Buyers · Tucson · Inspection period
What happens during the inspection period when you buy a home in Tucson?
The standard Arizona resale contract gives the buyer an inspection period of 10 days after contract acceptance, unless the contract says otherwise.
The standard Arizona resale contract gives the buyer an inspection period of 10 days after contract acceptance, unless the contract says otherwise. During those days you, at your expense, inspect the home, check codes and zoning, talk to lenders and insurance agents, and verify the MLS information. Before the period ends you deliver one written notice: accept the home, cancel, or ask the seller to correct or address the items you disapprove of. If you are looking at a Tucson home now, send us the address at mlslistings.app/contact or call (520) 462-6023, and we will build your inspection period plan before you write the offer.
You found the house, your offer was accepted, and now the clock starts. In Arizona, most resale purchases are written on the Arizona REALTORS Residential Resale Real Estate Purchase Contract, and the days right after acceptance are where buyers protect themselves. Here is how that window works, in plain language, and how we run it for our buyers at Lopez & Lopez, REALTORS®.
How long is the inspection period in Arizona?
Ten days after contract acceptance is the default in the Arizona REALTORS resale contract. The number can be changed when the offer is written, so read the line in Section 6 of your own contract. Ten days goes fast once you schedule a general inspection, a termite inspection, and any specialist the first report sends you to, so we line up inspectors before acceptance whenever we can.
What should I check during the inspection period?
The contract asks the buyer to do more than a home inspection. Arizona REALTORS describes the period as due diligence, meaning both inspections and investigations. Plan for these:
- A professional home inspection. Arizona home inspectors are certified by the State Board of Technical Registration. They are generally not licensed contractors, so a roofer, plumber, or HVAC contractor may need to follow up.
- Wood destroying insects. If termites, current or past, matter to you, investigate them now. Your lender may also require an updated report before closing, at the buyer's expense.
- Square footage. The contract treats square footage as approximate. If it matters, verify it during this window with an appraiser or architect.
- Flood hazard. Look up the address on the FEMA Flood Map Service Center. A special flood hazard area can mean your lender requires flood insurance.
- Insurance. If insurance matters to you, get written confirmation of availability and cost during the inspection period, not the week of closing.
- Sewer or septic. Confirm how the home is served. A septic or alternative system brings its own addendum and a transfer inspection under Arizona Department of Environmental Quality rules.
- Pool barriers. Every buyer agrees to look into the pool barrier rules that apply to the address.
- The Buyer Advisory. The contract points buyers to the Arizona REALTORS Buyer Advisory as a checklist. It supplements professional inspections; it does not replace them.
Rural and acreage buyers have more to check. Our 85749 horse property due diligence guide walks through the extra layers, and our 85710 tri-level checklist covers what older East Tucson split levels ask of an inspector.
When do I get the seller's disclosure?
The contract calls for the seller to deliver the Seller's Property Disclosure Statement, the SPDS, within three days after acceptance. Read it the day it arrives and give it to your inspector. If the SPDS shows up late, the contract gives you extra time to respond to what is in it.
What is a BINSR?
BINSR is short for the Buyer's Inspection Notice and Seller's Response. It is the Arizona REALTORS form most buyers use to deliver their inspection period decision. A few rules matter:
- Finish every inspection first. The form has you confirm all desired inspections and investigations are complete before you send it.
- One notice, every item. List everything you disapprove of in a single notice, even if you choose to cancel.
- Your election is final. Once you choose to cancel or to give the seller a chance to respond, you cannot switch.
What happens after I send my inspection notice?
If you ask the seller to correct or address items, the seller has five days to respond unless the contract sets another number. No answer counts as a refusal. If the seller declines some or all of your items, you then have five days to cancel and get your earnest money back, or accept and close without those corrections. Talking it over does not stretch those deadlines. Only a written agreement signed by both sides does.
Repairs are not the only answer. A seller can address items with a credit, a price change, or a rate buydown, and Arizona REALTORS advises getting repair bids and checking with your lender before asking for a credit, since some loan programs cap it.
Selling in Tucson?
The same clock runs on your side. Have your SPDS ready before you list, keep utilities on for inspections, and plan who will make agreed repairs, since the contract calls for workmanlike repairs and paid receipts before closing.
Want us to map your inspection period?
Send us the address you are considering, and we will tell you which inspections that house needs, who to book, and what to settle before day ten. Start at mlslistings.app/contact, or begin at the door built for your part of town: 85750.net, 85747.net, 85710.net, 85749.net, or 85641.net. Long Realty Company and Lopez & Lopez, REALTORS®, (520) 462-6023.
Questions people ask
Short answers for the same move.
How long is the inspection period when buying a home in Arizona?
The Arizona REALTORS Residential Resale Real Estate Purchase Contract sets a 10 day inspection period after contract acceptance unless the parties write in a different number.
What is a BINSR in Arizona?
The Buyer's Inspection Notice and Seller's Response, the Arizona REALTORS form a buyer uses to accept the home, cancel, or ask the seller to correct or address disapproved items before the inspection period ends.
How long does an Arizona seller have to respond to a BINSR?
Five days after delivery unless the contract says otherwise. No response is treated as a refusal, and the buyer then has five days to cancel or proceed.
Decision path
Put every inspection date on one calendar.
- 01 How long is the inspection period in Arizona?Ten days after contract acceptance is the default in the Arizona REALTORS resale contract. The number can be changed when the offer is written, so read the line in Section 6 of your own contract. Ten days goes fast once you schedule a general inspection, a termite inspection, and any specialist the first report sends you to, so we line up inspectors before acceptance whenever we can.
- 02 What should I check during the inspection period?The contract asks the buyer to do more than a home inspection. Arizona REALTORS describes the period as due diligence, meaning both inspections and investigations. Plan for these:
- 03 When do I get the seller's disclosure?The contract calls for the seller to deliver the Seller's Property Disclosure Statement, the SPDS, within three days after acceptance. Read it the day it arrives and give it to your inspector. If the SPDS shows up late, the contract gives you extra time to respond to what is in it.
- 04 What is a BINSR?BINSR is short for the Buyer's Inspection Notice and Seller's Response. It is the Arizona REALTORS form most buyers use to deliver their inspection period decision. A few rules matter:
Put the question, evidence, and next move in one decision file.
A useful guide names the decision first. Written evidence and qualified review come next.
- 01Name the decisionStart with the property, cost, condition, timing, or contract question.
- 02Put evidence beside itUse written property records, estimates, disclosures, and specialist findings.
- 03Choose one next moveTurn the evidence into a clear investigation, offer, or pause decision.
One next step
Ask about a property or a move.
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