How Can a Home Inspection Affect the Pending Sale of a Home?
By Sean Struckmeyer | Tech Inspect Home Services LLC
A home inspection documents the current condition of a home to provide the buyer with unbiased information. If the inspection highlights the needs for repair, the buyer may try to re-negotiate the price, push for repairs prior to closing or exit the transaction altogether, based on what is found. Ultimately, it’s the buyer’s decision and we are here to support the buyer. Even after the inspection, we will continue to provide consultation with the buyer to support them in understanding the inspection report, clarifying questions, providing advice or providing recommendations for contractors. Each buyer must assess a multitude of factors such as their own budget, risk tolerance, the home itself, cost of repairs, timelines, and any other factors that may influence their decision.
What Happens After a Home Inspection During a Pending Sale?
The average home-buying timeline (from accepted offer to closing) is 30–45 days. The home inspection typically happens early in that window, usually within 7–10 days after the contract is signed, because most real estate contracts include a short inspection contingency period.
We recommend scheduling your home inspection immediately, our calendar fills up quickly and we usually book 1-2 weeks out. Our online scheduler has real-time availability, so if there’s an open slot, you should book it.
A typical timeline looks like this:
- Offer Accepted / Contract Signed – Day 0
- Home Inspection Scheduled/Performed – Day 3–10
- Inspection Report Delivered – Immediately > within 24 hours of the inspection.
- Negotiations/Repair Requests – Day 10 –15
- Appraisal & Loan Processing – Day 15–30
- Closing & Final Walk-Through – Day 30–45
At any point after the inspection, Tech Inspect Home Consultants are here to support the buyer through closing and afterwords.
Can a Home Inspection Delay the Closing Date?
We need to think of the home inspection, as an event that happens during the home buying process. The documented findings are provided to the buyer and what the buyer considers unacceptable may have implications, due to the need for repairs or the need to get quotes from contractors and subsequent negotiations that may occur. Every home and buyer are different; there are too many variables to predict what happens next.
Herea are five common situations where the results of the homes’ condition discovered during a home inspection can push back a scheduled closing date include:
- Major structural defect uncovered (e.g., foundation cracking) – buyer pauses process to bring in a structural engineer for further evaluation.
- Specialty follow-up inspections required (radon, sewer scope, mold, termite), test results can take days to weeks, holding up decisions.
- Significant safety hazard discovered (unsafe electrical panel or gas leak), the lender or insurance carrier may refuse to proceed until corrected.
- Repairs agreed to by seller cannot be completed before closing, contractors’ schedules or permitting cause delays.
- Renegotiation stalemate after the inspection: buyer and seller argue over credits vs repairs, dragging out the contingency period.
Delays caused by the buyers approach to the inspection findings and subsequent negotiations can result in missed contractual deadlines, rate-lock expirations, additional costs, or even deals falling apart if either party refuses to adjust. Having the inspection performed as early as possible can help maintain the original schedule.
What Issues Discovered in a Home Inspection can “Kill a Deal”?
First lets level set, it’s not the Home Inspection or the Inspector that kills the deal. It’s the home’s condition. The inspection is a point of time data capturing event that documents defects. If there are serious enough defects present in a home at the time of the inspection that causes the buyer to walk, those issues are already present in the home. The inspector just found and documented them. The buyer should be glad they had an inspection, and the seller would probably wish they had gotten a pre-listing inspection done.
Major structural problems like cracked foundations, rotted framing or serious settlement are the fastest way a home’s condition can torpedo a sale, as they signal expensive, long-term stability issues that scare off most lenders and buyers. Mold growth, active termite activity and health or safety hazards such as faulty wiring, gas leaks or missing handrails are another tier of deal-killers, because they introduce both health risks and unexpected remediation costs.
Ultimately the biggest deal breakers uncovered during a home inspection are the defects that affect safety, structural integrity or livability, anything that makes a buyer feel like they’re stepping into a money pit rather than a house will give the buyer pause and may prompt them to demand concessions or walk away.
We should own our homes, not let our homes own us.
Can a Buyer Back Out After an Inspection?
Yes, but remember, you signed a contract, therefore there are terms and conditions at play that enable or limit those options. Before signing the contract, read it thoroughly and discuss those contingencies with your real-estate agent. Ask lots of questions to clarify your rights to withdraw and confirm exactly how written notice of cancellation must be delivered.
Look, we get it, your excited, you just made an offer on your dream home and hope everything goes to plan, but before signing and then again, immediately after the inspection, you should slow down, ask questions, and take a moment to think about what is about to happen and all the information you’ve been provided and what the risks and implications are. This is your home and your future, you deserve to have all the facts and data and ensure a complete understanding of them.
Schedule the inspection immediately and, if major defects are found, consult appropriate licensed professionals (engineers, electricians, pest control, etc.) within the contingency window to decide whether to negotiate repairs or walk away. You need to treat this time frame like a small project with an extremely tight timeline. Be aggressive with getting things scheduled and work done, as it may end up saving you tens of thousands of dollars in the long run.
Can I walk away from a pending sale after inspection? – Yes, how you do that depends on the terms and conditions of the contract. You’ll need to consult with your real-estate agent to determine ‘how’ to terminate.
How Do Sellers Respond to Inspection Repair Requests?
During the post-inspection phase, buyers typically decide whether to negotiate repairs or ask for a credit at closing, weighing which option gets them to the finish line with the least disruption, credits are often preferred because they let the buyer control the quality and timing of the repair after closing. Typical price concessions range anywhere from a few thousand dollars for moderate items (HVAC service, minor roof leaks) up to tens of thousands when significant structural or system replacements are involved, depending on what local contractors quote. However, a seller can refuse repairs or credits altogether, especially in an “as-is” sale or a hot market, in which case the buyer must either accept the property in its current condition, renegotiate less aggressively, or walk away under the inspection contingency.
What Should Buyers Do If an Inspection Finds Major Problems?
Using the contractor recommendations from your inspection report, contact them for support in way of quotes, and options for fixing things. Ask if there are multiple options to resolve the issue and what does each of those cost.
Re-estimate true cost of ownership: This means stepping back after the home inspection and calculating what the house will actually cost you, not just the purchase price and mortgage payment. This includes expected repair expenses uncovered in the inspection (like replacing an aging roof in the next five years or upgrading unsafe wiring), ongoing maintenance budgets, future utility efficiency, and even higher insurance premiums tied to condition issues. Smart buyers recalculate their ownership costs based on inspection findings, so they know whether the home is still financially viable, or whether it’s about to become a money pit. Buyers should map it out, be aggressive and don’t be shy with asking for quotes, or asking questions to get more information.
Should I still buy a house with a bad inspection report? – That depends on the buyer. What your budget, timeline, risk tolerance, etc. is. There’s no straightforward answer, but we are here to support your decision making by providing consultation support and answering questions and providing context to help you make that decision.
Tips to Avoid Home Inspection Findings from Killing Your Sale
For sellers: Scheduling a pre-listing inspection (having this done before listing, allows you to get quotes from contractors and/or repair items before listing), thoroughly documenting disclosures (including any repair receipts), routine maintenance (staying on top of basic maintenance), will all go a long way.
For buyers: Have realistic expectations (no home is perfect), budget for repairs and prepare to get quotes for anything major. Remember, everything can be fixed, the unknowns immediately after the inspection are, how much time, money and effort will it take and are you willing to invest those resources into this home?
FAQ’s
- Does pending mean the inspection is done? No, pending simply means the buyer and seller have a signed purchase contract and are moving toward closing. The home inspection may or may not be completed yet, depending on where they are in the contingency timeline. In most cases, “pending” still includes the inspection period, appraisal, financing approval, and final walk-through, so a sale can still fall apart even while it’s marked as “pending.”
- Can a pending sale fall through after a bad inspection? Yes, while we do not perform ‘bad inspections’, a home’s current condition may not be up to the standard the buyer wishes to invest in and therefore they may choose to terminate the purchase.
- How often do home sales fall through after inspections? Industry data suggests that about 15–20% of real estate deals nationwide fall apart during the inspection phase. So, 1 in 5 deals end post inspection due to findings stemming from the inspection. However, most contracts survive, and any defects are usually negotiated rather than being true deal-killers. The context and details of the inspection report are critical. Click here to read more about our inspection reports.
- Do sellers ever back out after inspection results? Yes, while it’s less common than buyers walking away, sellers do sometimes back out after receiving the buyer’s inspection results, especially if the report reveals major issues they weren’t prepared to fix or credit for. If the repair requests are extensive or costly, a seller may decide it’s better to terminate the contract (if allowed under the terms or due to failed negotiations), re-list the property, or wait for a buyer willing to accept the home as-is. If you are the seller, you should invest in a pre-listing inspection to mitigate the risk of a buyer walking away after an inspection report.
In Summary:
Both buyers and sellers should schedule a home inspection as early as possible. Keeping in mind, you are on an accelerated timeline from offer to close, and you need to allow time for the home inspection, getting repair quotes, re-negotiation, etc.
Buyers need to consider what their budget for repairs is (total $’s), what their risk tolerance is and what some examples of issues are that they would deem unacceptable are. Considering all of this prior to the inspection, it will give the buyer a framework to review the inspection report against. Context is everything, and what may be ‘acceptable’ to one buyer, may not be for another.
For home sellers, this isn’t talked about enough, but scheduling a pre-listing inspection can help you, and potentially save you thousands of dollars by allowing the inspector to find things that can be fixed before listing or allowing you to get quotes ahead of time. This way you can price the home accordingly or push back price negotiations that exceed the actual cost to repair.
No matter what side of the real-estate transaction you are on, you should NEVER skip the home inspection. This puts everyone at risk. Let the inspector do their job and give you an honest assessment of the property.