Tips & Articles

WHAT TO BRING (AND WHAT NOT TO BRING TO A HOME INSPECTION
A list of what to bring.

HOW TO GET THE MOST OUT OF YOUR HOME SURVEY
Tips on how to get the most for your home out of a Home Survey.

WHAT TO BRING TO A HOME INSPECTION

A good list of questions. As mentioned in the article Getting The Most From Your Home Survey, a good list of questions is probably the most important thing you can bring.

A tape measure. The inspection is a good time to take a few measurements to see what size of stove or fridge you might need or whether your current furniture will fit where you'd like it. At the end of the inspection the inspector will need a few minutes to complete the HOMEBOOK report, which gives you a chance to take your measurements.

A note pad and pen. You need to record your measurements

(back to top)

WHAT NOT TO BRING TO A HOME INSPECTION.

Other people. For most people buying a new home is an exciting thing and, understandably, you want to share this time with your children, your parents, your friends.
However, the inspection process relies on good communication and, while the important concerns will be documented in your HOMEBOOK report, there is a host of other information you will receive verbally. You and the inspector should have as few distractions as possible during the inspection. For children, the inspection itself can be a long and boring time once the first excitement of there new room wears off. With your parents and friends, their presence can often split your concentration and lead to misunderstandings later.
A more satisfactory approach is to see if you can arrange for a subsequent visit to show the house. If that is not possible and schedules only allow for parents or children to see the home at the time of the inspection, inform the inspector beforehand so that he can adjust his timetable. That way, you can take a few minutes at the start of the visit to show them around, then focus on the actual inspection.

Cameras. A camera can be useful to provide a visual reference for planning your decorating or to let you share the home buying experience with distant relatives. Most often, taking pictures during the inspection will be quite acceptable, but you must remember that, until you have actually completed the purchase, you are a visitor in someone else's home. Common courtesy suggests that you check with the current homeowner before taking any pictures
(back to top)

HOW TO GET THE MOST OUT OF YOUR HOME SURVEY

by MICHAEL LENNON
Illustrated by Sally Groom

Even though roughly 40 % of resale contracts (in $100,000 plus neighborhoods) now carry Home Inspection Contingency Clauses, few buyers really know how to get the greatest benefit from their home survey. Mostly it's a case of buyers not being savvy enough to ask more than relatively basic questions.

What You Should Be Doing When You Are Looking:
Do a little surveying when you visit potential houses and you will become house and system savvy fast. Spending a few extra minutes in each house visited will provide you with a wealth of information with which to make relative comparisons. Unless you open and shut a number of types of windows, you really will have very little on which to make a quality judgment. Here are a dozen things to do or survey in the next ten houses you visit.

Operate the heating and cooling systems. (Don't run air conditioning if the weather is colder than 60 degrees.) Get an idea how quickly the system responds, how evenly it seems to heat, how forcefully the air comes out of the registers, and its relative temperature.

Open a few windows and doors. You will find a difference in the types of windows and how well they operate and fit.
Open the faucets and flush the commodes. Get an idea what normal water volume and pressure is like and observe how quickly the commodes, tubs, and lavatories drain. Listen for sounds in the piping systems or the hardware.
Count the number of fuses and circuit breakers in the distribution panel and compare the number to the size of the house and the equipment within it.

Poke your head in the attic and see how thick the insulation on the floor is and try to figure out what type it is.
Open the kitchen cabinet doors and drawers and get a feel for the differences in quality.

Look closely at the roofing shingles and note the flatness, texture, shape, and coloring. Compare the various roofs you see and try to notice how these qualities change with age. Observe only the roofs of houses and try to guess the age of both the roofing and the house.

Try to guess the age of the house when you pull up in front of it. You will soon begin to approximate the age of a house by its shape, window type, use of concrete for walks and driveways, maturity of landscaping, and a host of other external visibles. Try to confirm your guess by looking for a stamped date inside the toilet tank lid or on county building inspection stickers on the electrical distribution panel, water heater, etc.

Observe the roof for protruding plumbing pipes and then scan the windows on the walls and see if you can imagine the interior layout. Start with the entrance door and the stairs. Then place the kitchen and the bathrooms (they are beneath those pipes poking through the roof) and figure out where and what type of heating plant the house has from the chimney type and location.

Look for stains around the edges of basements. Many basements will have stains, the tough part is trying to differentiate between stains indicating a lot of water seepage and those which indicate spillage from a washing machine or a backup from a basement entrance drain. Look for 1/2 inch mortar splotches every 18 inches or so along basement walls or in the floor slab near the basement walls. (This usually indicates that termite treatment has been performed.) Try to locate damaged wood to see if the treatment was prophylactic or prescriptive. Try to itemize how many different locations display insulation and then ask yourself why different houses vary so much in the placement of insulation.

Check the floors for stiffness. Raise up on your toes and drop on your heels. Do this in the next 20 roofs you are in and note the differences. Try it at home.

Think of the house as one large object within which systems and appliances cycle. What has been updated in the house you are looking at?

If you do this, you will be amazed at how astute you become with the first ten houses. This exercise should prompt at least 100 new questions. Use these questions to qualify any home surveyor you contemplate hiring. Ask what problems the home surveyor expects to find m the house you are contemplating buying. An experienced home surveyor usually knows just what to look for prior to entering the building. If he himms and haws maybe this isn't the surveyor for you.

Getting Ready For the Survey:
Make the longest list of questions you can possibly think of. Include every future plan you can conceive of: Can this wall be moved? Would a beam be necessary? Should I expect to find plumbing, electrical, or duct work inside that wall? Would this kitchen be easy to expand? What would be the best location for a first floor powder room? How can I keep from getting ripped off by unscrupulous contractors? What does it cost? What does it cost? What does it cost? Can I do it myself? What do I have to know to do it myself? Would my skill level produce a satisfactory finished product? Can this carport be enclosed? Does the slab require a continuous footing? Can a deck be built here and what wood would be the most practical? What is the range of costs I might expect? Show me how to light the pilot light. Where do I lubricate the circulator? What should I expect from an oil burner maintenance contract?

How To Treat the Home Surveyor:
Tell him right up front that you want to know everything he can possibly tell you about the house. You want to know how it works, how long it should last, what normally goes wrong with it, how to fix what normally goes wrong with it, and what you should expect to pay for the parts to fix it or to hire a pro to fix it for you. A GOOD HOME SURVEYOR WILL LOVE YOU FOR THIS LEVEL OF INTEREST. It keeps him on his toes and boosts the value of the inspection survey. Everybody wins.

What To Expect In Your Written Follow-Up Report:
You should receive a recapitulation of the salient points of your survey. The written report should provide both a physical and financial profile of the building and the specifics of defects and how they should be corrected. A projected replacement and maintenance budget should be incorporated. Your surveyor should know what your insurance agent would like to know about the house and provide a straightforward paragraph dedicated to this.
(back to top)