what bounds it, which document records it — and a general description is not an assessment of a specific deal.
We do not tell you whether a finding is serious, or what to ask for
We do not tell you whether a finding is serious, or what to ask for. Both require somebody who has been there. The same five words in a report — evidence of past moisture intrusion — can describe a stain from a leak repaired a decade ago or an active failure behind a wall, and the difference is visible only to a person standing in the room. What that difference is worth as a request depends on the finding, the contract, the market, the loan and what else is already on the table. No page on this site can supply any of that, and no email to this site can either. The person who wrote your report is the right first call; the specialist they point you to is the second; your own attorney or supervising broker is who tells you what the contract lets you do about it.
The verdict on each instrument page is a summary, not a prediction
Every instrument page opens with one of three verdicts — commonly agreed, negotiable, or rarely granted. That label summarizes how the instrument is generally treated across the forms, program guidance and published data cited on the page. It is not a prediction about your transaction and it binds nobody. An instrument described here as commonly agreed is still refused by sellers every day, and one described as rarely granted is occasionally agreed by a seller with a reason of their own. The verdict exists so that a reader can tell a routine request from a long shot before spending goodwill on it, not so that it can be quoted at anyone.
What a seller is allowed to pay is not ours to state, and it is not the seller's either
The ceiling on what a seller or any other interested party may contribute toward a buyer's costs is set by the loan program and the terms of the particular loan, and it is applied by the lender underwriting it. This site describes how those ceilings work and cites the guidance they come from. It does not state the limit that applies to you, because that depends on the program, the occupancy, the down payment and the loan as actually written, and because program guidance is reissued. Before you agree a figure with a seller, confirm the ceiling with the lender who will underwrite it. A credit agreed above the limit is not reduced by negotiation; it is cut at underwriting.
No prices
No prices. This site publishes no figures for what anything costs to buy — not for an inspection, a repair, a contractor, a specialist or any other service in a transaction. Not a range, not an average, not a per-square-foot rate, not a figure attributed to a survey. Where a dollar amount does appear on a page, it is a threshold written into a cited primary document — a loan program ceiling, a regulatory trigger, a statutory limit — and it is named as such, with the document it comes from. A ceiling is a rule; an estimate is a guess with a decimal point. Repair cost is described structurally instead: what drives it, why it varies by region, access, age and construction, what is usually bundled into an estimate and what is billed separately, and which questions separate a bid you can rely on from one you cannot. A figure goes stale silently. The page around it stays correct and the number quietly stops being true, and a reader has no way to tell which is which.
No figure without a source
No figure without a source. Every number on this site is traced to a named document — a promulgated contract form, a state administrative rule, a loan program handbook, a federal regulation, an agency publication, a published dataset — with an address that resolves. Where a commonly quoted number turns out to have no reliable primary source behind it, the pages say so rather than repeating it.
Two live examples, both of which appear everywhere else on this subject. There is no primary source for the various percentages circulated for how often buyers walk away over inspection findings specifically; the published data counts terminated contracts without isolating the reason, and the pages here say what the data does and does not separate. And there is no primary source for a typical dollar value of a post-inspection credit. It is a function of the finding, the market, the loan and the two people negotiating, and nobody authoritative publishes a figure for it. Readers sometimes find that unsatisfying, and the reason is understandable — the number they were looking for is the one they came for. It is still better than repeating a figure because everyone repeats it.
State and program variation is the norm
State and program variation is the norm. Purchase contracts are promulgated or approved state by state, and the instrument that governs an inspection differs with them: some states give a buyer a paid option to terminate, some a due diligence period, some an inspection contingency with a written notice requirement, and the differences decide what you can do and what it costs. Amendment and notice forms differ. Disclosure duties differ. Deadlines differ and are counted differently. Several states do not license home inspectors at all. Where a page here describes a rule, a form or a deadline, check it against the current official source for the state where the property is.
What sellers do is behavior, not law
Several pages describe what sellers and lenders commonly agree to. That is a description of market behavior drawn from published data and documented practice, and it is labeled as such wherever it appears. It is not a legal obligation, not a standard, and not a prediction. A seller is generally required to do what the contract they signed says and no more, and the gap between what is required and what is customary is where most of this subject actually lives.
We name nobody and assess nobody
No individual or firm is named or assessed anywhere on this site. There are no rankings here, no ratings, no scores, no "best of" lists and no directory of inspectors, agents, attorneys, lenders or contractors. Comparison content in this field is overwhelmingly funded by the parties being compared, and the ordering usually reflects what a placement is worth rather than how the work is done. Rather than publish a worse version of that, this site describes the things a reader can check for themselves.
Not professional advice
Nothing here is legal, real estate, lending, insurance, engineering, tax or financial advice, and reading it creates no professional relationship. Contract forms, notice requirements, disclosure obligations, deadlines, licensing rules and loan program limits all vary by state and by program and change over time. Consult a licensed professional in the state where the property is before acting on anything you read here.
No affiliation with any former use of this domain
This domain was used years ago by an unrelated home inspection business. This site is not that business, is not connected to it, does not speak for it and does not continue it. No page here should be read as a statement by, about or on behalf of any party who previously used this name.
Timeliness
Pages are written from sources current at the time of writing and are not updated automatically when the underlying material changes. A page's modified date moves only when its content is actually revised, which means an older date is honest rather than neglectful — but it also means you should treat everything here as a starting point for your own verification rather than as a current authority.
Illustrations are abstract
The artwork on this site is abstract and decorative. No image here is a technical diagram, a form, a document facsimile or a depiction of any specific product, building or transaction, and nothing should be inferred from a graphic about how anything is built, inspected, repaired, documented or paid for.
Accuracy and corrections
No responsibility is assumed for errors or omissions, or for any outcome resulting from the use of information on this site. If you find an error, please tell us — ideally with the primary source that supports the correction — and it will be fixed.