The Top Five Things Most Buyers Neglect To Check When Buying A Home

Buying a home will probably be one of the largest purchases you make in your lifetime.  Therefore, it’s vitally important that you inspect everything on that home before signing the contract.  Because something that may seem small and insignificant could turn into a loss of thousands of dollars in the long run.   Below are just a few of the most common areas that many buyers neglect to check when buying a home.

1.  Open and close all the windows.  Do they function properly?  Are they fogged?  If they don’t function properly there could be underlying problems with the house such as foundation issues, etc.  You never want to skip this step.  Window replacement can be very expensive.

2.  Turn on all the faucets to see if the drains are draining properly.   If the home was a foreclosure, there may be some damage done by the previous owners somewhere deep in the pipes.  Damage that is not visible to the naked eye.  Sometimes branches from large trees or broken pipes could  cause drainage problems as well.  Underground pipe replacement is another very costly expense.

3.  Taste the water.  When you have an old house, some of the pipes may be so old that they can drastically affect the way the water tastes.  Not to mention the quality of the water and the purity of the water coming through those pipes.  This is the same water you will be making your ice with, showering with, washing your clothes with and more.  Installing a whole house water filtering system could get expensive.

4.  Check all of the light fixtures and switches.  Changing a light fixture or switch due to an electrical problem may not seem like an expensive item.  However, if the electrician has to trace the problem and it turns out you have a bigger electrical problem than just a simple fixture or switch, this could become a big expense very quickly.

5.  Most people check either the air conditioner or the heating system depending on the season.  However, most people don’t think to check both.  You should check both the air conditioning and the heating system no matter what season it is.  You don’t want to buy your home in the summer and then, when the  winter rolls around, find out that your heating system doesn’t work and will need to have it repaired or worse to have it replaced.

6.  Test the fireplace.  You need to make sure that your fireplace is functioning properly and that there are no flaws or blockages that could potentially cause a fire to break out in your new home.

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