The Importance of A Home Inspection – A Buyer’s Guide
By Grace on Sep 3, 2008 in Buyer Tips
Do not put your blinders on after your offer has been accepted on your Highland Park home. Now is the time to - so to speak - roll up your sleeves and get dirty. Although your Highland Park home may seem perfect in your eyes, take a moment to remove those rose-colored glasses and think about your home inspection.
What?!? You’re not going to have an inspection?
Many homeowners become emotionally attached to their home, even before closing, and often forego a home inspection because everything looks so perfect. But it’s often those things that we can’t see that prove to be the most detrimental.
Take, for instance, water damage. Do you know what to look for and where to look for it? Or electrical problems. Are you skilled in the trade to understand a faulty electrical panel when you see it? A month after closing is not the best time to discover that your furnace is on its last leg.
Time to Call in a Professional
Retain the services of a Licensed Professional Engineer home inspector who will perform a thorough evaluation on your new home, inside and out. A home inspector is trained to identify subtle defects that are often not readily visible. Ask your realtor or friends and family for a referral, or contact the National Society of Building Inspection Engineers to find a local inspector.
Although your home inspection can cost upwards of $1,000, rest well knowing that this fee will buy you peace of mind and could even possibly save you big at closing in the form of a reduced selling price or repair credit.
What’s Involved in a Home Inspection
A qualified professional engineer home inspector will likely inspect the following areas:
- Interior (insulation, ventilation, lead paint, interior walls, floors)
- Exterior (roof, gutters, downspouts, windows)
- Structural defects (cracks in foundation, exterior and interior wall defects)
- Electrical (overloaded circuits, electrical switches, outlets, exposed wiring, electrical panel)
- Plumbing (fixtures, faucets, water leaks, condition of water supply pipes)
- Heating and Air Conditioning Systems (carbon monoxide emissions, heat exchanger, oil storage tank, heat distribution)
