Home Maintenance Inspection:

Protecting Your Fiscal and Physical Health - And Your Home's

Though your home isn't alive, it is still very much like a "real person". It can have its bad days and good days. It can get "sick" when systems break down, and it can become "temperamental" when there are hidden problems in need of repair. In most cases, you will not know what is wrong until something breaks or someone is injured. And as with the human body, one symptom is usually a sign of a bigger problem that, if not treated or repaired, can lead to even more symptoms and much bigger problems later on.

Ironically, as large of an investment as a house is, it is maintained far less frequently than the family car though your house often costs ten to twenty times as much as your family car. But unlike what is provided for the family car, a home rarely ever receives a "check-up". Instead, problems that occur in a home are typically only addressed after something breaks or after damage to its structure and systems has become so severe that you are forced to make repairs. Most homeowners give very little consideration to the fact that, if found early on, home-related problems can be addressed or repaired before those problems become so large that the expense of fixing them cause a financial strain.

But how do you know something is wrong with your home to begin with? Just as a 60,000-mile inspection and tune-up can help you to identify and prevent problems with your automobile, the only way you will be able to identify and prevent existing or potential problems with your home is to give it an inspection and tune-up, as well.

Based on various facts such as weathering and local weather patterns, normal wear and tear, and the planned obsolescence of construction materials and mechanical systems, we recommend that you schedule a home inspection every two years during the lifetime of residency in your home. And just as with a buyer-seller home inspection, we will also provide you with a detailed report about the damage we find to the systems and structure in your home.

MYTHS ABOUT HOME MAINTENANCE INSPECTIONS

In a recent survey, we discovered that the number one reason that more current-occupancy homeowners don't get their homes periodically inspected is simply because they aren't aware that the service is available outside of the real estate transaction period. The fact is that Home Maintenance Inspections have always been available, but they simply aren't marketed by real estate agents or most professional home inspectors - and there's a reason why.

First, home-buyers and sellers have been led to believe that the only time they should be concerned about the health of a property is when an initial financial transaction is occurring, such as when a property is being sold or purchased. This is actually a bit deceiving because every month you own your home, you are engaged in making a financial transaction. You pay a mortgage, right? You pay utility bills, right? So if you are going to make these payments every month, then wouldn't you want to be assured that you aren't paying these sums of money into an "investment" that is falling apart right under your feet or above your head? Of course not, yet tens-of-millions of people do just that because of a simple misbelief.

Second, many current-occupancy homeowners do not get a home inspection because they believe that the home inspector will find thousands-of-dollars of damage that would cause a financial strain if fixed. But regardless of what the home inspector finds, you need to know the condition of your home. The home inspector cannot force you to fix anything, nor can they condemn your property. In other words, there is no "pass" or "fail" score. There is simply knowledge, and knowledge is power. Still, most homeowners are pleasantly surprised that there home inspection discovers the kind of damage that can often be repaired for only a few dollars before such damage grows worse, and thus, costs the homeowner thousands of dollars.

EVERY TWO YEARS!

Cascade Property Inspections recommends that you receive a Home Maintenance Inspection every two years after you have closed on your property. For about the cost of a basic automotive tune-up, a Home Maintenance Inspection can help to identify problems and damage in your home before they become an expensive or irreversible threat to your fiscal and physical well-being.

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