In my experience, the question gets asked somewhere around the end of an inspection. The buyer, carefully and quietly with full eye contact, will ask: “So, is the house up to code?”
There it is.
Did the house pass or fail? Come on! Is this a fantastic find or flawed and flimsy? Don’t hold out! Tell me! The fate of the family’s future hangs in the balance!
Really for anything above simply handyman-level repairs like fixing a leaky faucet, doing your homework is the best way to approach renovation and remodeling. Impatience can be a great motivator, but slowing down just enough to develop a well-rounded understanding of what need and how to make that happen can save a lot of headaches and frustration down the line. Years of study aren’t needed to remedy the outdated kitchen in a house you’re thinking about buying, but take your time to do more than a cursory internet search before hiring someone or diving in yourself.
How do you to tell if a flipped house is trouble? Use your powers of observation and put yourself in a position to make good decisions – and these 5 tips.
Electricity has more potential for immediate harm than any other system in the house, save only a building that is actively falling down. Therefore, even relatively inexpensive electrical issues get emphasis in my home inspection reports.
“Whan zephirus eek with his sweete breeth Inspired hath in every holt and heath Tendre croppes…” – The General Prologue of the Canterbury Tales, ll. 5-7. [When Zephyrus (as well) with his sweet breath has brought forth life in the young crops of every wooded grove and open tract of land…][1] The breath of life. […]
“Dogs are our link to paradise. They don’t know evil or jealousy or discontent. To sit with a dog on a hillside on a glorious afternoon is to be back in Eden, where doing nothing was not boring — it was peace.” – Milan Kundera I’m a dog person. Meow, I don’t dislike cats; I […]
‘ Many Historians use the poem now known as Twas the Night Before Christmas to mark the point where American Christmas began. Christmas has been celebrated in North America since Europeans began to arrive, but it was in the 19th century that uniquely American innovations and combinations of older European traditions can be clearly demarcated. […]
“I had not been seated many minutes by the comfortable heath … before I found myself as much at home as if I had been one of the family.” Old Christmas, Washington Irving 1819-20 For me, one the most enduring enticements of the year, stretching all the way back to my childhood, is the enjoyment […]
The mountain – valley juxtaposition as a metaphor is, well, as old as the hills. It’s very accessible and can be readily experienced, and it exploits a meaningful ambivalence. As Winston Churchill put it, “Mountaintops inspire leaders but valleys mature them”. In other words, a different challenge and reward can be found in each. Valleys […]
“I mean, that’s why they put in extras.” – An explanation I was once given as to why having multiple broken trusses wasn’t a problem. When I write a home inspection report, most of my recommendations are limited to a sentence or two – maybe three of four if especially egregious damage was found. My […]