Orders to Camp Lejeune come with a date, and the house has to be ready by that date. Most of the buyers Sammy Herring inspects for in Jacksonville are working a VA loan, a due diligence window and a report date at the same time, often from another state. This is the order things actually happen in, and where the inspection fits so it does not become the thing that slips.
Before you have a house: the two things to line up
The VA loan starts with a Certificate of Eligibility. You can request it online through VA.gov before you have orders in hand, and a lender can pull it for you. Get it done early. Every day you wait on the COE is a day you cannot spend on the house.
The second thing is an agent who works the Jacksonville market every week. Sneads Ferry, Hubert, Richlands and Holly Ridge each have their own inventory and their own quirks, and a house-hunting trip is short. If you are buying from a distance, the advice from Military OneSource is to have someone visit the property in person. In practice, that someone is your agent first and your inspector second.
Under contract: the due diligence period is your inspection window
North Carolina does it differently from most states. The standard Offer to Purchase and Contract gives the buyer a due diligence period, and during that window the buyer can walk away for any reason and keep the earnest money. The NC Real Estate Commission lists the usual work that happens inside it: home, pest and septic inspections, survey, appraisal, title, loan application. The due diligence fee itself is generally not refundable unless negotiated otherwise, so the window is money already spent.
That is why the inspection goes in the first few days, not the last. If the report turns up something that changes your mind, you want time to renegotiate or terminate before the window closes. A PCS buyer who schedules the inspection for day ten of a fourteen-day window has left themselves four days to think.
What the inspection covers that the VA appraisal does not
The VA appraisal is about the value of the collateral and a short list of property requirements. It is not a condition report. The VA publishes its appraisal fee and timeliness table by state, and the current version took effect May 1, 2026, the same date the VA trimmed several minimum property requirements. We covered the rule change and what it means for Fort Bragg and Lejeune buyers in this post. The short version: detached garages, sheds and workshops, which are everywhere in Onslow County, are now largely outside the appraiser’s scope. The inspection is where they get looked at.
On a typical Jacksonville job Sammy is in the crawl space, on the roof, in the attic, at the panel, running every fixture and every piece of HVAC, and walking the outbuildings. Septic inspections, wood-destroying insect inspections with the NC WDIR 100 issued directly by FPI, radon testing with a sensor FPI places and recovers, and water testing where FPI collects the sample and coordinates the lab analysis all happen in the same appointment when the house calls for them. One visit, one report.
The report is written for someone reading it in another time zone
Most of Sammy’s buyers are not standing next to him at the inspection. They are at their losing command, on a ship, or in a hotel with a spouse and two kids. The report goes out the same day in most cases, digital, with photos of every item and a summary up front that says what matters and what does not. Your agent gets the same report at the same time. If you want to walk through it by phone that evening, that is a normal request.
After the report: repairs, appraisal, closing
The report drives the repair request, and the repair request has to be settled inside the due diligence window if you want the option to walk. After that, the VA appraisal comes back, the lender clears conditions, and closing gets scheduled. If the appraiser flags a required repair, the inspection report usually already documented it, which shortens the back and forth.
Keep the report after closing. It is the punch list for the first ninety days in the house, and if you are heading to a school or a deployment soon after the move, it is what your spouse will use to call the right trade.
A realistic timeline
Orders in hand and COE requested: week one. House-hunting trip and offer: week two or three. Inspection: the first two or three business days after the contract is signed. Repair negotiation: inside the due diligence window. Appraisal and loan conditions: the following two to three weeks. Closing: whenever the contract says, and ideally a few days before the moving truck.
The one lever a PCS buyer controls in that chain is how early the inspection gets booked. Book it the day the offer is accepted.
Who inspects in Jacksonville and Onslow County
Sammy Herring is a North Carolina-licensed home inspector, license number 6453, and an InterNACHI Certified Professional Inspector. He lives in the area and covers Jacksonville, Camp Lejeune, Midway Park, Hubert, Richlands, Sneads Ferry, Holly Ridge, Surf City, Swansboro and Hampstead. More on the market is on our Jacksonville and Eastern NC page.
Book online through the North Carolina scheduler or call the NC office at 984-444-2099. If you are reading this from another state with a contract in hand, call. We will get it on the calendar before the due diligence clock runs down.