5 Spooky Home Inspection Problems that Aren't so Scary

 

Transcript Follows! (Note much of transcript is AI generated, so mistakes may be in the text, it's lightly edited). 

 

Things that I have found that home buyers are universally really, really nervous about but don't don't really need to be. So the first one and the second one are both related. We do a lot of radon testing today. A lot of times, people are worried about radon in the air but 99% of the time, they don’t need to be.

 

No one should really be worried about that. Radon systems or very simple. They're very effective and they're very inexpensive. So my feeling of radon is that nobody should, especially with radon in the air, no one should walk away from the house. Radon in the water is a little bit more complicated if the house has a well and you find radon in the water. You know, some people just aren't going to be okay with that. But I have to tell you. It's not all that serious of a health hazard. So some of the other things that we've talked about are far more serious. A lot of states don't even have, you know, maximum thresholds for radon in well water and I assume that's because they don't consider it to be very serious. I tend to agree. Plus there are mitigation systems that you can use they are on the expensive side. But there are systems that can solve it. 

 

Garage floor basement cracks and most foundation tracks. Okay. People really get worried about cracks in the garage floor, or heaves, you know, different words at different levels, or Big basement floor cracks. These cracks are non-structural. They don't have anything to do with the house. So they're (the concrete floors) are really just put down, you know, to keep the dirt down, keep the water down, keep the moisture down.

 

They're non-structural. So people get really worked up about it but there's really no reason to be. And most of the time, the deals will stay together once we explain it to them. It's just non-structural. Most foundation cracks. Again. They're nothing-burgers. I mean, you should always have a home inspection and you should always have your inspector look at all foundation cracks, you know, they look for evidence that you know, it's still moving that it's slipping away that there's some sort of issue underneath. But 99% of the time, you're not really, you're not going to see that. 

 

Roof issues. I mean, it's become conventional wisdom, that if a house has a bad roof you just shouldn’t buy it, but I mean today, you can fix roofs. And honestly, out of a lot of things that need to be fixed on a house. They've become one of the more inexpensive ones. I mean, if you're buying a three thousand square foot house and if it needs all new AC equipment, that's like 25 thousand dollars. The roof is probably 16.  So, it's a little bit more than half.

 

I mean is 16 thousand dollars a lot of money? Yeah, but If it's your dream house so you don't walk away from it, you negotiate over the money and settle it out and that's what you should do with roof issues.. They should not be a deal breaker in any way shape or form.

 

I mean maybe the sellers unwillingness to negotiate over it should be a deal breaker. But not the roof itself.

 

Broken septic! If you look around on my videos, you'll see that Ihave recommended that if you find houses with broken septic, they can be significant opportunities and you know, a fixed septic is a fixed septic.

 

I mean, once it's got the all clear from the board of health, you're good to go. So, you know, broken septic, it scares people. People worry a lot about septic, but when I see a house with broken septic, what I know is you're going to get a brand new septic system.

 

And that's great! That's a good thing. Not a bad thing. So it's really just working out the details to make sure you’re protected and you don't end up with something that doesn't work. That's really what it's about. Similar in a similar way, a broken heat exchanger, I've had multiple inspections where we've gone through and they, they open up the furnace, and they look at the heat exchanger and they say it’s cracked.

 

And the buyer says, well, what does that cost to fix? And the home Inspector goes like, this is, can't fix it. Need new heater, They're like, “new heater. I want out!”  I'm on the other side. Going, “A new heater. Fantastic!”  To me the house just got seven thousand dollars cheaper, and I got a brand new heater. 

 

A lot of this really all depends on how you're looking at that. But I wouldn't worry about a broken heat exchanger as a buyer. You have tremendous leverage to get that fixed. And so, you know, like I say down at the bottom home buyers are often risk averse about all these items, but with risk brings opportunity, Okay? An opportunity to improve the house as you go through inspection.

 

So not everything that comes up in an inspection should, you know, force you to back away, especially if you really like the house. So a good agent, a strong agent will work to make sure that you understand the issue at a significant level and that it can be fixed, it's a house almost anything can be fixed.

 

So it's really more about the money and about what the situation is going to be going forward. So I hope this video helps. I'll put up my final slide here. You know, just let people know that if you have a home inspection question and you feel like I could help you answer it I probably can!  

 

I'll try to get back to you soon as I can.  It can be anywhere in the country and I'll try to get back to you. I’m not a home inspector. But in terms of negotiating and protecting buyers with home inspection issues, that's definitely something I can help you with.

 

If you want to avoid problems that your inspection by making sure someone is going through the house who's been on a few hundred inspections. Right here. Reach out. I'm happy to help you and if you like the video, make sure I can keep them coming by subscribing below.