Foreclosures can be a great investment ...there are many available in Glen Allen, VA which is a great place to live. But buyers beware! It's easy to say "I can fix that" or "It only needs new carpet and paint".
Surprisingly many make a mistake by not hiring an experienced Home Inspector before making the investment!
My extensive experience with foreclosed homes teaches that many foreclosed homes have suffered from lack of maintenance. Prior to foreclosure, the previous owner may have ignored necessary maintenance. Sometimes homeowners vandalized the home just prior to the foreclosure.
After a house has been foreclosed, it usually sits vacant. If it sat vacant over this past winter, the pipes may have froze if the home was not properly winterized. Sometimes expensive components of the home are stolen from vacant homes that may or may not be noticed by an untrained eye. In my 12 years experience I have seen many good foreclosure deals but countless not so good! I have seen where previous homeowners or vandals have purposely caused damage such as; pouring garbage into the duct work, flushed blocks of wood down the toilet to clogged the plumbing, drilled pin holes a plumbing pipes (usually somewhere not immediately noticeable), walls and doors marked with permanent ink, used motor oil poured on floors saturating the subfloor to a point that all had to be replaced, copper pipes and wires stripped and sold for scrap metal, mechanical equipment damaged or stolen, just to name a few! There are many expensive defects that can go unnoticed by the untrained eye. Having inspected more than 5000 homes and countless foreclosure homes I have discovered more varieties of defects than I could possibly list and my experience is to the benefit of you or your client!
So if you or your client think you want to grab one of the many foreclosure deals in Glen Allen, VA ...I strongly urge you to call me...I am an experienced Certified Inspector that can help make smart decisions, avoid costly mistakes and make the purchase of a foreclosure a good experience!
Visit my website at www.house-whisperer.com or see my nightmares at www.house-whisperer.com/nightmares
John Cranor, Cranor Inspection Services, LLC 804-747-7747
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