The purpose of a home inspection is to look for hidden defects in a property which are not immediately apparent to the potential buyer.
I am not talking about a crack in a tile that you might not notice because it isn’t in plain view, although those items might also be listed. The intention of the home inspection is to identify issues you cannot see on a walk through. This is why offers are usually made with a “home inspection contingency.”
When you write a purchase contract on a property, it’s fair to assume you made the offer based on the condition of the house you saw. This includes any of the work you know that you will need to do.
Then the home inspection is carried out to find any issues that are not clearly apparent to the average person. If significant problems are found then the “home inspection contingency” allows the buyer to either renegotiate the deal or walk away from their offer without penalty.
