subject: Homes To Buy: Locating 3 Major Hidden Problems [print this page] If you stop to consider it for a minute everything that a home is made of has a lifespan, so they're a lot like cars in this way when you shopping for a used home. It's expected that there will be some wear and tear but what you don't want to encounter, is expensive hidden surprises. Major repair issues that can take a huge chunk if not all of the profit out of the deal. So then just what are some of these major issues to be on the lookout for?
Perhaps number one on the list has got to be foundation problems and they come in several forms. One of the most common though, is a settling foundation that can have a building tilted to one side and gradually sinking. Now to the inexperienced home buyer foundation problems may not seem like a big issue because a home sitting on a problem foundation usually looks perfectly normal.
Foundation problems however can lead to a host of chronic structural and mechanical in a dwelling, and in some instances because the home was sitting right on top of the foundation they can't be repaired. Doors that don't open and close properly and rub the floor when they do swing open, windows that jam, don't slide properly, and close with a noticeable gap, and even gutters that don't drain properly. Then if floor slopes in the wrong direction the sewage drainpipes inside of them can also losers slope and their ability to drain. Not good.
Then along the same subject line if a home is not hooked up to a municipal sewer line and has a septic system instead it too can be a source of a host of potential problems. Don't be deluded either because septic systems can be enormously expensive to repair and replace. Also problems can be run for range from minor issues like a tank that requires occasional pumping, to major problems like an entire system including the leech field that needs to be removed and replaced.
The roof on a home or commercial building can also be the source of some very expensive hidden problems and just like the foundation some roof problems can't be fixed. Rather in some instances to repair a problem with the roof, it must be replaced in its entirety. Also just like foundation problems in home roofing can look perfectly fine to the untrained eye yet at the same time be a virtual Pandora's box of costly repair issues.
Now the real irony through it all is that the most attractive and well maintained looking home can be loaded from top to bottom with hidden costly surprises. Yet at the same time a home is being marketed as a distressed property with obvious visible surface maintenance issues can be a perfectly structurally sound investment that just needs some TLC. You really just have to know what to look for when you're out used home shopping.
