Houses are sold every single day in the United States and knowing the types of homes and inspections that they require is important.
Since there are different types of homes, there are different requirements. Understanding the difference between a new and an old home pre-purchase inspection is important when deciding on your real estate investment.
Pre-purchase inspections are important to go through before purchasing a home, although they are incredibly stressful. Knowing just what a pre-purchase home inspection is looking for and what it requires to pass should make you feel a little bit better though.
Types of Homes
Depending on the type of home you’re interested in purchasing, the type of home inspection will be slightly different.
There are a few common threads between all of them, but the same standards won’t be set for a home built one hundred years ago as one built less than a decade ago.
New Homes
While a home might have been recently constructed, that doesn’t mean it’s exempt from a home inspection.
New homes can have a few different issues, including things like structural mistakes to plumbing problems. There are several different types of inspections that are required while a company is building homes.
There is the first inspection that is done while the foundation hasn’t yet been poured to ensure that the foundation isn’t being set up wrong. Once that has been finished, there is an inspection on the frame of the home. Then there is one last inspection on the finished product to make sure the home is safe for living in.
These inspections are necessary before people can move into the home. It ensures that all the basics of a new home are functional and provide livable conditions. Further inspections can be requested and questions concerning the home can be asked even after these three inspections.
Older Homes
Before you decide to bid on a home, getting an inspector to go through and check out the condition of the house is important. What you might have originally wanted to bid might drastically change once an inspector goes through and picks apart the home you’re interested in.
Home inspectors are looking for a lot of things in pre-purchase home inspections They’re going over a lot of different things and might also bring back some minor things, such as a cracked light switch or some missing screws. Remember to think about how important certain things are while you’re going through the list.
Some of the more important things they’ll be going through will be the state of the foundation, structural integrity, the heating and cooling of the building, and any major issues like water damage or bad plumbing. A lot will be included in your final report and they should be able to go over it with you to ensure you aren’t confused.
Any serious issues will be brought to your attention to make your decision on purchasing the house an educated one. Make sure you understand the report that is given back to you while you’re with the home inspector. It’s important to understand everything that they’ve found to determine how urgent these fixes are.
Specific Inspections
Once you’ve determined the problem areas of your home and asked your home inspector about anything that concerns you, you can get more detailed inspections.
If you’ve got a particular area of the home that the pre-purchase home inspection reveals might be a problem area, you can get a deeper look into that. It’s important to be sure you’re purchasing a home you can live in without wondering what issues lurk under the paint.
Foundation Inspections
A crack in the foundation might be a serious problem, or it might not be. If you order a more detailed home inspection, the inspector can dive deeper than a typical inspection to figure out whether or not the foundation is faulty.
Mold and Water Damage Inspections
While a typical pre-purchase home inspection will look for visible signs of mold and do a basic run through, a more in-depth inspection will find more.
This isn’t typically necessary unless the preliminary inspection spotted something that could indicate a further issue. Water damage can lead to mold in the walls, meaning a little bit of mold in an out of the way closet could be a major fix later on.
Plumbing Inspections
Depending on the area you live in, if you are looking into an old home a plumbing inspection might be in order.
Trees will grow through just about anything, including septic tanks or piping to your house. Piping issues might not present themselves initially, but depending on how close large trees are to your home it might be suggested you ask your inspector their opinion.
Structural Inspections
A structural issue could be hiding bigger issues. Structural issues can manifest in a few ways and once it is noted it’s important to schedule a professional to check it out immediately if you’re still interested in purchasing the home.
Making sure you get someone to inspect the structure specifically is important in determining where the problem is stemming from.
Roofing Inspections
If there are problems with the roof, a further look might be in order. Roofs are expensive to fix and their failure can be catastrophic. If your home inspector suspects that there is a major roofing issue, make sure that it is followed up before you decide to purchase the house.
Home Inspections
Whether you’re looking to purchase a new or an older home, at Class Home Inspection we provide our customers with detailed home inspections. We make sure to identify problematic areas in your home so that you can make smart real estate decisions.
Not only are our home inspections detailed, but our employees are happy to answer any questions.
Our goal is to make sure you know exactly what issues are present in the types of homes you’re getting inspected and how serious the problem is. This is the biggest investment in your life and we want it to go as smoothly as possible.
Our home inspections are scheduled around what is convenient for you and they’re easy to make. If you’ve got questions about what our home inspections entail, you can call or check out our website. On our blog, we have helpful information to make sure you understand what our professional home inspectors are doing.