The importance of a final buyer walk through
I recently went to a final walk through for one of my buyer clients. The selling agents had assured me that everything was in perfect condition, but as an experienced and savvy agent, I know that’s code for everything is not perfect.
Unfortunately, my intuition was correct.
To my horror, when I walked through the front door, I noticed the house was freezing. 37 degrees freezing to be exact. The furnace had unexpectedly broke, so the heat wasn’t working. This was particularly worrisome become winters in New England are cold, which creates a risk for a pipe to freeze and burst.
I advocated for my clients, and insisted that we delay the closing so that a licensed professional could fix the heat and mitigate any risk of a pipe bursting. I then insisted on a second final walk through, a day later, for good measure.
Over the last decade, I have seen it all at walk throughs: Air conditioners that have stopped working, leaks, missing washer / dryers that should have been left behind, you name it. That is why it’s best for buyers to do a walk through immediately before closing to avoid any unpleasant surprises.
