This isn’t the first time I’ve seen advisors erroneously tell buyers they can demand things in their final walk-through, but it is the most blatant.
In a trending social media video, would-be buyers are told to put a capful of blue dye into the toilet tank during their final walk-through of the home to see if the dye ends up in the toilet bowl, which would indicate a leak from tank to bowl.
The biggest issue with this advice is not the test per se, although I’ll get to that, it’s about the Timing.
A final walk-through is just what it sounds like, Final, which means the buyer has already been under contract to buy the house for several weeks, during which the buyer has had an opportunity to have inspections completed by qualified professionals. Inspections are standard in modern-day purchase contracts and must be specifically waived in writing for a buyer not to be entitled to them.
Inspections run the house through its paces, stem to stern. Inspectors crawl the deep dark below the home, walk the roof above, run all of the appliances, check the electrical system, the plumbing (including any suspicious-looking toilets), the HVAC and the attic. Most buyers’ Realtors also order a sewer scope, which sends a tiny camera through the house’s bowels, or a septic tank inspection if there is no city hookup. Well water is chemically and bacterially tested, flow volume is gauged. Additional tests are available if the buyer is concerned about lead-based paint, mold, or invisible dangers behind walls that can only be seen with an infrared camera. Radon testing is now common. What’s your fear? Chances are, we have a test for it.
But once a buyer has run through the prescribed Inspection Period (this can be any number of days agreed to by the parties at the beginning of the transaction) and repairs are done and re-checked, well, it’s over. Finito. The testing stops, the inspecting stops, and the parties have nothing left to do but close the transaction.
It is this way by design. Sellers faced with unending inspections won’t know until closing day whether their deal will actually close. How could they order a moving van or pack if they don’t even know for sure whether they’re moving? And so, inspections are capped.
A final walk-through is not an inspection. It is not a free-for-all. It is not a time to bring a new decision-maker into the purchasing process. It is not a time to turn on the TV and raid the seller’s refrigerator.
No, a walk-through — negotiated at the beginning of a transaction –- allows the buyer to WALK through the house in the final days of the transaction, usually just before closing, to ensure that nothing significant and obvious has changed in the house since the buyer saw it last. Walk-though tours can sometimes ward off post-closing discoveries, such as when a seller has put a fist-sized hole in the wall while trying to move a sofa but fails to repair it or inform the would-be buyer, or has removed an appliance that was expected to remain in the house. Excepting that, which would indeed halt the closing long enough to negotiate a resolution, there is no right to extend an inspection or begin a new fishing expedition or do anything other than walk through and observe.
A buyer who is expecting to revive an already-completed inspection period is being misled. The best advice for all buyers is this: Be Thorough during your inspection period. Do Everything you want to do and everything your inspector or Realtor advises. Be fully satisfied. If the inspection reveals something you can’t live with that the seller will not fix or help with, walk.away. Do it during your inspection period and cite the inspection. Don’t wait til two days before closing and then walk away or you’ll kiss your earnest money goodbye.
About testing: If you want to put a chemical into any house system, or if you want to make a hole in a wall – even a small one – if you want to do remove a light fixture or force a window open that seems stuck or do anything the least bit invasive, don’t assume your inspection privileges extend that far. Ask the seller for permission.
Also, keep in mind that this fantastic toilet tank gotcha is, like, a $20 repair.
