Inspections, appraisals, and the road to commitment

The two or three weeks after a contract is signed are where Connecticut deals are won or lost. The buyer inspects, negotiates, and finances. Each step has a deadline, and each one can reopen the conversation about price. Sellers who understand what is coming handle it calmly. Sellers who are surprised tend to overreact, and overreacting is expensive.

The home inspection

Within the inspection window, usually seven to fourteen days from the signed contract, the buyer hires a licensed home inspector to go through the house top to bottom. Expect two to four hours. Depending on the property, there may also be a separate radon test, a water test and flow test on a private well, a septic inspection, a pest inspection, a chimney inspection, and sometimes an oil tank sweep or a mold or lead assessment.

Make it easy. Leave the house, take the pets, unlock the basement, attic, electrical panel, and any outbuildings, and clear access to the furnace, water heater, and well equipment. An inspector who cannot reach something writes it up as not inspected, which reads worse than a minor finding.

Radon, wells, and septic in Connecticut

Radon is common across much of Connecticut and nearly every buyer tests for it. If the result comes in above the EPA action level, the standard fix is a mitigation system that typically runs a modest four-figure cost, and it becomes a negotiation item, not a deal breaker.

On a private well, buyers test for bacteria, nitrates, and often a broader panel including arsenic, uranium, and radon in water, which show up in parts of the state. A septic inspection checks the tank, the baffles, and the leach field. If you pumped the tank and kept the receipt before listing, you are ahead of the game.

The repair request

After the inspection, the buyer will usually send a written request for repairs, a credit at closing, a price reduction, or some combination. In Connecticut this often arrives as a notice of unsatisfactory inspection with a list of items. Now the negotiation reopens, within limits.

Our advice is consistent: address safety items and anything that a lender or the next buyer's inspector will flag anyway, and push back on cosmetic and wish-list items. A credit at closing is often better for everyone than a seller-managed repair, because the buyer chooses the contractor and you avoid a second inspection of the work. We put together a response that keeps the deal whole without giving away more than the findings justify.

If the two sides cannot agree, the buyer can walk away within the contingency period and recover the deposit. That is rare when both sides are reasonable, and we make sure you know where the line is before you draw it.

The appraisal

If the buyer is financing, the lender orders an appraisal to confirm the house is worth the loan. A licensed appraiser visits, measures, photographs, and compares the house to recent nearby sales. We meet the appraiser with a package of comparables and a list of your updates, because appraisers work fast and do not always know the town as well as we do.

If the appraisal comes in at or above the contract price, you move on. If it comes in low, the buyer's loan amount drops and the difference has to come from somewhere: a price reduction, more cash from the buyer, a split, or, occasionally, a successful challenge to the appraisal with better comps. How this plays out was largely decided when you chose the offer, which is why a buyer's cash reserves and any appraisal gap language matter so much at the offer stage.

The mortgage commitment

The contract sets a date by which the buyer must have a written loan commitment from the lender. Between contract and that date, the lender verifies income, assets, and employment, reviews the appraisal, and clears its conditions. Most of this happens out of your sight, but we stay in touch with the buyer's agent and lender so we know early if anything is off.

Once the commitment is issued, the mortgage contingency is satisfied and the buyer's deposit is generally at risk if they do not close. That is the point at which a Connecticut deal is truly solid, and it is when you can safely make firm plans for your move.

Keeping the deal together

Most contracts that fall apart between inspection and commitment do so over communication, not the house. Deadlines get missed, a repair response sits for three days, or a buyer feels ignored and starts second-guessing. We track every date in the contract, respond the same day, and keep both attorneys informed. Your job during this stretch is to keep the house in the condition it was in at contract, keep the utilities on, and start packing.