By Living Room Realty, December 3, 2020
New, old, renovated, or dilapidated, if you’re in the housing market, as a buyer or a seller, you will benefit from learning more about your house. Often the hope is that major defects will be obvious, or that everything about a property is common sense in nature, but all houses are million-piece jigsaw puzzles of materials exposed to the elements and built or rebuilt over time.
During home inspections your inspector will climb to every reasonably accessible space to take notes on the observable materials, check the condition of mechanical features, report major and minor damages, many will also test the environmental conditions of the home (humidity in walls, radon testing, oil tank searching, etc), and create a list of appliances then comment on their observable operability. Sometimes the condition of a home on a report can be scary, but all damages are repairable at some cost, gathering and understanding repair bids are an entirely different conversation, learning what repairs might be on the horizon will enable you to make informed decisions on how to move forward.
If you are buying a new home, you may feel comfortable with the idea of a fresh home lacking the wear and tear of previous residents, then getting a new home inspected can either be confidence building or can give you a list of oversights needing attention. What could be an oversight? Faulty electrical outlets, air duct cleaning, improper window flashing, roof punctures without proper sealing, surface grade adjustments for redirecting water, disconnected outlets, improper crawlspace grade, insufficient roof ventilation, or many other reasonable concerns and common defects for any scale of construction (new neighborhoods or new homes in older neighborhoods).
Owning a home with an inspection report also gives you a reference of the mechanical features (HVAC components, ventilation devices, electrical boxes, dishwasher, water heaters, ovens, ranges, refrigerators, etc). Ultimately inspection reports are reference guides for observable repairs that you may consider over the time you own your home, and are not perfect synopses but are the starting point for asking the right next questions.
