When buying a home you should always have a home inspection performed on the property to make sure there are no hidden problems that will cost you a fortune down the road.   While there are several types of inspections that can be done. This is a list of the main inspections you should consider before buying. 

• A general structural home inspection
• ​A Mold Test
• A lead based paint inspection (if older home)
• HVAC inspection 
• Septic Inspection 
• Water Test
• Well Output Test
• ​Termite or other wood destroying insects 

Some things to look for when walking through a prospective home.  This is by no means a complete list of problems to watch out for.   If you decide on a home to buy make sure to have a licensed home inspector do a complete inspection and give you a report. 
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• Look for maintenance that has been put off, if the seller has let some little things go maybe big things have been let go too.  

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• Smell the air inside the home does it smell musty or moldy.  The home could have  mold in the basement or crawl space.

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• Look for water damage.  Brown spots on the ceiling, soft spots in the floor  especially in the bathroom, put pressure on the floor at each corner of the tub and around the commode to test for soft flooring.   Look under the kitchen sink to look for rot caused by a leaky drain or loose faucet.  

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• If you are able crawl under the home and look for mold on the floor joist and sill plate​ This can be a costly problem if there is mold and rot here.

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• ​If the home has a basement look around to see if there is a moisture problem also look for cracks in the basement walls. If the basement looks too clean look at the floor to see if there are mud stains on the concrete.  These are very hard to fix and very expensive. 

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• Look for signs of termite or other wood eating insects.  Usually there will be a fine powder saw dust on the floor below the site.  Also if you mud tubes going up the wall there are termites.  These things can be fixed but you don't want to pay for them.  

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• Windows and doors, there should not be rotten wood around the windows and doors, also double paned windows will be much better that older single paned windows.   Windows are very expensive to replace. 

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• Roof- you can look at the roof to see if there are missing shingles if so they need to be fixed.  Also if the shingles are curling up they are very old and the entire roof should be replaced.  

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• Outdated electricals look at the fuse or breaker box if it has old buss  type fuses or glass screw in fuses then it is old and should be replaced.  Also if the wiring looks like a bowl of spaghetti it probably was not done by a licensed contractor.

 

• HVAC system- If you are looking at an older home see if the heating and cooling units are old and faded out.  The life of these systems is about 15 years.  If the units are old it won't be long until they will need replaced. 

 

• The bottom line is you should have a reputable licensed home inspector look at the home.