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NO House IS PERFECT

By
Home Inspector with Holmes Inspection Company

The inspectors at Holmes Inspection Company have conducted over 15,000 home inspections and we haven't found a perfect house yet. Since perfection is not an option, what is reasonable to expect?

THE 1% RULE
When you consider the life cycle of every component of a house, a reasonable annual estimate of the cost of normal maintenance is 1% of the selling price of the house. One year you may replace the furnace; a few years down the road you may replace the roof. Throw in an off the wall and  unexpected repair in between and you average 1% per year. This rule-of-thumb is not far off, even for very expensive and very inexpensive houses.

NORMAL MAINTENANCE

If you strip away the surface cosmetic aspects, a house is made up of the structure, roof, exterior envelope and the "major mechanical systems" of the house. The "mechanical systems" are things like heating, plumbing, electrical and cooling.

All components and systems eventually wear out. Fortunately, they don't all wear out at the same time. Different components have different life cycles. Houses tend to settle into what you might call a "normal maintenance or replacement pattern".

WHAT'S THE MESSAGE HERE?
A homebuyer should arrive at the home inspection with realistic expectations. If you are buying a 15 to 18 year old home, let's face it, you may be about ready for a new roof. If you are buying a 60 to 70 year old home, you may very likely need to plan to update the plumbing or electrical. Those are realistic expectations. Don't let this scare you away from a perfectly good home.

Comments (2)

Patricia Aulson
BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY HOME SERVICES Verani Realty NH Real Estate - Exeter, NH
Realtor - Portsmouth NH Homes-Hampton NH Homes

For sure nothing in life is perfect.  With that said, there are those home inspector that seem to raise some red flags with buyers.  I'm not pointing a finger at you Dan. I've been a Realtor for over twenty years and have been present at a lot of home inspections.

I do think that there has to be realistic expectations about an inspection. There are buyers that are looking at everything hoping to capitalize on trying to negotiate with the sellers the price based on the home inspection.

It's the functional things that count, the important things like the roof, furnace etc.  Things do wear out and that's to be expected over time.

Buyers should be cautioned about a home inspection and what it is really all about.

There are good home inspectors and bad ones.....there's good and bad in every bunch....

Patricia Aulson/portsmouth nh

Aug 11, 2009 11:54 AM
Mike Young
203kOnLine.com, covering the USA - Stallings, NC
FHA 203k Consultant 916-758-1809

Nice thing about this is that you are also a 203k consultant and can provide a solution to your findings. Nice post Dan

Jul 17, 2012 01:52 PM