When Buying with an FHA Loan, Don't Skip the Home Inspection
If you’ve been shopping for your dream home for a while, finding THE ONE is exciting. You may already be planning family dinners and cookouts. While it’s difficult to stay objective, it’s important that you don’t get too ahead of yourself. Before you start making such plans, you need to wait on your home inspection report.
This wait isn’t easy, since most homebuyers are ready to just close on the home and move in. But getting a home inspection is a crucial step, and not one you should consider skipping. Make sure you hire a reliable home inspector, and watch out for these red flags.
Foundation Problems
While some cracks in the walls and floors might be nothing more than regular aging of the house, it takes a professional to know when those are actually signs of foundation defects. Your home inspector may even recommend calling in another professional to be absolutely certain whether the signs are serious, or if they signal the normal “settling” of the house. If the house is settling unevenly, it could be ripping the entire frame apart. Getting an inspection done to make sure that is not the case could save you from buying a home that leads to costly measures down the road.
Leaking Roofs
Replacing or repairing a roof can be a huge expense. A home inspection can detect a leaky roof, but that is only part of the problem. You also need to think of the water damage is causes to your home. It can lead to wood rot, mold, and mildew, which are not only health hazards, but can also cause the structure to weaken. If your home inspection comes up with a roof leak, take into account the costs of fixing all these issues before buying the house.
Exterior Issues
Your roof is not the only area where water damage is a concern. The floors and walls can also retain moisture. Caulking and weather stripping can dry out or disintegrate near doors, windows, and skylights that are more susceptible to the elements. Similar to roof problems, the problem does not go away with resealing the areas. The larger concern is the water damage already caused by the weathering.
Old Plumbing
Leaking, decades-old plumbing can understandably escape a homebuyer’s notice since it’s hiding out of view within the walls. Home inspectors know what to look for. Older pipes are likely to burst, and depending on where that happens, it can lead to a huge financial drain to get fixed.
Electrical
Outdated wiring is something that can come up in a home inspection because of what it leads to. It can cause electrical fires, and lack of electricity can leave homeowners vulnerable since it means loss of a working refrigerator, heating and cooling, and lights. When it comes to redoing a house’s electrical wiring, there is no easy way to go about it. Not only are you hiring a professional to complete the re-wiring, you need them to open up and then repair the walls as well, making it an expensive undertaking.
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