Preparing yourself for the final walk-through

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Published Date 1/27/2025

It’s an exciting time. You’re packed up, inspections are done, the loan paperwork is all behind you, and you are so close to owning a new home you can almost taste it.

During this brief period when homeownership is within shouting distance, it’s time for the long-awaited final walk-through. Perhaps you haven’t even entered the house since that first week or so after offer-acceptance, so it may have been a good, long while since you’ve seen it up-close-and-personal.

According to Realtor’s Jamie Wiebe, for a previously lived-in home, all one needs is a scroll through TikTok to find a plethora of horror stories. But take heart. “While the vast majority of walk-throughs reveal no problems at all, any walk-through story is there to make sure you insist on a final house tour in the last 30 days of the sellers’ occupancy.

Let’s face it. A lot can happen during the 30-45 days you’ve been under contract — to your house, to the surroundings of your house, to appliances, and to other items that were to remain in the home. Tales of missing refrigerators, washers and dryers, walls marred during the move-out, and toilets that no longer flush? They’re all out there.

In most of these cases, sellers credit their buyers enough of a budget to take care of replacing and repairing items when it’s obvious things have changed since the contract was signed, and your agent is key in making sure this is all negotiated after the walkthrough.

But, says everyone who ever had anything to do with real estate: If you do not go to your final walk through, you would not have had that opportunity to fight back and push as hard as you can to try to get someone to make the situation right. So don’t skip it.

It’s time to take a breath and consider how to prepare for the final walkthrough, as it’s no time to panic now. Most final walk-throughs are uneventful, and even if something does pop up, most issues are easily fixed. “Still, it can be an awkward, stressful process that might have you reaching for the heartburn pills, especially for first-time buyers,” says Wiebe.

Working with your agent, create a comprehensive checklist covering all of your concerns with the home—the items that you’d like to see addressed or fixed ASAP. Look at your notes from previous walk-throughs and the inspection report to determine what areas of the house you should double-check. This list can greatly reduce any issues. Make sure you turn on and test appliances, HVAC systems, plumbing, and electrical while you’re in the house. And yes. Flush the toilets.

Take your time, checking windows, doors, outlets, and lights. “If anything is amiss, bring it up with the sellers as soon as possible and negotiate a fee the sellers can give you by personal check to cover the costs of fixing it yourself. It’s your last chance. Make it count,” says Wiebe.

While most sellers are good, ethical people, you never know if you’re dealing with a sneaky individual until the final walk-through. Whatever you found may not have been deliberate; perhaps they had a transitory case of seller amnesia, leaving required repairs unfinished because priorities have been focused elsewhere.

Ask for copies of paid invoices for all repairs. “If it’s a simple repair—such as patching up drywall or replacing a faucet—ask them to send you a photo of the completed work before the walk-through, so there are no surprises. And while civility is key, this is not the time for preternatural politeness, says Wiebe. It’s your last best time to get it right and it’s worth the awkwardness of bringing it up face to face and demanding compensation.

If an enormous Persian area rug covered the living room floor and now that it’s gone you see damaged hardwood, this is the time to speak up. Water damage can be pervasive, especially in basements, where things may have been obscured by the seller’s belongings. Basements are ground zero for mold, water damage, and other structural issues.

If you were promised a chandelier and now there is an empty socket, that’s not going to fly. Basically anything connected to the home by plugs or pipes remains with the home unless specified in the contract. Swapping out the bronze cabinet pulls for mediocre chrome replacements isn’t OK, either, and you have every right to demand them reinstated before the home changes hands.

Picture perfect is usually not realistic, however. “Broom clean” does not mean scrubbed within an inch of its life, says Wiebe. Unless you’re moving into new construction, you’ll have to clean again before the move in.

As for the final walk-through of a newly built home, this is not a witch hunt. It’s your last time to inspect the home’s finishes — to point out that sloppily painted baseboard or uneven drywall texture. Your builder’s representative will go over how to operate all the home’s systems, so pay strict attention as they hand you all the warranty papers and instructions. Most builders give themselves a 30-60 day time frame to correct their “punch list” items, many of which they may even bring up on their own.

And whether the home is new or previously loved, there is no reason not to document the walk-through with your smartphone so that when you take possession you can verify all was remediated. It’s a smart move.

Realtor, TBWS

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