5 Common Inspection Issues
The standard Virginia sales contract gives the purchaser a window of time to inspect the property before closing. During this time, purchasers hire a general inspector to review the structure of the house, and the inspector provides general feed back on the systems, such as heating, AC, electrical, plumbing, insulation, windows, and doors. A good inspector will provide a detailed report complete with pictures and information on your potential new home. The cost is generally $400-$500, but the information you gain is worth the cost.
Below are 5 issues that I typically see come up on an inspection:
1. Old or damaged roof. A roof gets beat by the weather all year round, and even a well maintained roof will show the need for maintenance after an inspection is performed. The inspector should be able to tell you the general age of the roof and the life expectancy. Damaged slate tiles are typical in Richmond’s older neighborhoods, but can be an easy fix. Improper or damaged flashing around the chimneys and porches is also typical. The fixes, while important for obvious reasons, are not typically expensive as long as the roof can be repaired and the seller has not allowed water damage to occur. Having to re-roof a house does get expensive, and varies in cost depending on the material used.
2. Moisture under the house. Protecting your home from water is a continual homeowner’s task. Water is obviously bad for the house, and it manages to find a way into the home any way that it can. Moisture under the house causes mold and rot, and can do so fairly quickly. Moisture also sends out an open invitation to termites and other wood destroying insects. Ensuring that the gutters drain properly and having the grading corrected can also prevent a lot of moisture intrusion. Additionally, conditioning you crawl space is an easy and fairly inexpensive way to keep moisture out of the crawl space, and it has the added benefit of making your home more energy efficient.
3. Deficient or older heating systems. An important issue to note on an inspection is the life expectancy of the heating system. If the furnace from 1977 is still chugging along and is in “working condition” there is not much you can ask the sellers to do aside from having the system checked and cleaned. Keep this in mind when you make an offer. Gas furnaces need to vent the gas out of the house through a chimney. These chimneys should be lined with stainless steal, and should be inspected by a chimney inspector to ensure that the flue is safe for use. Remember, even if the house has been converted from gas to electric, it may still use a gas water heater. In this case, you will still need to inspect the flue for cracks. This is an important item that you should budget and plan for replacing should the need arise. Keep in mind that high efficiency units will lower your bills significantly.
4. Minor plumbing and electrical. I tell each of my buyers that at the end of your inspection you will have a “to do” list of small items that need to be repaired. I like for buyers to be prepared for this because asking a seller to tighten a loose faucet is not the best way to negotiate bigger issues. Owning a home comes with responsibility and a list of things to do will always exist. The important thing is to maintain the home so that the list never gets out of hand and the floors are never damaged from a small leak under the sink. Hiring a plumber or an electrician for the day is an easy way to knock the small items off the list. Hiring a plumber or an electrician for the day is an easy way to knock the small items off the list.
5. Floor Joist, beams, and rafters. Broken, cracked, damaged, eaten by bugs, moldy, cut into by Mr. Homeowner’s quest to get the cable line through the floor, I’ve seen it all. It sounds scary too. The good news is that while a floor joist is very important to the structure of the house, contractors can normally fix this easily by sistering the board.
Buyers should be prepared to walk away from a deal if the numbers don’t match up–it may be the financially responsible choice. There will be other homes you love too, I promise.
On the other hand, most inspection issues can be remedied with money and you can ask the seller to provide a credit if the item was unknown and a large issue. You can compromise. Keep in mind that negotiation is not necessarily about the “principle” of the matter but getting the right house that you can afford, repairs and all.