Home Inspector Utah Tip #3

The home buying season is upon us and there are many people looking into moving, up-grading, downsizing, or purchasing their first home. There is a lot to do to prepare yourself and family for this transition. The financing is the first big hurdle. After you find out how much of a home you can buy you now find yourself busy searching and looking at many different homes in your price range. Once you find a home that fits your needs you make an offer. Your offer is accepted. You are excited and start preparing for the day you sign and get to move into your new home. There is one last step that sometimes gets glossed over in all the happiness and paperwork. That is the inspection. A date will be given to you that will allow you to have the home inspected and allow you to change some of the terms of the agreement should anything be found. This leads to my next tip.

Inspection Tip #3

You’ve seen the home inside and out and have noticed a few things you will change. But did you notice that there is no power at some of the outlets, or that the insulation is only at an R-19 rating? There are so many things that make up a house. As a buyer, you tend to assume everything is ok and works. This is the problem. The most cost effective part of purchasing a home is the valuable inspection done by a professional home inspector. It is their job to look/inspect every aspect of the home you are purchasing.  There can be no worse feeling than having skipped the inspection and signed the papers to find out after moving in that there is a major problem and that its going to cost you thousands of dollars to repair.

Again, A home inspection will be the best few hundred dollars you will ever spend.

Utah Home Inspector Tip #2

New homes have issues too. Many people fall victim to the idea
that a new home won’t have any issues. What gets forgotten
is the fact that most contractors don’t thoroughly inspect their sub-
contractors work. This is where the issues come into play. Their
are many sub-contractors that will cut corners where ever they
can. This in turn can leave you, the buyer, with possible future
problems. Some of these issues may not surface until after your
home warranty has expired.
For example, on the last new home that I inspected, I found 6
entry points for water to get into the exterior wall cavity. This
becomes an issue for mold to grow, on top of the fact, that during
the freeze/thaw cycle, the stucco will be damaged.
The buyer never noticed these entry points. This could have
possibly cost her thousands of dollars to repair a few years
down the road.

Inspection tip: A new home is just as much in need of an inspection
as an older home. There are many issues that get overlooked in
new construction. Most importantly, the structural caulking on the
exterior. An inspection on a new home is money well spent.