Should I Get a Home Inspection?
Buying a home is perhaps one of the most important and largest investments
you are making. Are you caught up in the excitement of buying a house that is priced just right? Are you awed by the beautiful gardens, manicured lawns and a house that has the most impeccable interiors pulling at your heart strings? More often than not, it is very easy and convenient to overlook a few problems if you really like a house or the pricing is just great. But these problems – if not carefully thought about and planned for – usually have the tendency to turn into challenges that are expensive and complex to overcome.
In an era of home staging, where the main focus is to attract the home owners by making superficial modifications to spruce up the house, it is important to find out if the house really looks as ‘ready to move in’ as it looks during the showing. It is important to pause and consider that when you are buying your dream house, you are also buying along all the structural and foundation problems that may be lurking in the house.
How do you make sure if the beautiful house you are about to buy will not need any major costly repairs once you move in? The best way to find any obvious as well as hidden defects in a property is to get the home inspection by hiring a professional home inspector. Are you thinking that it might add to your costs when you are already overwhelmed with the finances of your new home? Well, home inspection is an important investment that will bring great returns in the long run – saving you considerable costs and times in future.
A professional home inspector will be able to identify most of the structural issues and a thorough home inspection will help bring to your attention the following things:
1. Any major or minor health and safety issue
2. Any structural and foundation defects
3. Moisture, drainage and seepage issues
4. Any issues in the exterior of the house – that includes doors, windows, driveways, sidewalks, wall covering, landscape, gardens, porches, decks and external lighting.
5. Any issues with the interiors of the house – revealing plumbing leaks, insect, termite, mold or fungal damage, rotting or construction defects. A close look at walls, ceilings, floors, stairways, and railings will be able to reveal a lot about the condition of these structures and make you aware if there is any structural flaw that need immediate repair and attention.
6. Structural issues in roof – that includes taking into consideration the roof’s age, flashing, roof draining systems, buckled shingles, downspouts, chimneys and downspouts.
7. Issues in plumbing – that may reveal any defect or fault in water supply and drainage systems, and water heating equipment. Rust spots, inadequate water pressure, leaky pipes are usually a good indicator of problems in plumbing.
8. Any defect in electrical systems – including the condition of main panel, wires, circuit breakers, fuses and disconnects.
9. Malfunctioning or defective appliances – that includes dishwasher, range and oven, built-in microwaves, smoke detectors and any other appliances that are mentioned in the contract.
10. Problems in home’s heating and cooling systems along with the associated components such as pipes, vent systems, energy sources, energy ratings, and age and capacity of the systems.
11. Any defect in garage and garage door systems – that includes garage door openers, weather seals, windows, roof and garage door components.
Why is home inspection so important?
Home inspection helps you make an informed decision – offering you many options and allowing you to plan and prepare in the following ways:
1. If the problems exposed at the end of home inspections looks considerably expensive and complicated to fix, you may have an option to walk away from the purchase.
2. If home inspection reveal any minor or major issues, you can ask the seller to fix them. A seller may agree to repair them or offer to lower the asking price or renegotiates the terms and conditions of the contract. In some cases, a seller may also offer you cash credit at closing so that you can get the fixes and repairs done on your own.
3. In some cases when the property is bank-owned or being sold as it is, you may have to get the repairs done yourself. In this case, the best option is to get the cost estimates required to fix the problems and decide if it is worth buying the house. You may be on a tight budget and probably wouldn’t want to extend that by spending on any repairs and maintenance work. If you really like the house and are already thinking to undertake some renovations and home improvement initiatives, it might be a good idea to invest in such property. Either way, a professional home inspection will give you an idea of the additional costs you have to incur so that you know what you are getting into.
A home inspection is going to cost you more money and may take a little bit more of your time but you will glad that you made this investment before buying your house. There will be no nasty surprises that will set you back by hundreds of dollars in dealing with them, not to mention the frustration and the inconvenience you may have to experience when you discover these minor as well as major structural and foundation issues later on.
Have you hired a professional and reliable real estate agent to buy a house? To know the benefits, read Why hire a real estate agent to buy a home?
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