Home Inspection Red Flags to watch from Andy Eckert your Huntington County Realtor

Beware of These Home Inspection Red Flags

DAILY REAL ESTATE NEWS | MONDAY, JUNE 27, 2016

A home inspection not only allows buyers to learn more about their home, it also helps them uncover any potential problems.

Curbed.com recently featured a 14-point checklist to help home buyers during a home inspection. Here are a few items they suggest to investigate further during a home inspection that will give your buyers more confidence in moving forward. 

Read more: Home Inspector or Specialist?

HVAC system. Home inspectors will make sure the home’s heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning system is working, and they should also be able to estimate how long the home air conditioning condenser (the outside unit) should last too. They just need to check the serial number, says Nigel Turner with Total Home Inspection Services in West Milford, N.J. Many condensers last 12 to 15 years before needing replacement. 

Water drainage. "The biggest issue of any home is always going to be water disbursement," Turner told Curbed.com. "There’s the potential for damage to the foundation. If water is found to be in the vicinity of the house, you want the water to flow away from the house, not towards it." Home inspectors who use an infrared camera may be able to uncover potential water damage that lurks beneath the surface of a home too.

Roof. Learn how old it is and any potential issues, particularly if anything that you may have to one day bring up to code. Roof problems are responsible for 39 percent of home owners insurance claims, according to data from Trulia. 

Oil tank. Even if the house is heated with gas, it's still important to check and see if there's an oil tank on the property in case it once was heated by oil. A tank may still be present. Certain areas require the oil tank to be removed. Others may have just been filled with sand and gravel. Make sure you find out and to ensure it hasn’t leaked into the ground. "Make sure we sweep the whole property," Elice Shikama of RE/MAX in Franklin Lakes, N.J., told Curbed.com. "Because sometimes sellers think they only have one. They could have multiple underground tanks."

Chimney. "Chimneys can be a very costly enterprise, if there’s damage to the chimney lining on the inside, if the masonry around the chimney is faulty, corroded, or whatever it might be," Turner says.

See the entire 14-point checklist that Curbed.com offers for home inspections. 

Check out my New Commercial created by Huntington University Video Production Team, from Realtor Andy Eckert!

My Newest Commercial, Hope you Enjoy !

I am Thankful for my Faith, Family and Friends on this Memorial Weekend. From your Local Huntington County Realtor Andy Eckert

33 years ago (May 18^th 1983) my life changed forever, I being me had an accident. I was on Holiday with some friends in Michigan as we were on summer break from High school. Eckert's are hard headed and buck the system as much as they can get away with it. This lake was a summer home for a classmate of mine and the kids there liked to initiate new kids by throwing them in the lake. I thought no one was going to do that so I dove in, bad decision. I fractured my neck and was paralyzed from the shoulders down, Chad a local kid noticed I was drowning and pulled me out. He saved my life and at the time I wasn’t sure I was happy he did. That summer consisted of a life saving surgery and a boat load of rehab. It took weeks for me to be start learning to walk again and a month before I did. I spent the summer trying to fit back into my own skin because believe it or not I felt like I had no idea what my body would do next. Starting school in the fall was a challenge since I didn’t get my HALO brace off until 4 days before school started, the scariest this was walking in the hallways at HNHS hoping I didn’t get knocked over. Honestly if my parents knew how weak and unsure of myself I was I don’t think I would have been allowed to go back that year.

The next 20 years I dealt with depression and anger issues trying to get past the mistake I had made. I never quite felt I was doing with my life what I was supposed to. I lowered my head and kept my nose to the grindstone and worked through it. When I got married that helped give my life the purpose I was searching for. When Steph had Olivia I started to realize all I went through was for a reason and was a plan I didn’t control. I still to this day struggle from day to day with my past demons but I have my Faith, Family and Friends to lean on.

Now after 3 decades I have let go of “what might have been” and embraced “what still can be”

I OWE SO MANY FOLKS FOR KEEPING ME IN THE GAME, MOSTLY MY PARENTS AND MY WIFE.

GOD has always been there for me and he has shown me grace even when I wasn’t living up to my potential. I have so much to be thankful for and I am starting to realize that maybe the accident that changed my life forever may have been intended to save it. This is what and where Im supposed to be, so hold on here we GOOOOO.

God Bless and pray for all our Men and Women who serve us in the Military. This Memorial Day I remember the Uncle I can’t remember as he lost his life serving other(Thomas Parker). I also remember Ray and Kenny as they returned home to their families.