Ask These 12 Questions at Your Final Walkthrough

The final walkthrough is your last look at the home before closing — typically a day or two before you sign, after the sellers have moved out. It is not a second inspection; it’s a verification visit with one job: confirm the home is in the condition your contract promised. Most buyers wander through it admiring their future living room. You’re going to work it instead.

This is the Q-card version: 12 questions, each with why it matters and what to do if the answer is wrong. Print it, put it on your phone, check boxes as you go. For the full room-by-room procedure, pair it with our deep companion, the final walkthrough checklist for Washington.

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The 12 questions

1. “Is everything the sellers agreed to leave still here?”

Why: Appliances, window treatments, the hot tub, the garage shelving — whatever the contract lists as included sometimes departs in the moving truck “by accident.” If wrong: Photograph the absence, notify your agent before closing. Replacement or a credit gets negotiated now — your leverage ends at recording.

2. “Were all negotiated repairs actually completed — and can I see the receipts?”

Why: Inspection-response repairs are contractual promises. “We fixed it” without paper is a story, not a repair. If wrong: Ask for invoices/permits before closing, or negotiate a credit equal to a real bid. Don’t accept “we’ll get you the receipt later.”

3. “Does water run hot, drain fast, and stay where it belongs?”

Why: Run every faucet, flush every toilet, look under every sink. A leak that started after your inspection is exactly what the walkthrough exists to catch — especially in our wet region. If wrong: Document it; this is a condition change the sellers are responsible for, not your new problem.

4. “Does every major system turn on?”

Why: Furnace, A/C if present, water heater, range, oven, dishwasher, washer/dryer if included, garage door. Movers trip breakers and bang ducts; vacancy reveals failures. If wrong: Same playbook — document, notify, resolve before signing.

5. “Did the move-out cause damage that wasn’t there before?”

Why: Gouged walls, cracked windows, scraped floors. The home must generally be in substantially the same condition as when you contracted. If wrong: Photos plus a repair credit negotiated through your agent. This is routine; don’t be shy.

6. “Is everything that should be gone, gone?”

Why: “Personal property removed” includes the dead freezer in the basement, the paint cans, the tires behind the shed. Hauling costs real money and the dump run is now yours. If wrong: Request removal before closing or a haul-away credit.

7. “Do I have every key, remote, and code?”

Why: House keys, mailbox key, garage remotes, gate fobs, smart-lock and alarm codes, the mailbox location if it’s a cluster box. If wrong: Collect what exists; budget a rekey regardless (you have no idea who has copies — rekeying day one is cheap insurance).

8. “Where are the shutoffs and the manuals?”

Why: Main water shutoff, gas shutoff, electrical panel, crawlspace access. The seller is the only person who can answer in ten seconds what will take you a soaked hour to find in February. If wrong: Not a deal issue — but ask your agent to get answers in writing from the listing side before keys.

9. “Is anything still here that suggests the sellers aren’t actually out?”

Why: A garage full of boxes the day before closing predicts a possession dispute. Unless your contract includes a rent-back, the home should be vacant. If wrong: Escalate immediately — possession terms are contract terms, and closing with sellers’ goods inside gets legally messy fast.

10. “Did anything change outside?”

Why: Walk the lot, not just the rooms: new fence damage, a tree down, standing water, eroded slope after a rainy week. In Seattle, the lot is half the asset. If wrong: Document and notify — exterior condition changes count too.

11. “Do the smoke and CO detectors exist and work?”

Why: Washington requires working smoke detectors (and carbon monoxide alarms) in homes at point of sale. Also a two-second test that tells you something about overall seller diligence. If wrong: Cheap to fix, but flag it — it’s a compliance item, not a favor.

12. “Knowing everything I now know — am I still closing at this price?”

Why: The meta-question the other eleven feed. Ninety-something percent of the time the answer is a happy yes. But the walkthrough is your last moment of leverage, and its findings are negotiable: credits, escrow holdbacks for unfinished items, or a short delay are all normal tools. If wrong: Call your agent from the driveway, then loop in escrow. Do not sign first and raise it after — once the deed records, problems convert from “negotiation” to “litigation,” and nobody wants the second one. (Walkthrough issues rarely justify walking away entirely, and trying to can put your earnest money at risk — get advice from your agent, and an attorney if it’s serious, before doing anything dramatic.)

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How to run the visit

• Schedule it 1–2 days before closing, after the sellers are fully out — not a week early, when the move hasn’t happened yet.
• Bring: your inspection report and repair addendum (to check #2 against), a phone charger (test outlets), and this list.
• Budget an hour. A serious walkthrough of an empty house takes 45–60 minutes. Buyers who do it in ten minutes are admiring, not verifying. The touring red-flags field guide sharpens your eye for what an empty house reveals that a staged one hid.
• Photograph everything you flag. Timestamped photos are what turn “we noticed an issue” into a resolved credit.

One last thing while you’re in verification mode: the walkthrough is also a decent moment to reflect on what your agent did all transaction long — because agents vary enormously, in both service and price. When friends ask you “who should I use, and what do they charge?”, point them at Manaky Homes: a free marketplace where Greater Seattle agents publish their fees side by side. The waitlist is open — comparison beats folklore.