Purchasing a new home?
You WILL need an inspection.
One of the critical stages when buying a house, (or any other type of property) is the inspection phase during the acquisition. Considering the price of a house, town-home, or condo in Boulder (City), it is critical to spend the dollars to do the due diligence, by ordering an inspection. What better time to avoid the “The Money Pit” prior to purchase?
The price of an inspection is based on square feet. The inspector will take 2-4 hours to review the roof, electrical (ground correctly?), plumbing, water (well (separate inspection) vs City) run the dishwasher, fire up the stove, check the windows (go up/down – close securely?), review the foundation, exterior elevation/water flow, determine if there has been water access, pests or vermin accessing, any cracks in the furnace or age of the water heater and build the buyer/s a report.
At conclusion of inspection, the inspector present a verbal report to both the buyer/s and their realtor. No need to be at inspection from the time the inspector shows up. He/she will have allocated time to walk the property, discuss line items with you, check for mold (although, there is a separate mold test) and provide the write up report with pictures, usually sent within 24 hours via email / pdf.
Since we live in Colorado, it is encouraged to purchase a radon test from the Inspector, many times readings ready at conclusion of inspection, usually at a cost of an additional +/- $125. Well worth the added expense to determine if there are any high levels of radon gas.
Another expense to consider: check the main (pipe to the sewer line) out to the street for breakage or clogging or potential tree/root penetration. Running a camera at the ‘clean out’ or via one of the toilets runs +/- 200 to $300. Some line inspectors provide a CD or DVD for hours of viewing pleasure, or to document a problem.
Bottom line: isn’t it better to spend $300 to $800 (depending on size of house) doing your due diligence and to save the inconvenience and headache after purchasing a property for $200,000 or $2,000,000?
Tara-Nicholle Nelson of Ask Tara @ Truilia list five questions (Click Here) you may want to ask your inspector:
1. How bad is it – really?
2. Who should I have fix that?
3. If this was your house, what would you fix, and when?
4. Can you point that out to me?
5. Can you show me how to work that?
For all the details, on the response to 1-5 questions, Click Here
