Caveat Emptor - Buyer Beware

Not everything is as it seems yet it may be what it is cracked-up to be. When it comes time to purchase that home use the services of a qualified building inspector. These are the people you hire to spend 3-4 hours inspecting every nook and cranny of the home you are considering buying to tell you all the reasons you should not. After the inspector has poked and prodded for 3 or so hours they will meet with you for about a half hour and point out all the concerns they have and relieve many of the ones you have. That crack in the foundation may not be as severe as that crack in the heat exchanger in the furnace or my favorite, the new bathtub over the rotting moisture soaked, yet invisible sub-floor.

The building inspection is not counter productive and should not be considered to drive down the value of the home you are purchasing but more to be taken as a preventive maintenance checklist of future maintenance items and deferred items the seller has always meant to get around to doing but doesn't have the money or time to do.

The inspector should know their stuff. If however, they suggest with each item they inspect that you have an engineer review everything from the condition of the foundation wall to the plumbing you may not be getting the full service you are paying for.

The seller with the aide of their Realtor should have addressed the issues in the Property Condition Disclosure Statement and considered the deficiencies in the asking price.