What Should I Look For During a Home Walk-Through Before Closing?

The final walk-through happens 24 to 72 hours before the closing appointment and usually takes at least an hour, and under the Arizona Association of Realtors contract it exists for one limited purpose: confirming that agreed-upon corrections or repairs have been completed and that the property is in substantially the same condition as of the date of contract acceptance. It is not a second inspection period, and the Arizona Association of Realtors says so plainly about its Pre-Closing Walkthrough form. In a Peoria market where homes sold at 98.3% of asking price with a median sold price of $511,000 in June 2026, the walk-through is the last point where a problem costs the seller instead of you.

What the final walk-through actually is

The final walk-through is the buyer's last look at the property before funds transfer. The timing is 24 to 72 hours before the closing appointment, with at least an hour set aside to complete it. Walk-throughs are typically conducted after the seller has moved out, and the buyer uses the visit to confirm agreed repairs were made and that no new issues have appeared.

Arizona narrows the purpose further. Under the Arizona Association of Realtors form, the pre-closing walkthrough covers two things: whether the agreed corrections or repairs have been completed, and whether the premises is in substantially the same condition as of the date of contract acceptance. The Arizona Association of Realtors states that the form does not act as a second inspection period as that term is used in the Residential Resale Real Estate Purchase Contract. The August 2024 Residential Resale Real Estate Purchase Contract provides that the seller grants the buyer and the buyer's inspectors reasonable access to conduct walkthroughs of the premises. The October 2019 Buyer Pre-Closing Walkthrough form is signed by the buyer after the walkthrough and records whether the buyer finds the premises in substantially the same condition as of contract acceptance with agreed repairs completed.

One timing note that changes everything: if the seller remains in possession after close of escrow under a rent-back, the walk-through should wait until the date the seller is to vacate.

Start with the repairs the seller agreed to make

The first items to assess during the final walkthrough are the requested repairs. Any repairs the seller committed to should be complete by the walk-through, and you should gather receipts and warranties from that work in case you need to follow up with the business that did it. Depending on the situation, the home inspector who originally performed the inspection may join the walk-through to confirm repairs were done correctly.

Check them early rather than at the door on closing day. Checking on negotiated fixes a week before closing leaves time to address issues, and completing the walk-through within a few days of closing leaves room to deal with new problems or incomplete repairs.

The consequence of an unfinished repair is written into the contract. If the seller fails to timely make required corrections or repairs, the seller is in breach of contract, and the buyer may pursue legal remedies subject to the contract's Alternative Dispute Resolution obligations, or may elect to cancel the contract as permitted by Section 7b of the Residential Resale Real Estate Purchase Contract. The dispute resolution mechanism in that contract requires mediation before litigation.

Confirm every item that was supposed to stay is still in the house

The final walk-through is the last chance to confirm that all agreed-upon fixtures and furniture detailed in the contract are still in place and that all systems and appliances the seller indicated were functioning still work properly. Confirm what was supposed to stay is still there: appliances, light fixtures, window coverings, a mounted TV bracket, anything written into the contract. Fixtures get taken more often than buyers expect.

The house should also be empty. Most contracts require the seller to leave the property in "broom clean" condition, meaning free of personal belongings, trash, and excessive debris, and the home should be fully cleared out and reasonably clean by the time of the walk-through. Walk every room, closet, and storage area, open cabinets, drawers, and built-ins, and check the garage and attic, which are common places for forgotten items. Trash and belongings left in garages and crawlspaces become your cost to haul away.

If you are buying new construction, plan for more than one visit. New construction builds may have multiple walk-throughs before closing, including an initial walk-through 2 to 3 days before closing and a quick re-check on closing day.

Test the systems and appliances yourself

Turn things on. The walk-through checklist that matters is mechanical, not visual:

• Test all appliances, including the stove, washing machine, dryer, dishwasher, and garbage disposal, and make sure the refrigerator is cold.
• Test lights, switches, and outlets.
• Test faucets and showers, and look for leaks.
• Open and close every window and door, and confirm the locks work.
• Test the disposal and the fans.

Redfin points out why this matters even in a home that inspected clean: things can and do happen during the move-out process, while the house sits vacant, or because a homeowner or contractor failed to complete a repair correctly. A vacant house is a house nobody has flushed a toilet in for two weeks.

Give the air conditioning a real test, not a glance

In Arizona, air conditioning units typically run 8 months or more of the year, well above the national average, which accelerates mechanical wear. That makes the AC the single system worth the most of your walk-through hour.

Run it properly. Let the system run at least 15 minutes before judging it, because internal pressures need time to equalize for an accurate read on performance. A properly functioning air conditioner should cool air by 15 to 20 degrees Fahrenheit as it passes through the system. Measure the return vent temperature, subtract the temperature at the nearest supply vent, and you have that difference. A difference under 15 degrees can indicate dirty coils, low refrigerant, or airflow restrictions.

If nothing happens when you switch the system on, check that the thermostat has working batteries and that the HVAC breaker has not tripped. Verify the air conditioner's breaker is on and the outdoor disconnect is fully seated, and run the system on the Fan setting for a minute to confirm the blower starts smoothly. Switch the thermostat between heating and cooling and confirm the system responds in each mode. An electrical or burning smell means the system should be shut off immediately and serviced.

Two Arizona-specific realities are worth knowing before you panic at a reading. On the hottest days a system can struggle if the home gains heat faster than the unit can remove it, so a thermostat set to 75 may still read 80 or higher. And the outdoor condenser has to release heat from the home, so look at whether dust, landscaping debris, and material carried by monsoon winds have collected around the cabinet and coil surface.

Look for damage that appeared after the inspection

Walk-throughs commonly uncover damage, missing items, or a home that is still full or uncleaned. The comparison that settles an argument is photographic. If you spot an issue, document it immediately with timestamped photos and video from multiple angles, and compare it against the inspection report photos. That comparison shows whether the issue is new or pre-existing, which is exactly the question the Arizona Association of Realtors walkthrough form turns on: whether the premises is in substantially the same condition as of the date of contract acceptance.

Move-out damage is its own category. Scraped walls, gouged floors, and a missing appliance are not inspection findings, they are changes in condition since acceptance.

What to do when you find a problem

You have real options, and none of them require you to close and hope.

• Delay closing until the repairs can be finished. This is one of the common courses of action when a problem cannot be resolved on the spot.
• Renegotiate. That can mean a last-minute change to the sales contract where the seller pays for the defect, you pay, or the two of you split the cost.
• Hold funds back in escrow. If the seller agreed to a repair that could not be completed by closing day, money can be held in escrow to cover the cost. In an escrow holdback, the lender sets aside part of the home loan to be released to the seller once repairs are completed, and the lender withholds more than the repair estimate. Repair timelines are lender-specific. New-construction buyers may have funds held in escrow until all work is complete and signed off.
• Enforce the contract. If the seller fails to timely make required corrections or repairs, the seller is in breach, and the buyer may pursue legal remedies subject to the Alternative Dispute Resolution obligations or cancel as permitted by Section 7b of the Residential Resale Real Estate Purchase Contract.

A holdback is not automatic. If a lender allows an escrow holdback, the underwriter has to approve it, which sometimes cannot be reviewed the same day and may lead to a closing extension. That is another argument for walking the house two to three days out rather than on the morning of closing.

There is also a money reason to take the walk-through seriously. In the Arizona process, once the loan contingency deadline passes, earnest money is generally nonrefundable unless a new contractually valid reason arises, such as a significant change in the property's condition discovered at the pre-closing walkthrough. The walk-through is the mechanism that creates that reason.

Handle Peoria utilities before you are standing in a dark house

The City of Peoria requires a minimum of 24 hours advance notice for new utility service, and a $56.00 set-up fee is charged on the first bill. Set service up before the walk-through if you can, because testing lights and the air conditioner requires power and water to be on.

Some areas of Peoria are served by independent water and trash providers rather than the city, so verify which services serve your specific property. Peoria's utility customer service counter is on the 2nd floor of City Hall at 8401 W. Monroe St., Peoria, AZ 85345, open Monday through Thursday, 7 a.m. to 6 p.m., and closed Friday. For water leaks, the City of Peoria Water Services Department directs residents to call (623) 773-7160, with after-hours water emergencies at (623) 245-5201.

What the Peoria numbers mean for your position at the walk-through

Peoria was a seller's market in June 2026, with a median sold price of $511,000, 878 active listings, 41 days on market, which is the median time from listing to going under contract, and 3.77 months of supply, meaning it would take about that long to sell every home currently listed at the current pace; six months is generally considered balanced. Homes sold at 98.3% of asking price. Months of supply was down 8% over twelve months.

Read that as context for how a walk-through problem gets resolved, not as a reason to skip one. At 98.3% of asking price and 3.77 months of supply, a seller has alternatives if you walk, so a documented, photographed, contract-referenced request is worth more than a general complaint. Avondale is the exception in the West Valley: months supply there increased by 8.8 months year over year, compared with the same period a year earlier, while homes still sold at 99.1% of asking price with a median sold price of $421,990 and 64 days on market in June 2026.

The Bottom Line

Treat the final walk-through as a verification appointment with a written purpose. Under the Arizona Association of Realtors contract, you are confirming that agreed corrections or repairs are complete and that the premises is in substantially the same condition as of contract acceptance, and the October 2019 Buyer Pre-Closing Walkthrough form is where you record that finding. Give it the full hour, schedule it two to three days before closing, run the air conditioning for at least 15 minutes, and photograph anything that looks different from the inspection report. If something is wrong, you can delay closing, renegotiate, hold funds in escrow, or enforce the contract, and every one of those options is easier with days on the clock instead of hours.

If you are buying in Peoria, Surprise, Goodyear, Litchfield Park, Avondale, Buckeye, Sun City or Phoenix and want someone walking the house with you and reading the contract against what you find, reach out to me and my team and we will schedule your walk-through together.

Written by Archie Dean, part of the Kristan Cole Network team.

Sources

Pages read on September 21, 2026.

• Redfin: The Ultimate Final Walk-Through Checklist Before Closing ...
• City of Peoria: Start or Stop Utility Services
• City of Peoria: Water Services