When purchasing a home, you'll be given the opportunity to have a home inspection done before you move forward with the purchasing process. It is your opportunity to look for potential problems that may cause you to back away from the purchase. However, you must pay for a home inspection, even if you decide you do not want the home. That is why it is worth looking out for these potential problems during your own walk-through, and if things look good, move forward with an offer and formal inspection if accepted.
Basement Water Lines
If you ask a homeowner if there has ever been water in their basement, they may say that they "do not recall." This can be said if they have suspicions about water in the basement from previous owners, but have no official confirmation. If you want to know if there was basement flooding, take a look around the bottom of the walls for water lines.
If there were several inches of water in the basement, there will be an indication of how high the water was due to how the brick is colored, with water getting into the brick and causing discoloration. It may be difficult to find some exposed walls if the basement is finished, so try to look for it. If you see a line a few inches off the floor that extends around the entire basement, it means the basement has a history of flooding.
This may be enough to walk away from the home, or know it's something you have to deal with. If there is no sump pump installed in the home currently, it may be something that you need to add once you move in.
Ceiling Stains
Another way to tell if water is getting into the home is through stains on the ceiling. You won't be able to go into the attic during an initial walk-through of a home, but you can go to the top floor and look at the conditions of the ceilings. Don't just look in main rooms, since water may have affected the ceiling in closets. These are places where homeowners may have been too lazy to fix the damage completely and repaint the ceiling.
If you see ceiling stains, it means there was a roof problem or currently is one where water is getting into the home. Thankfully, roofs can be fixed, so this is not necessarily a deal breaker. Just make sure to have your home inspector take a close look at the roof and let you know what it will take to fix it.
For more information, talk to a real estate agent.
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