What Can Possibly Go Wrong Without A Home Inspection? A LOT

Through the years we have become complacent. We tend to take people’s word on the validity on many things such as conditions of a vehicle, the ripeness of a fruit, even the comfort of shoes. We do in fact become gullible in taking the word of another person and more often than not end up on the short end of the stick.

When going over the residential purchase contract, a question I’m asked every time is whether or not my buyer should request a home inspection. My obvious answer is a solid, “Yes!” When it comes to one of the biggest investments money can buy it is essential to request a home inspection. Yes, the inspection might cost a few hundred dollars but what you achieve at the end of the buying process is peace of mind. Let’s not forget that in this world you have both honest people and people who are just shy of actually speaking the truth.

Let’s imagine for a minute that you have found the perfect home and you want to immediately offer the asking price. We go through the residential purchase paperwork and you decide to decline a home inspection due to the fact that this is your ideal home. It includes everything you’ve hoped for. The home looks remodeled, the exterior has been repainted, the interior has been upgraded with top of the line fixtures and the new underground pool in the backyard is going to be perfect for your summer family reunions. Because of the excitement of finding your perfect home you don’t expect anything to go wrong.

Thirty days later after the acceptance of your offer and once escrow has closed you receive your house keys. “This place is great,” you think to yourself. After a few months of moving in you start noticing that in the bathroom wall behind the toilet in the master bedroom is starting to show mold. Thinking it’s an easy fix you quickly clean the wall with warm water and vinegar and call it a day. A few days later the spots re-appear but this time the mold seems to have spread farther and thicker. You feel that this might not be normal so you decide to call your handyman and he suggests that you might be better off calling a mold inspection company.

Three months after move in you have a mold inspector come to your residence and you expect him to handle the problem fairly easy. After his initial inspection, he reports to you that the problem lies beyond the mold only being on the exterior surface of the wall but that he will need to tear down a quarter of your bathroom due to the mold infestation spreading because of a water pipe leakage under the master bathroom underneath the home. The total cost after a tear down and repair? $16,000. You surely wish you would have purchased the home inspection for $400, correct? You sit there and think this could have been prevented with a simple home inspection.

Inspection reports give you detailed analysis for possible problems such as: foundation cracks, out of date materials, cracks within the pool frame, roof leaks, visible mold in and out of the inspected premise, exposed electrical wiring and outlets that might pose a fire risk (just to name a few).

The truth is, when it comes to investing in a home, whether it’s your first or third; never let your guard down on making sure that all your perimeters are covered. Home inspections are essential to any buyer. Not only does an inspection report inform you of current problems but it also outlines problems that may arise at a later time.

Whatever your next move may be in real estate, always asks for a property inspection. Remember, real estate in itself is a gamble so you have to play your cards right. You don’t want to be a victim and move into a recently purchased property only to find out that you will have to pay out of pocket for repairs that could have been foreseen with an inspection report.

*Note from the author:

If you have general questions about home inspections or real estate you can contact me by email at: rickvelasquez@luxuryinla.com

You can also visit my website at http://www.LuxuryInLA.com

Location: Los Angeles, CA