An inspection finds what the listing photos left out.

Buyers choose a house from its listing photos and then treat the viewing as confirmation, when the photos were never meant to tell them much. A listing photo is taken from the best corner of the room, on a bright morning, with a wide lens that makes a small bedroom look generous. Its job is to get someone through the door. An inspection works from the other direction. The inspector walks the roof looking for cracked tiles and rusted valleys, checks ceilings for water stains, runs the taps to see whether the drains clear, and looks low on the walls, where a damp patch can hide behind a couch in every photo.

This matters because of how sales are written. Many offers to purchase contain a voetstoots clause, meaning the buyer takes the property as it stands. A seller cannot hide a defect he knew about, but anything plain to see on a viewing is the buyer's to notice, and a buyer who relied on the photos has little to stand on afterwards. A report with a list of small repairs gives both sides something concrete to discuss, and it usually ends in either a better price or a buyer who walks away knowing exactly why.