When I first started my own home inspection business over 3 years ago, most of my inspections were occupied homes being sold by Mr. And Mrs. Jones. Today 80% of the homes I inspect are vacant REO's, and Foreclosures which most of the time have been sitting vacant for quite a long time. A little about me before I go on. My name is Steve Medina and I am a state licensed Will County Home Inspector. Visit my website at www.steveshomeinspections.com for more information about myself and my inspections.
So as I was saying. Here's the problem. Probably 70-80% of the houses on the market today are vacant foreclosures, and most have been vacant for a long time. Its been my experience that 9 times out of ten the water and gas are shut off. That means there is no heat, and if the water was not turned off in time and the system flushed and winterized properly, you will most likely have broken water pipes some where in the house. You may not find this out until you take posession of the property and have the water turned on. At that point, your stuck with the fix it bill because you now own it. Thats just one of the many reasons why having a will county home inspector inspect your future home is probably a good idea. Lets face it, unless your an experienced investor, contractor, tradesman, etc. and know what your looking for, your probably not going to see what is really wrong with the house. You will be looking at what color are the rooms, how big the rooms are, the layout of the house etc. and your Realtor will tell you not to worry about the water or gas being on because your getting "such a good price". You see at that time you and your spouse, if your married, are full of emotions. You like the house, your excited, the wife likes the kitchen, bla bla bla. Your emotions take over and you miss the details. Actually there are still some Realtors out there that care about their clients more then the commission. I work with a few, but I have also worked with many that only care about their commission. So beware.
But thats just yet, another good reason why having a Will County Home Inspector inspect your future home is a smart move. The home inspector is not emotionally involved with the house and will look at it through a different set of eyes. The home inspector should go into the attic if possible, crawl in the crawl space if there is one, are you going to do that? Highly doubtful, if you did would you know what to look for? Trust me, I've inspected many homes where my clients ended up backing out of the deal after I showed them what was really wrong with the house. In any market you should invest in a certified home inspector, but I truly believe in this market with the inventory of houses out there, you would be crazy not to.
So if your in the market to buy a home, please take the time to look for a good home inspector. You may save a few hundred bucks today if you don't, but it could cost you a heck of a lot more than that in the long run.
