Sagging Floors, Old Boilers and Other Home Inspection Issues

More than ever before, it seems that people these days are moving or relocating with much more frequency.  With lower interest rates and the ease of mobility of modern times, it is no surprise that moving has become much more popular.

All this moving around has kept the home inspection industry booming.  Professional home inspectors in a busy real estate market will find themselves constantly on call.

What exactly is a home inspection?

A home inspection is a visual examination of a home's major components.  A good home inspection will probe from the roof down to the foundation.  A standard home inspection report will contain an evaluation of the condition of the home and all of its major systems, including the central air conditioning system, the heating system, the interior plumbing and electrical systems.  Other important areas of note include the roof, walls, attic, ceilings, visible insulation, floors, doors, windows, foundation, basement, and any other visible structures.

You can think of the process of a home inspection like a physical check-up for a house. The home inspector is a kind of physician charged with the responsibility of identifying problems or symptoms that can lead to bigger problems some day.  A home inspector may even be able to refer you to a specialist, or tradesperson, who can help you with a specific problem.

Sometimes, it can be difficult for an ordinary homebuyer to decipher the jargon contained within the average home inspection report.  It can be difficult to determine which problems are serious and must be attended to immediately.  Ask your home inspector for clarification if you are not sure how serious potential problems are.

What's most important, especially if you are interested in real estate investing, is to find home inspectors that you can trust.  Put three home inspectors through their paces, and you'll get three different reports.  As investors, we're looking for the inspector that does the most thorough job.  Everything they find that needs repair is another point we can bring to the seller to negotiate a lower price or repair prior to closing.

When you learn more about what to look for in a home inspection, you'll know whether or not any given home inspector is on target or not.  What are they missing or not seeing?  While one home inspector might flag dry rot, another might pass right by or not even look.

Common Home Inspection Issues

Perhaps the most common issue is the vast differences between home inspectors!  Second to that would be their attention to detail in the typical things they look for: the age and status of the roof; the foundation; dry rot; termites or carpenter ant infestations.  Each of these can present a major problem, preventing a house from being sold, or preventing you from purchasing a real estate investment.

You can do some preliminary inspection on your own, the same way home inspectors do it.  Just go down the checklist from an inspection report on another home and look for what's visibly wrong to the untrained eye.  While some problems may slip by you, many issues will be obvious and a professional inspector can advise you on how bad the problem really is after their inspection.

Finally, always get a professional home inspection on a new construction purchase prior to closing.  Builders use lots of subcontractors and each has their own crews that do the work.  It's a safe assumption that something wasn't done correctly with all the labor involved in building a property.  Regardless of the warranty, you'll never have more leverage in getting it fixed to your satisfaction than before you close on the deal.