3 red flags to be aware of when house hunting

There are certain undesirable situations that produce the symptoms of a sick home that you need to be aware of before you fall in love with the “shiplap” accent wall in the dining room or that perfect backyard. Once you’re emotionally dialed into a house, it might be too late!

Please don’t get me wrong, most houses, new ones are no exception, have something wrong with them. Even if it’s a problem as easy to fix as a leaky plumbing fixture, no home is ever going to be perfect upon inspection!

What I’m looking at today are major issues – those items that require emptying your bank account to make repairs.

They don’t necessarily “have” to be considered deal breakers, but should prompt you to have the home inspected by the appropriate professional. This would include not only your home inspector, but potentially a structural engineer, contractor(s), etc…so make sure you negotiate enough time in your due diligence period to cover all your bases.

First off, please don’t be downhearted if you happen to find some of these items because the good news is that you found them now, rather than later. You can either request the seller fix the issues or you can back out of the deal (if within your due diligence and to a lesser extent other contingency periods). If you were to learn of these later, say after you’d moved in, the responsibility and burden would be on you and your bank account to fix them.

So, let’s take a look at a few of the big problems and some of the clues to look for.

Not much more disgusting than that

Imagine your fun of taking a shower and being greeted by raw sewage bubbling up through the drain? Oh, yes, it can—and will—happen. It’s caused by a clogged sewer, septic line, or full septic tank that’s backing up.

Consider foul smells and drainage issues or “gurgling” coming from drains around the home a clue for further investigation. Likewise, if you notice these smells outdoors maybe near the home’s drain fields, if on a septic system. Do the toilets flush? Especially on a rainy day?
If any of these symptoms are present at showings to your home inspection I’d encourage the “seller” to call in a plumber. Then I’d write into an amendment addressing concerns that a licensed and certified septic company pump and inspect the septic tank with the appropriate verbiage so that if there are any issues, the seller is required to make those repairs before the end of escrow and closing.

Sewer fixes aren’t necessarily cheap either. Are tree-root-damaged lines present? If so, this can cost from $4,500 to $13,000 for just a 100-foot sewer pipe, according to costhelper.com.
If it’s a septic system that possibly has you concerned, if the system needs to be replaced, plan on a figure from $2,700 to $8,000, according to homeadvisor.com.

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