What Inspections Should You Expect When Selling a Home in Peoria, IL?

Almost every buyer will order a general home inspection, and depending on the property you may also see a radon test, a termite inspection, a sewer scope, or, out in the country, a well and septic evaluation. On Peoria-area contracts, inspections typically happen within 14 days of the signed contract. None of this should catch you off guard, and none of it has to derail your sale.

I'm Shannan Werckle, a Broker-REALTOR® with eXp Realty and the name behind Greater Peoria Living. I cover inspections in my first conversation with sellers, because most of the stress comes from not knowing what to expect.

This post explains how the standard Peoria-area contract forms generally work. It's general information, not legal advice, and every contract is different. The terms in your own contract are what count. I'm not an attorney, so I'm not giving you legal advice. If you wish to seek legal advice, I absolutely advise you to contact an attorney.

The general home inspection. An inspector walks the home from foundation to roof: mechanical systems, electrical, plumbing, structure and general condition. They aren't grading your taste. They're looking for safety issues, deferred maintenance and anything that affects function. Common findings include roof wear, the age of the furnace and water heater, older electrical panels, older plumbing materials, foundation cracks, grading and drainage, and windows.

Radon. Radon testing is common in central Illinois, and many buyers request it as a matter of course. A monitor sits in the lowest livable level for a couple of days. If levels come back elevated, mitigation systems are a well-established fix.

Termites and other wood-destroying insects. Common here, especially for older homes, homes near woods or homes with crawl spaces. Some loans require it.

Well and septic. For rural properties around Brimfield, Eureka, Metamora, Lacon, Henry and the countryside, buyers want to know the well produces good water and the septic system works properly. These take more coordination, so I build extra time into the schedule.

Sewer scope. In older neighborhoods with mature trees, some buyers run a camera through the sewer line to check for roots, cracks or old clay pipe.

This is where our area differs from what you may have heard. Peoria-area contracts build in safeguards for both buyers and sellers. How inspections will work is set in the offer itself. A buyer typically takes the property one of three ways:

• As-is, with no inspections.
• As-is, with inspections. The buyer can inspect, but estimated repairs have to reach at least $2,500 before they're allowed to submit a repair request.
• With limited warranties. The major systems, like water, heating, air conditioning and sewer, are expected to be working.

After inspections, a buyer who wants something addressed has to submit a formal repair amendment, with the inspection reports, within the 14 days. Depending on the terms, they may first have to meet that $2,500 threshold. Then it's a negotiation, with deadlines. The buyer and seller have 5 days to agree on how the items will be handled. If they don't, the buyer has 2 days to cancel and get their earnest money back. If the buyer doesn't cancel, the inspection condition is treated as satisfied and the sale moves forward. Nothing lingers for weeks.

What counts as a defect is defined, too. Our contracts cover the roof, heating, air conditioning, plumbing, sewer, electrical and radon systems, and material structural damage. Minor repairs, routine maintenance, cosmetic wear, and a system that works but is near the end of its useful life don't count, and neither does age alone or outlets that met code when they were installed.

A buyer can't simply walk away for any reason. They have to go through this process within its deadlines, or they risk forfeiting their earnest money. That protects you as a seller.

• The seller makes the repair before closing.
• The seller offers a credit, and the buyer makes the repair after closing.
• The lender requires it. Sometimes the appraisal flags a repair the lender needs done before approving the loan. Depending on the timing, it may have to be done before closing.
• An escrow holdback. Sometimes we can negotiate for money to be held in escrow and used for repairs after closing, with the buyer drawing on it. The buyer's lender usually requires the account to be funded at 1.5 times the highest repair estimate.

If your home is priced for its condition, a reasonable request rarely threatens the sale. It's when a home is priced as if everything were perfect that inspection findings start to feel like a fight. For how inspections fit the rest of the timeline, see from accepted offer to closing.

• Replace burned-out bulbs and test smoke and carbon monoxide detectors.
• Clear access to the electrical panel, water heater, furnace, attic hatch and crawl space.
• Fix small, known issues, like a dripping faucet or a loose handrail.
• Gather records for major work: roof, furnace and air conditioning, water heater, radon mitigation, sump pump.
• Make outside access points, like the crawl space and hose bibs, easy to reach.

For an older home, or if you suspect an issue, a pre-listing inspection lets you deal with things on your own schedule.

This one is an illustration of a common situation, not a specific client. Picture sellers in North Peoria who've owned their home for many years. Before listing, we talk through what an inspection is likely to note: a water heater that's leaking, a sump pump that isn't working, and some aging roof shingles that are still watertight. They replace the water heater and the sump pump, the working roof is accounted for in the price, and when the inspection comes back there are no surprises. The sale closes on schedule.

If you'd like to know what an inspection is likely to turn up on your home, that's a conversation I have with sellers before we ever put up a sign. See how I help sellers in Peoria Heights, North Peoria and Brimfield, or get in touch here.