Final walk through: What to expect at your final walk through before closing

published: November 24, 2014

It’s smart to perform a final walk-through before closing. It’s your last chance to make sure the home you’re about to buy is in the condition you’re expecting.

It’s important to know what to expect when performing your final walk-through. When you do a final walk-through, the purpose is to make sure the property is in the condition you agreed to buy. Make sure that agreed upon repairs have been completed and that nothing has gone wrong since you last looked at your home.

Some things to do during your final walk-through:
• Test heating and cooling
• Test major appliances
• Turn lights on and off
• Turn the water on and off
• Open and close doors and windows
• Flush toilets
• Look at ceilings, walls, and floors
• Do a quick check of the grounds
• Check to make sure agreed to fixtures are not being removed from the home

Expect to see that you’re going to need home improvements when you do the final walk-through. Now that the home is vacant, you’re going to see marks on the walls and stains on the floors that maybe weren’t as noticeable when there was furniture in the home.

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VIDEO TRANSCRIPT:

JULIE: After the seller moves out, but before you actually close on the property, it’s usually a day or two, I would recommend doing a walkthrough of the property and making sure that everything that you’re supposed to get under the contract is there and that all of the appliances are in good working order.

MARLA: When I did my final walkthrough I turned the furnace on for a little while; turn the air conditioner on for a little while. Turn the dishwasher on. Does it work? Turn the stove on. Does it heat up? Things like that. Try all the light switches. What does this switch do? What does that switch do?

STEFAN: My wife and I, we were so excited to get into our apartment that we weren’t very meticulous in our final walkthrough. There was some paint that needed to be redone and they gave us an apartment without a doorbell. If we had just asked the seller to take care of those things, it would have been on their dime; but because we’d already moved in, it became our responsibility.

JULIE: If there is a beautiful antique chandelier in the living room and the seller would like to take it with them when they leave they may do so. So it’s possible that the purchaser might not realize that they’re not getting this beautiful, antique chandelier until immediately before the closing. And if the purchaser thinks they’re entitled to this, that can raise some disputes, which come about at the closing usually.

JULIE: The way it works in general is whatever you close on is what you get. So I would always recommend immediately before a closing that a purchaser walkthrough and know exactly what they’re buying.