Undergoing the home inspection process can be daunting for any home sale. As a homeowner ready to sell, you may feel confident about your home’s condition, but the scrutiny of a professional home inspection can bring about unexpected surprises.

HomeLight spoke to Toni Vander Heyden, a top-selling agent in Rockford, Illinois, and Frank Lesh, executive director of the American Society of Home Inspectors, to answer all your burning home inspection questions upfront.

Whether you’re a seasoned seller or dealing with your first home sale, we’ll help prepare you for your home’s inspection and the possible repairs and negotiations that might follow.

1. What’s the purpose of the home inspection?

The purpose of a home inspection is to give the buyers of a house the details they need to make an informed purchase before closing. The inspection brings to attention any major defects about a house that could threaten a buyer’s health or safety and gives the buyer the chance to negotiate on repairs or request a price reduction based on the findings.

The point of an inspection is not to make a house look as bad as possible to cheat the seller out of a good deal; any inspector who agrees to that end goal would be entirely unethical.

A seller can deny any and all repair requests resulting from the inspection — so long as the contract stipulated that repairs would be negotiable — but the buyer can then walk away, void the contract, and keep their earnest money if it comes to a stalemate.

2. Can the seller be present at the home inspection?

While there are no hard and fast rules preventing sellers from being at the home inspection, their presence can sometimes create an uncomfortable dynamic. Buyers may feel restricted in their ability to speak openly with the inspector about the condition of the property or ask candid questions if the seller is hovering nearby.

However, there can be benefits to having the seller present if they can provide insights or answers to specific questions about the history and maintenance of the home. In some cases, the real estate agents involved may negotiate a compromise, where the seller is available for a portion of the inspection to answer any questions and then leaves for the rest.

Ultimately, the decision should be made based on what is most conducive to a thorough and honest inspection, keeping in mind the comfort levels of all parties involved.