What the final walkthrough is for
and what it is not.

The final walkthrough is the buyer's look at the property shortly before closing. Three things are being confirmed. That the condition is what it was when you agreed to buy it. That repairs the seller agreed to make have actually been made. And that what was included in the sale is still in the house, from the appliances down to whatever fixtures were written in.

The standard New Jersey form gives the buyer an initial walk through as well as the final one, at any reasonable time before closing, and it has the seller keep the utilities in service. That utilities line does more work than people notice. It is what lets you run the water in every sink, flush the toilets, put the heat and the air on, and open the appliances rather than look at them.

What the walkthrough is not is a second home inspection. The inspection was the moment for evaluating the roof and the systems and deciding what to ask for. Arriving at the walkthrough with a list of things you have decided you do not like is a different conversation from arriving with something that changed since the inspection, and the two get very different receptions.

Say you walk a Washington Township home the morning of a closing and the basement has water in it that was not there in March, or the dishwasher listed as included is gone. Those are walkthrough findings, because they are changes. A furnace you now think is older than you would like is not.

What to ask, and who answers it: your agent runs the walkthrough with you and can tell you what belongs on the list. If something real turns up, your attorney is the one who handles what happens next, and what your options are depends on your contract rather than on a general rule.