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Reference guides

Post-inspection guides for home buyers

The instrument pages answer what each mechanism is and how often it is granted. These guides answer the situations around them: what the report's language is actually doing before you choose anything, how sellers and lenders decide once you have asked, and what is left when the seller refuses, the repair comes back badly done, or the problem surfaces after closing. Three sections, each headed by a pillar page worth reading before the guides beneath it.

Three topics

Start with a section overview

Each section has a pillar page that frames the whole subject before you go into the individual guides. If you are new to any of this, start there rather than in the middle.

Topic hubLine illustration of a house beside a sheet of paper representing Reading the report
4 guides in this section

Reading the report

The report is one person's opinion about what could be seen on one day, and reading it that way changes what you ask for.

Start with the overview →
Topic hubLine illustration of three houses at increasing sizes representing At the table
5 guides in this section

At the table

Most buyers lose this negotiation by asking for a sensible amount through the wrong instrument.

Start with the overview →
Topic hubLine illustration of a house with a fracture line through the wall representing When it goes wrong
4 guides in this section

When it goes wrong

Your position is strongest while the contract still gives you a way out, and it narrows faster than most buyers expect.

Start with the overview →

Reading the report

4 guides

What the document says, what its language is doing, and what it obliges you to do.

Read the reading the report overview →

GuideLine illustration of a house under a magnifying lens representing What Recommend Further Evaluation Actually Means
Reading the report

What Recommend Further Evaluation Actually Means

Recommend further evaluation is not a finding of a defect. It is the inspector saying this is outside what the standards require them to determine.

Read the guide →
GuideLine illustration of a tall stacked building with one unit picked out representing Major vs Minor Defects: There Is No Agreed Line
Reading the report

Major vs Minor Defects: There Is No Agreed Line

No standard of practice defines a major defect. Contracts and lenders draw the only real lines, and that is what gives a finding negotiating weight.

Read the guide →
GuideLine illustration of a house drawn half in outline and half in framing representing The Summary Page Is Not the Report
Reading the report

The Summary Page Is Not the Report

The summary page is a convenience the inspector assembled, not the report. What it selects for, and why the body is where the leverage usually is.

Read the guide →
GuideLine illustration of a house with unlit windows representing What a Home Inspection Report Does Not Say
Reading the report

What a Home Inspection Report Does Not Say

Visual, non-invasive, readily accessible: the standards of practice state what an inspection never covered. The honest limits of the document in hand.

Read the guide →

At the table

5 guides

How sellers and lenders actually decide, and which instrument is worth asking for.

Read the at the table overview →

GuideLine illustration of two houses, one behind the other representing Seller Credit vs Price Reduction: Which One to Ask For
At the table

Seller Credit vs Price Reduction: Which One to Ask For

Same dollars, different outcomes. What a seller credit does for your cash at closing, what a price reduction does for the loan, and which to ask for when.

Read the guide →
GuideLine illustration of a house beside a measuring rule representing Lender Limits on Seller Credits, by Loan Program
At the table

Lender Limits on Seller Credits, by Loan Program

The conventional 3/6/9 ladder, FHA's flat 6%, VA's 4% and USDA's 6%, with the carve-outs and the reason an over-cap credit does not simply get trimmed.

Read the guide →
GuideLine illustration of a house with a sign board in front of it representing What Sellers Actually Agree To
At the table

What Sellers Actually Agree To

NAR's seller survey data on incentives, what the 7% repair-credit figure does and does not measure, and why no source gives a grant rate for requests.

Read the guide →
GuideLine illustration of a house framed in studs, without cladding representing What Repairs Are Sellers Required to Make?
At the table

What Repairs Are Sellers Required to Make?

Almost none by default. Where an obligation does arise: the contract you signed, lender-required repairs, FHA habitability, and what As Is really does.

Read the guide →
GuideLine illustration of a house beside three bars of increasing height representing How Often Do Buyers Back Out of a Home Purchase?
At the table

How Often Do Buyers Back Out of a Home Purchase?

One contract in fifteen is terminated, per NAR's August 2026 survey. What that number measures, what it does not, and why nobody can say what caused it.

Read the guide →

When it goes wrong

4 guides

The seller refuses, the repair is bad, or it surfaces after closing.

Read the when it goes wrong overview →

GuideLine illustration of a house with its door crossed through representing When the Seller Refuses to Repair
When it goes wrong

When the Seller Refuses to Repair

The seller is usually within their rights to say no. What a buyer can actually do next: take the credit, reprice, terminate inside the window, or close.

Read the guide →
GuideLine illustration of a house under falling rain representing When the Seller's Repairs Are Done Badly
When it goes wrong

When the Seller's Repairs Are Done Badly

What completion standard applies to seller repairs, what a re-inspection can establish, and how much leverage survives the closing date.

Read the guide →
GuideLine illustration of a house with part of it drawn in broken outline representing When You Find a Problem After Closing
When it goes wrong

When You Find a Problem After Closing

Seller disclosure duties under the Texas and California statutes, what an inspection was never required to find, and the narrow gap between them.

Read the guide →
GuideLine illustration of a house beside an hourglass representing When the Inspector Missed Something
When it goes wrong

When the Inspector Missed Something

The standards of practice define a visual, non-invasive, point-in-time examination with named exclusions. What that means for a missed defect.

Read the guide →
A boundary worth stating

Deadlines are a separate subject

Every guide here assumes the window is still open. Working out when a window closes — the inspection deadline, the option date, a builder's warranty expiry, the point at which an inspector's own liability runs out — is a different question with its own documents, and it is covered in depth at 90daywarrantyvalidation.com, a reference on home warranty validation and buyer deadlines. If you are not certain which date governs your contract, settle that first: an instrument asked for one day late is not a weak request, it is no request at all.