There are many moving parts involved in purchasing a Florida home. If you have your eye on a particular property, one thing you want to do before making a final decision is have a professional home inspector perform a home inspection. The main point of a home inspection is to identify major problems with a home that may not be visible to the naked eye.
Realtor.com notes that you may also be able to use the results of your home inspection as bargaining power during price negotiations.
Why home inspection results may warrant a lower price
If your home inspection reveals certain issues with the home you are looking to buy, you may, depending on market conditions, be able to use those defects to negotiate a better price. Get a sense of how much fixing the defect or defects might cost you and then consider asking the seller to knock the same amount off the home’s asking price.
How to make up the difference
Even if your seller does not lower the price of the home outright, he or she may be willing to make other concessions to make up for the defects the home inspection revealed. You may be able to ask the seller to contribute to closing costs as opposed to directly lowering the price of the home. If you are buying a new-construction home, you may be able to request certain incentives from the builder, such as better amenities, to make up for the defect uncovered by the home inspection.
How successful these efforts are may depend on how hot the real estate market is in your area. Sellers or builders may become more likely to make these concessions if they think they might have a hard time finding someone else to buy the home.