Q: When purchasing a home, what are some of the most common problems you find? I really would like
to have the home I’m buying inspected, but money is the biggest problem right now, and we can’t afford to pay an inspector. If we do the inspection ourselves, what should we be looking for?
A: As a Certified Professional Inspector and a member of the Texas Association of Real Estate Inspectors and the American Society of Home Inspectors, my answer is that you cannot afford to simply pass on the home inspection because of your belief your budget will not allow for it. If you decide to do it yourself, you may not find the major defects that would be obvious to an experienced home inspector. It is sometimes those smaller finer details that go unnoticed by the untrained person that would have lead to larger and costly findings. Depending on where you live, a home inspection average costs is around $385, but the savings reaped from the inspection report is often in the thousands of dollars.
Your home inspection is often your last chance to ask the seller to correct the defects listed in the home inspection report. After taking possession of the home, the seller is out of the picture, even if you later discover you need a new furnace which may have been discovered during a professional inspection or repairs that were needed with the electrical system.
Our Company has performed over 35,000 home inspections. You might also consider that a Do-It-Yourself (DIY) inspection may not be accepted by the seller as an accurate description of what needs to be done. Hiring a professional home inspector, who can explain in plain language what the defects are without using scare tactics, leaves little room for disagreement. You should also consider that a professional home inspector is unbiased and is disconnected from the emotional issues associated with purchasing the home. The home inspector gets paid for his services whether or not you follow through with the purchase and repairs of the home.
If you are determined to do the inspection yourself, here are several things to look for:
While these are just a portion of the components of the home, a professional home inspector will check many more details too numerous to list and has a trained eye to spot problems the DIY’er may not be able to identify.
If you have any question please feel free to email Brian Murphy at brian@a-action.com. He will not try to sell you, but just answer those troubling questions you might have or just want straight answers to.