My wife and I are about to purchase our first home and we are scared to death. Could you provide us with some insight into what we should be looking for to insure we make a solid purchase?
Signed, Soon To Have a Mortgage
Dear Soon To Have a Mortgage
While I certainly understand how you and your wife feel about purchasing your first home, I offer you this advice: Do not let your fear show. Remember, you are fully entitled to due diligence. While there are many equally important factors to consider when purchasing a home, I would like to focus on just two of them.
Structure
I am going to start at the top and work down, as I have learned over the years that a surefire way to gauge the overall structural integrity of a building is to look at its roof line. If the peak of a roof has little to no sag, chances are good that its walls, floor structure and foundation base is in solid condition. If the roof sags from side to side, this could be an indication that its rafters are of the wrong size and have reversed their crown.
Other possible contributing factors to research are: check to see if interior support walls have been removed or modified; check the basement for adjustable support columns vs. solid supports columns; check to see if dormers and or skylights have been added to the original structure.
Check the home’s structure for rot by looking at any area where excessive water falls (off the edge of the roof) and any and all openings (doors, windows, chimney and exterior stairs).
Systems
I strongly recommend getting purchase and service records for all of the home’s systems. While there are many factors that determine the overall quality of the systems, insuring regular maintenance has been performed on all of them is a great place to start. Remember that most repair and replacement costs are directly related to how well systems have been maintained. Ask to see if warranties can be transferred. Call the service provider for each system and ask them for an overview. Check the systems yourself.
Here are a few tips for various systems:
Electrical: Go through the home and turn on every light in the house as well as appliances, TVs, etc. If the house has a breaker or fuss issue, this process generally flushes it out in a very short period of time.
Plumbing: Check copper pipe joints for discoloration, get a water test, run several faucets and watch for the rate of drainage while at the same time listening for gargling. I always say that sight, sound and smell says it all when checking out a plumbing system.
Kaile Warren of Windham is CEO/Founder of the national handyman franchise Rent-A-Husband. Kaile is also a national home improvement expert for the CBS Early Show, HGTV and Parade Magazine. When not on the road or working he spends his time teaching his newly adopted white shepherd, Maintenance, how-to ... Send your questions for Kaile to editor@themaineswitch.com.