Can a House Fail a Home Inspection?

No. And that's a good thing.

Buyers, sellers and sometimes even agents ask me if a house "passed." It's a fair question, but a home inspection doesn't work that way. There is no pass. There is no fail. The house gets documented for the buyer.

"My job isn't to grade the house. It's to show you what's there, clearly and calmly, so the decision is yours."
— Jeff Stalnaker, Owner & Lead Inspector

How a Texas report actually works

In Texas, licensed inspectors use the Texas Real Estate Commission's Property Inspection Report form. For each system and component, I mark whether it was inspected, not inspected, not present, or deficient, and I explain what I found. That's it. No score, no stamp, no grade at the end.

"Deficient" sounds harsh, but it just means something isn't working the way it should or needs attention. A missing GFCI outlet and a failing roof can both be marked deficient. They are very different conversations.

Every house has findings

Even brand-new homes. If a report came back with nothing on it, I'd wonder what got missed. A typical report has a mix of:

• Safety items worth fixing soon, like missing smoke detectors or an electrical issue
• Bigger-ticket items to understand before closing, like an aging roof or AC unit
• Normal maintenance, like caulking, filters and gutters

So who decides?

You do. With your agent, you decide what matters to you, what to ask the seller to fix, what to price in, and what you're comfortable handling yourself. My job is to make sure you're making that decision informed, not scared.

What about appraisals and lender requirements?

That's different. An appraisal is about value, and some loans (FHA and VA, for example) have their own property requirements. An inspection isn't a lender checklist. It's information for you.

Curious what one looks like? Take a look at a sample report.