I just feel like even though there is a shortage of inventory that doesn't mean that you're gonna forego these inspections because you just never know what's wrong with the house!
I wanted to make sure that you guys are still doing your inspections even though we are in a competitive market. I get that you want to make sure that your offer is strong so a lot of people are not putting the inspection into their contracts. We typically advise an inspection with a radon test and a sewer scope.
Radon Test
The radon test is highly advised even if there is a mitigation system placed inside the house because it could fail and you're not going to know what the levels are unless you get it tested. I spoke to a radon inspector recently and they had mentioned to actually do this once a year on a regular basis to make sure that the levels are staying low and safe for you.
Sewer Scope
That's going to be a little camera that goes in through the pipes to make sure that there's no trees or anything blocking your pipes. In the newer neighborhoods, a lot of agents are telling clients that you don't need to get the sewer scope in a newer neighborhood because there's not a lot of mature trees. Lies! I disagree with that, because if there's something that is unseen inside of those pipes like broken clay, or you know, things tend to fall apart even in new construction or newer homes. You never know what's down there. There could be some sort of blockage and it's better to just be safe than sorry. I heard a story once before that an agent had went under contract on a house they didn't do a sewer scope for whatever reason. Well, it ended up turning out that the builder never ran the sewer line all the way to the city line, so it was just spewing out into the street or the yard or wherever it was. So you want to have that peace of mind and know for yourself that there's nothing wrong with that sewer scope.
What to expect at the inspection
When it comes to the inspection inside of the house they're going to be checking things like your roof, taking a peek at the foundation (to a certain extent-they have to be able to see it, they're not going to go super in-depth behind the walls) and so your water heater, your furnace; they're going to make sure that it's been serviced correctly and that it's safe
and functioning. It might cost more to get them to open up the panel of a furnace to make sure that everything inside is good, everything is up to code and up to standard because things change over time. Safety issues change over time Before, it was okay to obviously paint with lead-based paint before the 80s and now that's a huge concern.
Signs of water damage in walls
Inspectors will check the basement and walls for water damage. For instance, if there's a sump pump in there and they want to know why there's this giant hole in the floor because there might have been an issue with flooding in the past so they'll see water lines of some sort. These things are not always mentioned in the seller's property disclosure. Some of it can be condensation, but sometimes it is evidence of water damage from a previous flood. You want to make sure that you know what you're walking into and so that's why you still need to do the home inspection. If you don't want to buy the house you can still back out because of the inspection items. Some inspectors are going to go in, depending on the inspector (some inspectors will be very thorough, some won't) and do things like test the washer or dryer but, you want to make sure that you get a good inspector that's thorough.
For example, on one of my last inspections the listing agent said that no one had checked the dryer before and it was supposedly new, but you do want to go into a house and know that the dryer works if you're expecting that the dryer is going to work if it's staying in the house. They're also going to be checking your windows and advising whether they are super old windows that need to be replaced. They're going to check the carpet, the floor, making sure that there's no water leaks in the house or evidence of leaks such as bubbling of the paint on the walls, water stains-there's a lot that goes into this. It's going to be about a two to four hour inspection just depending on the size of the house and all that they're going to need to look. You want to make sure that you get everything looked at in detail. It's going to be a little more expensive to get these additional inspections like the sewer scope and radon or bug checks, but you don't want to be in the house you know two three years later and then you end up having to spend thousands when you could have avoided it in the beginning. Or maybe if it's a health and safety item you can have the seller help you take care of this before closing, not after closing. A year or two later will be too late and you're stuck with thousands of dollars in termites or something. We've had termites out here.
In some states you might have to pay extra to have a bug inspector come out and take a look at the property, but they'll find all these things so that you are confident in your purchase. You're spending a lot of money on a house and you want to make sure that you don't have any sudden surprises because you are going to be paying for appraisal and all these different things, moving expenses, etc. You don't need any surprises after you move in, especially right now with everybody paying over list price. That's just extra money that you don't need to have a headache for later on down the line.
Anyway, that's it. That's why you should have an inspection. Do not wave your inspection! Thank you so much for reading. Let me know your thoughts in the comments. This is a transcribed version of the video, so it's a very conversational blog. Share it with someone you know that could benefit from it. If you like this video, can you just give it a "👍🏾"? That would really help my business and so I can continue to provide free content for you so that you can be confident in your real estate purchase. Have a great day! I will see you next Wednesday.
Bye!!
IRIS BURTON BROKER ASSOCIATE | RE/MAX® INTEGRITY
Colorado Springs, CO REALTOR®
https://www.irisburton.com/
irisburton@remax.net
719.231.9290
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