That is incorrect. You do not order a house inspection until you have a signed and accepted contract to buy between you and the seller. It’s going to cost you $300-$400. Your realtor should explain the process to you.

the way I did it was to put the inspection in the offer and make the offer contingent on the inspection returning a clean report. I [buyer] paid for the inspection, and I required seller to provide a one year home warranty issued by the inspector’s firm at seller’s expense.

ask your real estate agent for further details — and if she/he doesn’t want to discuss such things — find a different one.
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Usually, one does not part with 3 to 500 bucks for an inspection until they found a house they like enough and have made an offer to buy it.

Spock is right, put it in your offer as a contingency. Some sellers don’t like conditions, but only if they have something to hide…it’s better to protect your own **** and don’t feel bad about it.

You should have the home inspection written into the contract as contingent on acceptance of the offer. Also you should have the house inspected with plenty of time before closing to have any items fixed if needed.

Everyone is right in that an inspection is usually a condition in the offer and done after the offer is accepted. But if it is a sellers’ market and there are multiple offers on properties buyers sometimes do an inspection before presenting an offer so their offer is unconditional.