There's no law in the land that requires you to get a home inspection, but 75 percent of residential real estate transactions come with one.
Why?
Because before they plunk down the largest wad of cash they are likely to ever spend on a single item, most home buyers want to know what they'll get for all that dough. And many sellers want to show buyers what they've really got for sale.
A brand new home is, unfortunately, too often far from perfect. A home that's 100 years old? Well, it's 100 years old. Homes age.
A home inspection will tell you just how far from perfect that one day old home is and how much aging went on in that 100 year home.
A home inspection is like an insurance policy guaranteeing you the condition of most components in a home. A home inspection is like a bloodhound that sniffs out potentially hazardous conditions. A home inspection is like an evaluator that helps you decide on the bottom line.
"Most purchase contracts have a contingency written in that says to make the offer good it's contingent on having a home inspection," says Rob Paterkiewicz, executive director of the American Society of Home Inspectors (ASHI) in Des Plaines, IL.
For years the society has been telling you what a home inspection is -- an objective visual examination of the physical structure and systems of a house, from the roof to the foundation (without tearing into walls or opening floors) -- along with all the whys.
Now it's showing you, online, with voice over.
ASHI's "Virtual Home Inspection Tour" shows you what components of a home a professional inspector gives the once over, what areas he or she can't see and what that inspector is likely to find, based on a host of inspections over many years.
The visual tour inspection areas include the structure, exteriors, roofing, plumbing, electrical, heating, air conditioning, interiors, ventilation and fireplaces.
Click around the house to get inside the inspectors head. Click the little blue dots to poke into the components inspected, learn common problems found in each area and read the standards of practice employed in each area.
A tour of the virtual tour turned up these problems inspectors commonly find from one component to the next.
- Structure -- Earth movement under the foundation causing structural cracks. Engineered lumber incorrectly installed to carry framing loads. Moisture damaged and weakened rim joists.
- Roofing -- Missing, brittle or worn shingles and rusted and leaking gutters and downspouts.
- Electrical -- Incorrect wiring in the electrical panel; defective circuit breakers; loose connections; insufficient capacity for modern electrical needs.
- Heating -- Flue pipes that run downhill before entering the chimney; disconnected flue pipes; leaking and rusty boiler pipes.
- Fireplace -- Stains above fireplace indicating misdirected smoke; improperly screened flue tops and chimney's pulled away from the house.
