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| Pre-Purchase Inspection |
Should you do your own pre-purchase inspection? Yes and no. Yes,
you should inspect a house before you write an offer on it. Then
you should put an inspection contingency clause in the offer,
and hire a professional inspector. Why do both?
Doing your own inspection can help you get a better deal. Each
cracked window or leaky toilet you can find is a negotiating
point. You see, you could just make a low offer, but a seller is
more likely to accept your offer if you have reasons for it
being lower. In fact, you should attach a list of your concerns
to the offer, as an explanation and justification for your price.
Use a list as you walk through the house. Using a home
inspection checklist keeps you from forgetting things. You don't
have to know the difference between 12-gauge and 14-gauge
wiring, or become an expert on all the building trades, as
useful as this would be. Just use what you do know, and make a
note if something |
looks "odd" or "smells funny." Afterwards, you
can have a professional inspector take a closer look.
Pay for a professional pre-purchase inspection. Unless you
really know a lot, it can save your neck financially. An
acquaintance of mine just discovered that the house he made an
offer on was almost beyond hope, because their was so much
termite and other damage. He backed out of the deal, and
considering the tens of thousands of damage he hadn't planned
on, I don't think he's regretting the $300 he spent on
inspections.
Do a walk-through inspection yourself, by all means. Just also
put that clause in the contract allowing you to have
professional inspections too. Now, how do you choose the right
person to do the inspections? Carefully.
Pre-Purchase Inspection - Choosing An Inspector
For specific inspections that are customary in your area, you
can rely on most reputable companies. Termite inspections |
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are
the norm here in Tucson, for example, and it's cheap to get one
done by a pest control company (they hope to get the job if
there are termites to be eradicated). If the roof has obvious
problems, you can get a roofer to take a look and give you an
itemized quote.
For general pre-purchase inspections, though, it isn't as easy
to hire the right person. In many states it is relatively easy
to get licensed for general home inspection. What you really
want, though, is not someone that read the right books and
passed a test, but an inspector with real life experience.
Ideally, you want a former builder or tradesman that has real
experience with everything from electrical work to roofing to
plumbing and more.
You want to know what is wrong, but you also want to know what
it will cost to fix these problems. Not all inspectors will have
that information for you. Ask if they can give you estimates for
repairing any problem they |
find, even if only in the form of a
range of the possible cost. You may be re-negotiating the price
based on his findings. You could call in contractors to get
quotes on big problems, but you need to at least know which are
big problems, and a good inspector should be able to tell you.
To sum up: Do your own walk-through inspection, then hire a
professional. Ask about their experience. Ask if they can note
estimated costs next to problems found. If you want to learn
more, ask if maybe you can tag along for the inspection. Do
these things and you'll have a thorough pre-purchase inspection.
About the author:
Steve Gillman has invested in real estate for years. To learn
more, get a free real estate investing course, home inspection
checklist, and see a photo of a beautiful house he and his wife
bought for $17,500, visit http://www.HousesU
nderFiftyThousand.com
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