Final Walk Through Before Home Closing

The news of your real estate closing has finally arrived from your lender: You have received final loan approval for the purchase of your new home. That means that the lender has approved you for the amount you need to borrow to purchase your next home.

Before you go to the closing table to complete the real estate transaction, there is one last thing you need to do: Conduct a final “walk through.”

What You Need to Do at the Final Walk Through

The final walk through is an inspection of the property shortly before the closing to verify that the real estate you are buying has not been altered since you executed a contract to buy the property. In most cases, your real estate agent will accompany you and help you examine the home.

You should closely look for anything that may have changed since the last time you were at the home — especially if the seller has already moved out. The purpose of a final walk through and inspection is to verify that everything you have contracted to buy is still there, that is, that nothing is missing or has been replaced by a cheap substitute, especially appliances and other fixtures such as lighting, doors, hardware or window treatments, etc. (which you should have made clear in the “conveyance” section of the purchase contract to avoid conflicts resulting from the walk through).

In addition, you want to be sure that the seller has not left anything there that they (and you) do not want to keep. Sellers will often leave items that they don’t want to move or cannot move or throw away, forcing you to deal with the unwanted items before you move in. Don’t let this happen to you.

Search your new home high and low and from stem to stern, focusing especially on out-of-the-way areas such as basements, crawl spaces, attics, garages, sheds and out buildings. Of course, if the seller has not yet moved out, there may be uncertainties. In that case, ask to conduct a final walk through on the morning of the closing, because the seller should have everything out of the home immediately before the closing papers are signed.

If necessary, bring a copy of the sales contract with you so that you can be sure that everything is there that should be. But keep in mind that a final walk through is not a home inspection conducted by a professional home inspector (which you should have had performed before you made an offer on the home). The final walk through is designed to discover material changes that have occurred since your purchase contract was accepted and since the professional home inspection was performed.

A Final Walk Through Checklist

Bring all your paperwork with you

This should include your sales contract, any addendum(s) to the sales contract and inspection records. Know what items are to be conveyed to you, such as appliances, lighting fixtures, window treatments, etc. Have your agent accompany you because two sets of eyes are better than one.

Inspect the entire home thoroughly

Check the home’s exterior for any new damage or changes. Make sure the grounds have been cleared of any trash or debris. Inspect the home from top to bottom and check all out-of-the-way areas such as the basement, crawl space, attic, garage and any sheds or out buildings. In the main living space, go room to room and inspect each of the following:

• Kitchen: Refrigerator, oven, stove/range, dishwasher, garbage disposal and other appliances that may not be located in the kitchen, such as the washer and dryer
• Living room
• Dining room
• Family room
• Bedrooms
• Other rooms
• Heating, ventilation and air conditioning system(s)

Watch for missing or substituted items

Be attentive to expensive items that may be missing or replaced by cheap imitations and check for items that may have persuaded you to buy the home in the first place and are important to you.

Check previously unseen areas

Closely inspect all the walls and flooring, as damaged areas may have been hidden (innocently or intentionally) by carpets or paintings, etc. when you initially looked at the home and now these deficient areas are apparent.

Take action

It’s better to raise any objections now than wait until the closing. If any items are missing or anything has been left behind that should not have been, your real estate agent should be able to address these issues by contacting the seller or the seller’s agent.

Don’t get emotional. Resist the urge to get too perturbed or too giddy. If everything isn’t right, there are official ways to address these issues. If everything seems alright, look even closer to avoid problems after closing; you can always bask in the joy of new home ownership after closing, but your walk through should be approached as important business to verify the details of a very major purchase.

Approach the final walk through for what it is: a final inspection. Have your real estate agent deal with any problems before the closing.

In our last article in this series, we discussed securing final loan approval. In our next post, we’ll discuss the closing table and final settlement.

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