At lease once a year, we get a call from one of our clients about the HVAC unit. Generally, the complaint stems from either the unit not working properly or when the unit is serviced. The call goes something like ...

"Hi, this is John Customer and you inspected my house about 2 months ago. You stated in your report that the package unit was about a year old. Well we tried to use the heat yesterday, and the technician said the unit was about 15 years old and is shot!" It will cost me several thousands of dollars to replace the unit......"

To protect or customers, it is the practice of this company to take pictures of the serial plates of all high end appliances such as furnaces, compressor units, water heaters and other "built-in" appliances.  When we do get calls such as this we print out the pictures of the appliance(s) in question ALONG with the serial numbers and take them to our client stating that, "This is the unit our company had inspected!"

More often than not, the home owner finds out that the unit that the former owner paid thousands of dollars to replace looked better a their new home rather than the unit that was there.

Almost everybody has digital cameras today. Take a few minutes and take a picture of the "attached" items such as appliances, compressor units, furnaces and water heaters during your initial and walk-throughs. It may be your only resource should something be changed or not present when you move in.

This posting and the continents written here are the intellectual property of Michael Thornton of Complete Home Inspections, Inc. providing Nashville home inspections for Brentwood and the Davidson and Williamson Counties of Middle Tennessee. The views and opinions expressed are just that - views and opinions of Michael Thornton and those who comment.  This post is part of the ActiveRain Real Estate Network, which is a social network highlighting the best of Web 2.0.  Information is provided with the intent of educating and assisting home owners, home sellers, home buyers,real estate investors, and real estate professionals with information the can be used to make better real estate decisions.

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