What You See Outside Often Translates Inside
Always when I am showing homes to my Valued Buyers I think like a Home Inspector. Because the touring experience can be very emotional especially when Buyers show those signs of falling in love with the home, I keep myself reminded the home was made by human hands. Meaning, I look for the maintenance and/or repair issues and point them out before we prepare an offer. I also make a point to share what I found with the Listing Broker so we can problem solve together long before they can become deal-breakers. This inspector shares a good example...
When walking around the outside of a house, very often I will see something that looks like it will demand attention inside. The clues are there, sometimes more subtle than others, but what you see outside often translates inside.
Can you see the problem here? This is a six year old house.
The homeowner recently attached that downspout extender there.
Difficult to see from this angle is the slope of the ground.
Water from that downspout used to flow directly to the window well at the wall.
Even with the extender in place it still goes there.
Proper grading is essential to the well being of a house.
You can extend downspout water away from the house all you want, but if you do nothing about the grading it will come back! Water ALWAYS flows where it is told to flow!
And houses don't make very effective boats!
That erosion hole is about 1' wide and I could see down about 2'. Where do you think that water pressure is sending the water?
Right to the basement!
Now, imagine what would be going on if that basement was finished!?
It's good to find that out now, during a home inspection!
At this point it is a little thing. It's easy to fix at this point, and it is exceptionally important to do so!
Not hard to see, but important to point out! The client looked right at it and had no idea that it could be a problem.
Well, it is!
My recommendation: if you see something going on outside that may be a problem inside, make a note. You might just find out how prescient you can be too!
Jay Markanich Real Estate Inspections, LLC
Based in Bristow, serving all of Northern Virginia
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