A home inspection isn’t just about buying and selling property. It’s a valuable tool no matter where you are in your time as a homeowner. Even if you don’t plan to put your home on the market in the foreseeable future, a home inspection can still provide you with valuable information that will help keep you safe and will help to maintain the value of your property.
When to Have a Home Maintenance Inspection
Think of a home maintenance inspection like a checkup: You don’t wait until something is really wrong to go to the doctor. The same should be true for your home. You want regular checkups to keep on top of wear and tear, inside and out. But because your house doesn’t have quite as many moving parts and chemicals to balance as the human body, you don’t need to see your home inspector as frequently as your GP. Every three to five years, consider having an inspector come in and check things over.
How It Works
Basically, this is just like any other inspection. I examine all of the major systems of your house–roof, foundation, HVAC, entryways, electrical, plumbing–and make note of any issues I discover. The only difference is, a home maintenance inspection isn’t a negotiating tool for a sale; it’s just for your own knowledge of what’s going on in your house, and what things might need to be fixed before they get worse.
The Payoff
While you might not be selling your house this year, you may want to some day, and you don’t want to wait until then to fix the things that need fixing. If you let a leak or electrical problem go unfixed for years, you’re looking at much bigger issue than if you discover it today. Plus, I don’t have any agenda here. I don’t get paid more if I find more problems. If I don’t find anything on my inspection, then I’m happy to report to you that you have a healthy house. And if I do find issues, I’m not the one making the repairs. You’re free to hire the best person for that job after I’ve done mine.
