Your dream home can quickly become a nightmare if you discover damage and problems that you didn’t anticipate after you move in. Not only is this extremely stressful, but you could also find yourself on the hook for lots of money in repairs and maintenance that you likely hadn’t budgeted for.
The best way to protect your family and to protect your investment is to follow a checklist that helps you to try to uncover any deficiency in your prospective home before it becomes your problem.
Why You Need a Property Inspection
Your house is the source of your biggest debt and your biggest asset, which is why you need to do everything that you can to protect your investment.
The property inspection, done by a certified professional, is your first step towards making an informed decision about your home purchase.
Sometimes, homes can look great on the outside, but when you start digging beneath the surface, there is damage that is expensive to fix or may even be unsafe. At the very least, a property inspection alerts you to this and lets you develop a plan.
You can either amend your offer to reflect the cost, or you can even use the property inspection as a reason to walk away from your home offer contract if it is deemed that the risks or expenses are too great. The property inspection will look at your plumbing, the home’s structure, its roof, heating and cooling systems and more.
Invest in a Well-Insulated Home
Your costs as a homeowner aren’t just limited to your mortgage payments and house repairs. You will be paying for heating and cooling-which can potentially be a lot.
You can do a great deal to reduce those costs by making sure that your future home is airtight. Even if the home that you are looking at isn’t well-insulated, this is something you’ll want to invest in soon.
Winters are chilly here in Boston, MA and if your home isn’t protected against the cold, you’ll have cold air coming in and costly hot air going out.
In addition to making sure that the attic, exterior walls, and foundation are well-insulated, check out the state of the windows and doors, which could be trouble spots too.
Turn on the Lights, the A/C, and the Heat
Check that all light switches are working. Are any connected to a power source? This could potentially be a fire hazard, so you’ll want to deal with this expressly.
Also double check the fans, the A/C and the furnace. You don’t want to move in on a cold day only to find a broken furnace!
