THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, September 3, 1994 TAG: 9409010450
SECTION: REAL ESTATE WEEKLY PAGE: 04 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: Heidi Glick
LENGTH: Long : 128 lines
When Betty Hart started house-hunting last month, she immediately fell in love with an old two-story house in Norfolk. Built in 1930, the house was on Hart's favorite street in an ideal neighborhood. The school district would be the same, so her two teenage children wouldn't have to change schools. And the price was affordable - about $100,000.
``Everything was right about it,'' she says, down to the quaint fireplace.
But after investing $175 in a home inspection, Hart, who works for AETNA, changed her mind about the house.
She discovered, through an inspector, that the house had asbestos shingles that were starting to deteriorate. The brick foundation was deteriorating (the mortar between the bricks had turned to sand). And the fireplace, a selling factor in the house, was illegal because the flue for the gas furnace and the fireplace were both connected to the same chimney.
At an estimated cost of $6,000 to $7,000 to repair, these were problems she could not afford to fix in the future.
``I would have gone with my emotions, my feeling,'' says a relieved Hart, who only got a home inspection on the advice of her brother-in-law. ``It was the right location, the right school district. It looked good to me.''
Hart was able to withdraw her offer on the house because she made it ``contingent'' (depending) on a satisfactory home inspection.
But unlike Hart, many Hampton Roads residents buy their dream homes and later find costly structural problems - problems that could have been detected had had an inspection in the first place.
Less than 5 percent of new homebuyers get inspections and only 35 to 40 percent of resale buyers get them, according to the National American Society of Home Inspectors, an organization that certifies home inspectors.
Although that figure is relatively low, home inspections have rapidly increased in the last five years, according to ASHI, indicated by the organization's increase in members, or certified home inspectors. Since 1989 membership has tripled to 1,400 in the United States and Canada.
Home inspectors credit consumers for being more cautious today than 20 years ago. And with the increasingly high cost of housing, buyers want to know exactly what they are getting when they close on a house, whether it's a newly built home or a resale.
Also, more and more sellers are getting home inspections and using them as a tool to help sell their house. If a potential buyer walks into a house and sees certified inspection papers, they may feel more comfortable with the house, industry people say.
Jim Reedy, whose HouseMaster Home Insection Service in Chesapeake has increased 75 percent since 1986, spends two to three hours in a house, checking everything from the crawl space underneath to the inside of the attic.
The biggest problem he finds in the homes of Hampton Roads residents? Moisture under the house.
``There's such a high water table here,'' he said. ``There's a lot of problems with termites and moisture.''
And some problems can get costly. He has seen repairs as high as $30,000 because of water problems from improper grading - when excess water to runs toward, not away from, the house.
Inspections cost $175 to $250. For many potential buyers, that is money well spent.
If it hadn't been for that inspection, Hart says, she would have easily signed the contract, and consequently, would have to pay for major repairs in the future. ``It (home inspection) cost me $175 that I won't get back,'' Hart concluded. ``But it saves me from a lot of heartache.''
But inspections aren't just for resale homes.
Local inspectors urge buyers who are purchasing a newly built home to get an inspection too. Problems, they say, are just as prevalent - if not more - in new homes as in resales.
Bill Gaddy, who heads the Tidewater chapter of ASHI, says he typically has about 50 write-ups (problems) for a new home. With the worst case, he had 127.
Gaddy is more strict on a new house, checking off problems such as missing molding and cabinet doors not closing properly. But he has found major problems.
One newly built house lacked insulation in the flooring. In another, a contractor for the house had accidentally drilled a hole in the sewage line while putting up crown molding. Every time the toilet flushed, water leaked down the inside of the bathroom wall and soaked underneath the bathroom floor.
All of these problems were caught before the house sold.
Some people weren't so lucky.
Reedy recently inspected a resale home, just three weeks after the buyer purchased it, and discovered that the plywood under the roof was decayed from moisture damage. Consequently, the new buyers had to reroof and replace plywood sheathing at a cost of about $2,000 to $3,000.
Then there was the time he inspected a house that an older woman was giving to her children and discovered the flue for the furnace had deteriorated. The furnace was pumping carbon monoxide in the house.
``It's a good thing the house had a lot of air gaps,'' Reedy said. ``It could have killed them.''
No law exists today that requires buyers or sellers to get an inspection although industry people urge all homebuyers to get them.
Buyers such as Steve King, who along with his wife, Ann, is in the process of buying a home after years of renting. King says getting an inspection gives him ``peace of mind.'' Especially because the house they are buying is 32 years old. Although the sellers, who recently inherited the house, have been doing extensive rennovations to it, the Kings still wanted the OK from a certified inspector.
``I was sure everything was on the up and up,'' King, a senior promotion producer for the ``700 Club,'' said. ``But with a house that old, I want to make sure they're not covering up some major problem.''
King did what many home inspectors urge other buyers to do - accompany the inspector on the inspection. That way inspectors can advise the buyer on how to maintain the house and give improvement tips, while pointing out the condition of the house.
Also, buyers who accompany the inspector, Gaddy explains, will be better able to inspect their own house in the future.
For King, the experience was educational. His inspector, Reedy, pointed out problems with the furnace, as well as noting a broken thermostat and settlement in the sidewalk that could be a liability.
``He points out the problems,'' King concluded. ``Whether you ask the seller to do it or you do it on your own, he just points out the thing.'' ILLUSTRATION: Staff color cover photo by Charlie Meads
Jim Reedy, a home inspector, spends two to three hours in a house -
from crawl space to attic.
Staff photo by Richard Dunston
ABOVE: Ann and Steve King, shown with their daughters Tracy, left,
and Lori, are in the process of buying a house that is 32 years old.
King says getting an inspection gives him ``peace of mind.''
LEFT: Jim Reedy, a home inspector, checks everything from the crawl
space underneath to the inside of the attic.
by CNB