Selling or buying a home is a stressful and exciting time. As the buyer, you are going into a new home that will hopefully be trouble free and provide your family with years of enjoyment. As the seller, you just want the transaction to go smoothly so you can move into your new home or apartment. One thing to consider when buying or selling a home is that you must have your chimney inspected.
As the homeowner, you want to make sure everything in the home is sound. The last thing anyone wants during a sale is to find out there is some type of damage in an area they had not inspected and it ends up as added repairs or in the worst case, caused the sale to fall through.
Being the seller, you need to be proactive and hire a chimney professional. Even if there are repairs, it is not necessarily a bad thing. Now, you can actually tout the fact that the chimney has recently been restored and is 100 percent operational and ready for use.
As the buyer, regardless if the owner is supplying you with a copy of the inspection report or not, you should hire your own company to come in and inspect the chimney. Even if you are familiar with the company used, is it not better to have two sets of eyes inspecting such an important area as the chimney and fireplace of your new home?
If damages are found, the homeowner should be responsible for the cost of the repair or deduct the costs from the selling price. Have the inspector supply a written estimate regarding the repair costs and submit the bill with your bid to justify the lower price. Whether the seller chooses to have the repairs done on his or her own or reduces the price, the home should not cost you anything more than the final bid right after the purchase.