So here I am still waiting to know about my house. My closing date was extended to September seventh. Our first loan fell through, I am still gagging over a 13% interest rate, and we are now approved for a realistic loan from a different company. I still can't believe that woman thought we would pay that. However, the market is still so topsy turvey that I am not believing anything until we sign.
Now about home inspections. This is a really interesting process. The guy comes in with his assistant and they sit up a laptop and printer on a folding table. They also have a bunch of other equipment. The inspector has a radio and speaks the notes to the assistant as he goes through out the house. They have a program with check boxes and spaces for individual notes. After the inspection he reads over it and adds in anything else before they print it out and go over it with the clients. you should definitely try to be there in person for this so you can ask questions. If you have anything done with a camera like the vent inspection, he will also give you a copy of the DVD. The paperwork states clearly that this is a confidential report between the inspector and the client and will not be disclosed to anyone else. I know we had some discussion earlier about whether having one could force you to do a bunch of work, and I think not. I think this is probably a good idea for long term home owners, especially if you are blind. Almost all of the work is stuff we can do ourselves, and this report helps us prioritize the things we want to do home improvement wise. We are buying as is, so the inspection was especially important. Some things are cheap and easy. Call the phone company and have them get a lock on there box outside, get some fill dirt in around one of the corners of the house to keep erosion from happening, move the wooden timbers used for the flower beds away from the brick of the home to help prevent termites and the like, and some things like that. There is a small area of the roof and one shingle that needs a little work. Pretty easy, but as it is a two story I think I may higher someone to do it. Any suggestions on what to look for in a good sturdy ladder and on not falling off the roof? :) Now we had one thing we disagreed about with him on. He listed a leek in the shower pan for one of the bathrooms based on damage he saw. Our realtor had a theory about it and went in and turned the shower on high and left it running. We were there a couple of more hours waiting for the termite and home security system guy and going over some paperwork. No water came out. We think the damage is actually from a leak in the door where the water sprays out when someone is actually in the shower. We plan to monitor this closely, but it will not be the main bathroom so we will move that lower down the priority list. That is another thing that is good about being there when the inspection is done. you can ask about which things are the biggest priorities to avoid any damage to your home. All together a really good process. Oh, and you get a pretty big discount if you pay in cash and if you pay at the time of inspection instead of waiting for the closing. We had the extra vent inspection done with the camera which is an extra $90, and we paid about $300. If I had known about the plumbing camera I might have had someone come in and do those lines too, but too late now. :) Jennifer [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
