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What Your Home Inspection Should Cover

  • Siding: Look for dents or buckling
     
  • Foundations: Look for cracks or water seepage
     
  • Exterior Brick: Look for cracked bricks or mortar pulling away from bricks
     
  • Insulation: Look for condition, adequate rating for climate
     
  • Doors and Windows: Look for loose or tight fits, condition of locks, condition of weatherstripping
     
  • Roof: Look for age, conditions of flashing, pooling water, buckled shingles, or loose gutters and downspouts
     
  • Ceilings, walls, and moldings: Look for loose pieces, drywall that is pulling away
     
  • Porch/Deck: Loose railings or step, rot
     
  • Electrical: Look for condition of fuse box/circuit breakers, number of outlets in each room
     
  • Plumbing: Look for poor water pressure, banging pipes, rust spots or corrosion that indicate leaks, sufficient insulation
     
  • Water Heater: Look for age, size adequate for house, speed of recovery, energy rating
     
  • Furnace/Air Conditioning: Look for age, energy rating; Furnaces are rated by annual fuel utilization efficiency; the higher the rating, the lower your fuel costs. However, other factors such as payback period and other operating costs, such as electricity to operate motors.
     
  • Garage: Look for exterior in good repair; condition of floor—cracks, stains, etc.; condition of door mechanism
     
  • Basement: Look for water leakage, musty smell
     
  • Attic: Look for adequate ventilation, water leaks from roof
     
  • Septic Tanks (if applicable): Adequate absorption field capacity for the percolation rate in your area and the size of your family
     
  • Driveways/Sidewalks: Look for cracks, heaving pavement, crumbling near edges, stains


Reprinted from REALTOR® Magazine Online by permission of the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®
Copyright 2005. All rights reserved.         www.REALTOR.org/realtormag

 
 




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