Many first-time home buyers are under the pretense that getting a very good home inspection protects them from the risks of costly surprises after moving in. Newsflash: it is not.
No matter how good a home inspection you get, you simply cannot protect yourself from the reality that houses are handmade, used items that constantly need repairs/maintenance and upkeep. A home inspection is a general evaluation, a snapshot of the overall condition at one point in time. As an example, your home inspector might find all the doors working fine during the inspection, and the day you move-in a door comes off its hinges. How is that possible you ask? During a home inspection, a door is simply tested for basic operation (opened and closed). The screws for the hinges are not tested for torque. The holes the screws are threaded into areas not visible. To have a door scrutinized to the level of detail that would guarantee future function would require removal and re-installation of each and every door! The principle of “move-in failure” applies to more costly items like the furnace or water heater. These can be working fine the day of the home inspection, but with any appliance, especially those 5 years or older, it can fail at any time.
The older the house you buy, the greater the risk. If you’re buying a 1963 rambler, it’s like buying a 20-year-old car. That car could have been carefully inspected, checked for oil leaks, test-driven and found to be a wonderfully maintained old car. And the minute you drive it off the lot the water pump busts. Think of it another way, you go to your doctor for an annual physical and everything is normal. And the next day you throw your back out. Or a month later you’ve got cancer. An annual physical won’t predict these unfortunate events.
Too many times we see home buyers stretching their budgets to get in the neighborhood they want. They buy a 50-year-old home and 6 months after move-in they are hit with a $1500 furnace repair or an $800 plumbing leak. And they haven’t budget for this. A home inspection does not protect you from the inevitable expenses that come with home ownership, especially older homes. The best way to minimize your expenses is to buy a home in the home purchase “sweet spot”.
