Why should I get a home inspection when buying a home?
“Why should I get a home inspection when buying a home?” my client asked me. My first thought was “Why not?” and then I took a step back. My first question to this young couple that was set to buy their first home was a simple one. “Do you want to buy someone’s problems?” When they heard this, they were floored. Just because a home looks cosmetically sound does not mean that it is. Case in point came from a show on HGTV called Income Property. The title of this episode was Do It Right the First Time. The issue was simple. When the young lady bought this home, she did everything correct. The problem is, her home inspector and the sellers were not very trustworthy. This cost her $40,000 over the first year and another $43,000 to get it right.
In my lifetime I have bought 4 homes. With each of those homes, I have had an inspection done on each of them prior to closing. The main reason is I want to know if there is anything wrong with the bones of the home. I wanted to make sure that I was not walking into a money pit. With this all being said, just because you thumb through the phone book and find a home inspector does not mean that you will find one that will work for you. Just like Realtors, lenders, appraisers, and for that matter, almost any profession you want to insert in here, there are good ones and there are bad ones. In a nutshell, it is up to you to determine which is which. This is why we recommend doing your research online before you hire anyone. This is a practice that is becoming more and more prevalent over time.
The last thing that you want to do is encounter an issue like the one that was mentioned in the HGTV show or even worse, something happening to your home like what was portrayed in the movie “Money Pit“. As comical as that movie is, it is the last thing that we want happening to us. This can be avoided if we do our research.
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One of the great things with us as well is we do not leave you floundering on your own to figure it out for yourself. We are here to help. All you have to do is to reach out to us.