How the due diligence period works
North Carolina home sales usually use the standard Offer to Purchase and Contract, which gives the buyer a due diligence period. The North Carolina Real Estate Commission describes it as the buyer's opportunity to investigate the property further, and the home inspection happens inside it.
Repair requests are negotiated, not required. In the Commission's words, the buyer is free to ask for any number of things, but the seller is not obligated to agree to any of them. If the seller says no, the buyer can terminate the contract or move forward without the repairs, and whether to terminate is the buyer's decision alone, as long as it is made during the due diligence period.
Money is part of the picture. The Commission says the due diligence fee is nonrefundable except in the rarest of circumstances. Forms change over time, so read the current contract with your agent or attorney; this is a plain-language summary, not legal advice.
What the inspection covers, and what it does not
North Carolina home inspectors work to rules set by the state's Home Inspector Licensure Board. Under those standards of practice, inspectors check readily visible and readily accessible installed systems and components, and the report says which ones are not working as intended and what to do next: repair, monitor, or have a specialist look.
The same rules are clear about the limits. A home inspection is not technically exhaustive. Inspectors do not have to report on the cost or method of corrections, or on compliance with building codes, and they do not move furniture or stored belongings to see behind them. Anything hidden behind a sofa is, legally speaking, a surprise.
Sorting the report: now, negotiate, later
A long report reads like a long list of problems. Most of it falls into three groups, and sorting it that way makes the negotiation simpler.
| Group | Typical items | Usual next step |
|---|---|---|
| Safety and active damage | Active leaks, soft or rotten framing, unsafe railings or stairs | Ask for repair or a specialist's evaluation before due diligence ends |
| Specialist referrals | Electrical panel, roof, heating and cooling, gas lines | Book the specialist the report names, quickly |
| Wear and small defects | Sticking doors, loose trim, cracked tiles, drywall damage, worn caulk | Negotiate, or plan to fix after closing |
| Maintenance notes | Clean gutters, service the HVAC, re-seal grout | Your first-year to-do list |
The third and fourth rows are where a general contractor can help most, because one visit can cover a dozen small items across several trades. Our home repairs page lists what that covers.
If you are the seller
Once you agree to make repairs, the Real Estate Commission says they must be completed in a good and workmanlike manner before the settlement date. That deadline is fixed, so book the work as soon as the list is agreed. Keep the invoices and a short note of what was done for each item; the buyer will ask.
Some sellers have a house inspected before listing, so the surprises arrive before a buyer's inspector finds them. It does not replace the buyer's inspection, but it gives you time to fix things on your own schedule rather than against a closing date.
Ask for a written price per item before you agree to anything. It helps you decide whether to repair, offer a price reduction, or decline, and it stops a quick fix and a major one from being treated as the same line on the list.
If you are the buyer
Put your energy into the first two groups in the table. Safety items and anything a specialist needs to look at are worth settling before due diligence ends, because after that your options shrink. The small items can wait; they will still be there after closing, and you can choose who fixes them.
If the seller agrees to repairs, ask for the invoices and a short description of the work before closing, and walk the house to look at the repaired items yourself. Some buyers have the inspector come back for the items that mattered most. A repair you can see and a receipt you can read are worth more than a line saying "done".
If the house has a deck, our guide on how to tell if a deck is safe covers what to look at; the ledger and framing are easy to miss from the yard.
What we'd do this week
- Write down the date due diligence ends, and work backwards from it.
- Sort the report into the four groups in the table.
- Book any specialist the report names, today if you can.
- Get prices for the repair items, line by line, before negotiating.
- Seller? Schedule the agreed work early enough to finish before closing, with time for a re-check.
Want to know whether a repair needs a permit? See our guide to remodeling permits in Charlotte.