So You Are Buying A New House,, Do You Really Need A Home Inspection? Article

	1888 Articles Home \| Finance Articles \| Real Estate Articles	Real Estate RSS
So You Are Buying a New House,, Do You Really Need a Home Inspection?

What do you get when you hire your builders own inspector to inspect your newly built home?

Author: Tom Comstock

Article Tools:

John was an acquaintance of mine, not close, but friendly, and when he told me he was buying a new house, I told him I would be happy to inspect it for him, at a reduced price, of course. He never mentioned it again, until 8 months later when he called me in some distress. It seems the builders own inspector had offered to inspect the house for them for $150, considerably less than my fee, even with the friendship reduction, and John had accepted. If this seems a bit like asking the fox to guard the hen house, you are right on target.

John was now suffering from the results of the poor if not non - existent inspection that was given by the company inspector. The water heater in the attic was improperly installed without a drip pan, water was leaking onto the ceiling below. The main condensate drain line was not insulated and also dripping, leaving ugly water stains on the ceiling. The furnace exhaust pipe was not properly vented to the exterior or strapped in place. The furnace itself was improperly installed on its back, so it could not vent properly, allowing harmful gases into the attic. Electrical connections were not enclosed in junction boxes, GFCI was not in all proper locations, and with only one 20 amp circuit in the kitchen, the breaker kept popping off every time the microwave and the coffeemaker were operating at the same time.

I could go on and on. The report I gave to John after my inspection was 47 pages long and contained some serious issues. All of these could have been caught and fixed before they moved in had a proper inspection been performed on this NEW house.

The moral: 1.) Don’t be fooled into thinking that you don’t need an inspection just because your house is newly built. An inspection is not designed to find just the defects caused by age and/or usage over time. Many times, when inspecting older homes, I find defects that have existed since the home was built. 2.) You get what you pay for and 3.) NEVER EVER LET THE BUILDER INSPECT HIS OWN BUILDING!

For further information on new home nightmares, please visit Homeowners Against Deficient Dwellings, at: http://www.hadd.com/index.php

About Author

This article is brought to you by Tom Comstock and Tex Pro Residential & Commercial Inspections (http://www.texproinspections.com/). Tom Comstock is a licensed Professional Real Estate Inspector in Houston, Texas, with over 20 years experience in the construction field as well as a degree in Industrial Technologies. He is a board member and the Director of Technology for the Champions Inspector Association (www.ciatx.org/).

Article Source: http://www.1888articles.com

So You Are Buying a New House,, Do You Really Need a Home Inspection?