Home Inspections

The residential home inspection is designed to help the client avoid buying a money pit. Any home inspection that does so brings significant savings to the buyer, not only financially but also in terms of worry and stress. But these are not the only savings. The inspection helps to protect the client's investment and to prevent housing nightmares, both large and small. In essence, the it helps the buyer become familiar with the ins and outs of his or her new residence and to know what to expect from it both in the near term and down the road.

A home inspection can be likened to giving the candidate house a physical checkup. You want to find out what condition it's in. The inspector works from a thorough checklist to examine all systems and components. These range from site conditions, exterior, and roof to the plumbing, electrical, and heating systems, to the garage, attic, interior rooms, and crawlspace. A good home inspector not only tries to assess current serviceability for each of these categories but also looks for signs of potential danger to person and/or damage to property. The idea is to save the buyer headaches now and in the future.

Let's look at two examples. Suppose the house you like has a deck, which is mounted to the house with a ledger board and supported elsewhere with wooden posts resting on concrete footings. The inspector determines the deck's structural integrity and its resistance to both vertical (static weight) and lateral (wind and dynamic shifts in weight) forces. He calls out a defect if lag bolts or through bolts aren't used to attach the ledger board. Use of other fasteners, such as nails, runs the risk of having the deck collapse, which is a serious safety issue the inspection helps to avert.

Another example involves combining a pest inspection with the home inspection (requiring two separate licenses in some states). A qualified pest inspector knows how to look for evidence of infestation, wood damage from insects and other organisms (such as rot), and conducive conditions for such organisms. Uncovering such evidence could potentially save the client thousands of dollars in extensive repairs.

Uncovering problems, even major ones, doesn't necessarily kill the deal. The buyer, who typically makes closing contingent on the inspection, can use the report findings to negotiate a reduction in price or to request the seller to complete itemized repairs. But in all these choices, the home inspection has saved the buyer money, either immediately or in the long run.