New Home Inspections

If you are buying a new home, don't miss the opportunity to have a professional new home inspection performed. In fact, you should insist on it. All homes new or old should be professionally inspected prior to purchase.

The truth of the matter is that town and municipal inspections are not done with the detail and care that a thorough new home inspection performed by LookSmart provides. Most municipal inspections focus on code issues only and don't look for the numerous other issues that can be present that will effect your purchase down the line. Many of the problems encountered when inspecting new homes are not code issues at all but are safety and material defects concerns. Just because a home is new does not mean that it does not have any problems, quite the contrary. Often the various construction projects are sub-contracted out by the builder. It is just not possible for the builder to oversee the entire project. In many instances he or she does not even know the workers the sub-contractors have on the job.

Inform your builder that you plan on having a new home inspection performed. If the builder refuses then you must ask yourself why? An uncooperative builder should raise a red flag. Why wont the builder allow a home inspector on the property? If the builder firmly refuses you should consult with your attorney. You may even want to think twice about going through with the purchase. Reputable builders do not fear home inspections they welcome them.

One thing that you can do as a buyer is to insist on an inspection clause to be written into the contract. This clause will allow for a new home inspection to be performed before purchase. Insist on this clause - its just another way to protect yourself as a consumer. Do not forgo the new home inspection. In most instances problems do exist that were not picked up when the municipal inspections were performed.