Home Inspection Issues Like Sagging Floors, and Old Boilers

Posted on February 5, 2008
Filed Under Real Estate | Leave a Comment

More than ever before, it seems that people these days are moving or relocating with much more frequency. With lower interest rates and the ease of mobility of modern times, it is no surprise that moving has become much more popular.

All this moving around has kept the home inspection industry booming. Professional home inspectors in a busy real estate market will find themselves constantly on call.

What exactly is a home inspection?

A home inspection is basically a visual examination of a home’s major component. A home’s major physical components may include all of the physical structure, including all of its systems. A good home inspection will probe from the roof down to the foundation. A standard home inspection report will contain an evaluation of the condition of the home and all of its major systems, including the central air conditioning system, the heating system, the interior plumbing and electrical systems. Other important areas of note include the roof, walls, the attic, ceilings, visible insulation, the floors, doors, windows, the foundation, basement, and any other visible structures.

You can think of the process of a home inspection like a physical check-up for a house. The home inspector is a kind of physician charged with the responsibility of identifying problems or symptoms that can lead to bigger problems some day. A home inspector may even be able to refer you to a specialist, or tradesperson, who can help you with a specific problem.

Sometimes, it can be difficult for ordinary homebuyer to decipher the jargon contained within the average home inspection report. It can be difficult to determine which problems are serious and must be attended to immediately. Ask your home inspector for clarification if you are not sure how serious potential problems are.

What’s most important, especially if you are interested in real estate investing, is to find home inspectors that you can trust. Put three home inspectors through their paces, and you’ll get three completely different reports.

When you learn more about what to look for in a home inspection, you’ll know whether or not any given home inspector is on target or off. What are they missing or not seeing? While one home inspector might flag dry rot, another might pass right by or not even look.

Common Home Inspection Issues

Perhaps the most common issue is the vast differences between home inspectors! Second to that would be the typical things they look for: the age and status of the roof; the foundation - cracks, dry rot; termites or carpenter ant infestations. Each of these can present a major problem, preventing a house from being sold, or preventing you from purchasing a real estate investment.

You can do some preliminary inspection on your own, the same way home inspectors do it. Look at the roof - how many layers does it have? What is the age (approximate)? Is there moss growing on the roof? These are signs of age.

You can examine the foundation as well. Take an ice pick with you to poke into the wood around windows, doors and the foundation. If there’s dry rot or an infestation, you’ll find it right away. By doing some preliminary examination on your own you’ll save yourself a lot of time and money, and you’ll keep the home inspector on his or her toes!

Buying Bank Foreclosure Property

Posted on February 1, 2008
Filed Under Real Estate | Leave a Comment

Bank Foreclosure Property - Today’s Ideal Investment

There is a good and a negative side to buying bank foreclosure property. On the good side there is a lower price to obtain the property but on the negative side, most bank foreclosed properties necessitate immediate cash and will not consider anyone who must obtain a loan in order to purchase the property. Times are difficult all over, but this is a fantastic time to look into bank foreclosure properties.

Why Bank Foreclosure Properties Are A Good Thing

Bank foreclosure properties are generally sold at discounted, rock bottom rates because they are deemed as non-liquid assets by the bank. It’s a good deal for the bank because they’ve already got some payments made - usually interest. So they can sell it to you at a good price..

Most of the time foreclosed properties are sold at auction to the highest bidder for this purpose and it is quite possible to get one of these properties for anywhere from 65% to 85% of the price that was originally paid for the dwelling. Buying a bank foreclosure property is a great way to break into the real estate market and to start investing, especially if you have a lot of cash that you can shell out all at once.

The Downside of Bank Foreclosure Property

Bank foreclosure properties are auctioned off and if you are not the highest bidder and do not have a lot of money to invest immediately then you will more than likely lose out. People who are looking into buying a bank foreclosure property will be required to show proof of financing as well as be able to put down a minimum of a ten percent cash deposit before that will even be deemed qualified to bid.

A foreclosure property is purchased “as is’. In other words, there might be repairs to be done to the property that you now become responsible for as well as code violations that you will need to see to. It may be that the previous owner couldn’t afford to maintain the property, so you’ll have your work cut out for you, and a lot of money to put out before the property is able to be lived in.

Some foreclosure sales allow for an inspection of the property whereas others do not. If the utilities have already been turned off then you may have to do your own inspection with no water, electricity or heat available. If this is the case then you will not have a clear-cut indication of whether or not the major utility systems in the home work well or not.

In some cases there are still tenants or even the previous owners living in a property that has been foreclosed on. This means that as the new owner of the bank foreclosure property, the responsibility falls to you to evict anyone who is presently occupying the property.

Even if the property is vacant, you’ll often see that there was intentional damage done because they previous tenants were angry about having to leave. The result of this is that you may have to spend more money than you first thought on improving your foreclosure property.

Check out the rest of our bank foreclosure properties resources.

Home Inspection Issues Like Sagging Floors, and Old Boilers

Buying Bank Foreclosure Property

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