Know the risks with a pre purchase house inspection before you purchase
When you’re looking for the perfect new home, it’s easy to get caught up in a bit of a whirlwind. It’s often love at first sight with a property. But love tends to make us blind to what might be wrong with it! Too often, people purchase their dream place in such a rush they might not realise it has risky elements – an inconvenience that could be spared with a pre purchase house inspection.
What kind of risks will a property inspector look for?
When doing a pre purchase house inspection, a property inspector will keep the 4 Ds of construction in mind. Deflection, drainage, drying and durability are the 4 basics of any building or house – and I like to consider design as well. I’ve written more about the Ds in depth on a previous blog you can read here.
While a property inspector will assess each part of the house separately, they’ll also pay attention to the house a whole. Is there a cavity? Is it made out of bricks, plaster, or something else? Is the drainage appropriate, or does the design mean that moisture will be trapped somewhere? Is the cladding fixed directly to the framing?
The biggest risks they’ll look for include moisture ingress, faulty pipes or wiring, drainage issues, structural damage, or rot.
A property inspector will pay attention to the age of the home as well – especially considering many homes built prior to 2005 were designed according to now outdated building regulations. Generally, the newer a home is the better – although new homes can still have problems and mistakes too!
Why do risks go unnoticed?
The problem with many of the risks I’ve mentioned is that they are often hidden to the untrained eye. A house may look perfect at first glance, but many problems are hidden so are tricky to spot without a thorough pre purchase house inspection.
Finding and purchasing a home is often an emotional process, with people falling head over heels for a home that’s within their budget when they’ve found it. And while that’s great, it becomes a problem when it makes us ignore all the potential risks in the property.
It might sound harsh, but it’s important to try and take the emotion out of purchasing your home and look at the property objectively with the help of a house inspection.
Assessing the risk with a pre purchase house inspection
A property inspector isn’t going to give you a green or red light on whether you should purchase a property. Rather, a property inspector aims to equip you with all the information you need to make an informed decision yourself.
Getting a pre purchase house inspection before you commit to your new home (no matter how perfect it might seem!) means you’ve got the best chance of spotting any risks or future problems. With all that information, you can then decide whether the house is the one for you.
