Home Inspections...Why Should I Bother?
You are buying a resale home. It has a new coat
of paint on it & so it looks OK to you -- so why
bother with a home inspection?
A Home Inspection Is Cheap Insurance?
Where else can you get the value from a $300 -$
400 home inspection?
Think about all of the hidden things that an
untrained eye can miss?
You would be surprised how many times a few
hundred dollar investment has saved a potential
buyer from getting stuck with a lemon of a house
with major structural problems. If they had
bought the place they would be stuck with a home
that couldn't be sold.
Fore example, a few years ago my son bought his
first home. It was a nice little foreclosure...a
handyman special. Best of all the price was just
right.
In fact...the price was a little too good if you
know what I mean.
Wanting to do everything on his own...he made a
common mistake that many first homebuyers make.
He bought it without having it inspected.
First he noticed little things like how the doors
and windows didn't close properly.
Then there were the drafts that could not be
sealed.
Finally there was the old marble on the counter
top test. You would not believe how fast it
rolled down to the other end.
It turns out that the builder was not such a nice
fellow. Instead of dumping all of the
construction debris...he merely buried it under
the front corner of the house.
After a few years the garbage began to decompose &
the house began to settle.
Upon closer examination I found that I could
stick my entire head under the foundation at one
place.
Unfortunately for him it was a very expensive
lesson. A lesson that cost him over $30,000 of
lost equity when it came time to sell. For you
see, the home had major structural problems.
Problems...that could only be fixed by driving (4)
posts into the ground 80 feet deep and jacking
up the entire house.
The estimates came in at about $10,000--
Not including all of the repairs that would be
needed to the drywall & hardwood floors when the
house was leveled.
Worse of all, the law now states that you would
have to disclose such information to any new home
buyers. Now think about it...even after the
problem was fixed-- would you buy this house?
My son decided to not repair it & had to sell the
house for the same price he paid for it 7 years
earlier.
It cost him $30,000 or more in equity that it had
appreciated over the years.
If he only would have asked for a little help. A
home inspection would have turned up all of these
concerns BEFORE he signed on the dotted line.
How many of you would have invested $350 to avoid
losing $30,000 or more?
I can assure you he will never make that mistake
again.
The question is...will you?
F.Cheshire is an
Atlanta Home Inspector
Add curb appeal with an
Atlanta Handyman
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