Critical Areas During A Home Inspection

A home inspector looks at the structure and many systems and components in the home. While this information is all helpful to the buyer, the fact remains that a few key locations at the home tend to be those areas where the most dangerous safety issues are found.

If a home inspector adheres to any of the published national standards, the home inspection will include many locations and systems: structure, roof, crawl space or basement areas, plumbing, heating, electrical, fireplaces, etc. Even though the inspector looks at all of these components, there are certain locations or systems that are, in fact, more critical than others in trying to identify the possible safety concerns.

Faulty, ancient or overloaded wiring often causes house fires. An inspector should look for evidence of this condition. Another significant danger at the home involves decks. With high decks, and to a lesser degree low decks, a person falling through rotted decking can receive a life threatening injury. There are a number of other common deck safety issues: missing lag bolts at high decks, poor or missing guardrails or handrails and unsafe steps. The hot water heater, the fireplace and the furnace are other systems that need to be carefully evaluated by the inspector. An incorrectly plumbed water heater might explode. Furnaces and fireplaces, that are not maintained professionally, can be fire hazards or disperse carbon monoxide into the home.

The components and systems described above tend to be among the most critical as far as household safety. That does not, however, mean that other areas of the home should be ignored. Historically, some of the most expensive repairs - often with dollar amounts going well beyond the cost of repairing those systems listed above - involve re-roofing, replacing old plumbing, or resolving serious structural problems in the crawl space, such as repairing damage from termites, carpenter ants or rot. A quality home inspection should pay for itself. In the long run the inspection report, prepared by a trained professional, will provide you with not only an overview of the work that needs to be addressed right away but also a glimpse into the future and the projects that will be required or are recommended at a later date.

Finding New Homes

Finding a new home can be a long, tedious and trying adventure. But if you get prepared before hand this will help. Do you know where you want to live? What you can afford? And what size and type of home you want? This will help you a great deal in your search.

There are many tools available to help you in your search for that perfect new home. Home magazines contain homes listed for sale by realtors; you can browse at your leisure and then call the realtors to take a look at the ones of interest. Many of these have pictures so you can get an idea of what they look like. If you go on the internet you will find many sites that have listings of for sale properties from realtors and home owners. Most of these have pictures of the home and many also have a virtual tour of the ones that are available. You can also learn about the neighborhoods, schools and places of interest.

You can obtain the assistance of a realtor who will take the information of what you are looking for in your new home purchase, and do a search of homes for sale and give you the results, they will also take you to look at the properties you like. They can make your experience much easier and relaxed. However when you decide to start looking for a new home, it should be fun. And by getting prepared before you look, it will help to make the process easier and enjoyable. Check out news stands for the magazines, ask your friends for a referral to a good realtor.

Get a hot cup of coffee and relax in front of your computer and do some looking there. You can check out realtor sites and classified ad site to look for just the right new home for you and your family