Home inspection around renters belongings

[Yasmin Mughal]

I found a house I like but I’m having challenges because it’s renter occupied, there are boxes and stuff everywhere. The garage is full , closets are full. 

The renter leaves July 31 (not a day earlier) but they want inspection ASAP so closing is early August. I prefer to wait until the house is empty. It’s 4 years old and had a recent leak. I’m very wary about mold. The house smells like animals

Local inspection company says house should be 75% empty so there is clear view of floors and walls. To me that sounds like most of her stuff needs to cleared out.

How empty is empty enough for an effective home inspection?

[Bill B.]

You forgot to put your location in your post or your profile. That would help local experts weigh in. In Vegas I wouldn’t even bother with an inspection, but especially not of a 4 year old home. We don’t have basements, or foundation issues, the tile roofs last “forever” so there’s almost no reason. We might have the AC units inspected if the property was 15+ years old, make sure the water heater is less than 6 years old, that kind of thing. 

But you need to know your market. What are you looking for on a. 4 year old house? Is market like Texas where they often have soil/foundation issues, or like MN/the Midwest where the asphalt shingles might have hail damage? If it’s truly 4 years old I’d skip it outright or go ahead while occupied if you want to feel good about it. But unless you believe it was built badly there should be zero problems to find. Good luck and maybe add your market details so local experts can weigh in. Maybe they’ll say homes in your market ar built very poorly and always need inspections, even if they we worthless.