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Thread: What are some good outward signs of a well built house?

  1. #31
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    Quote Originally Posted by Roger Feeley View Post
    My son-in-laws niece and her fiancé are looking at houses. They’ve been asking me questions and I can help some. But I bet you good people could come up with better advice.

    Are there any tricks to spotting a well built house that you can see on a walk-through?
    I will play the devil.

    If one has to ask, chances are one won't be able to identify the gaps in house. Hire a reputed house inspector and they should be able to provide good assessment. Inspection costs money so some sanity test does help.

    We recently bought a house. If we really LOVED the house we got inspection done right away.

    In cases where we just liked (not loved) the house, we looked for these before asking for inspection.
    - Thick new paint
    - If not recently painted then condition of paint
    - Moss on roof
    - Condition of yard
    - Windows - updated or old
    - Doors - updated or old
    - Obvious DIY projects in house - and - done not well
    - Condition of flooring
    - Condition of appliances
    - If rented, then history - frequenc
    - Past sale history
    - Any construction without permit

    Essentially, we were looking at houses that were maintained well by owners. If we liked a house that was well maintained, we got inspection done. If house showed obvious signs of neglect, we skipped it.

    At the end we paid maybe 2.5k more overall (inspection cost). In all cases we would not have caught what inspector caught.

  2. #32
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    I remember years ago tips on buying a car. Turn on the radio and check the preset stations. Back then if it was hard rock or country the car was driven hard and not maintained. Classical or news radio it was driven carefully and maintained. Today include rap in the driven hard and not maintained group. I suppose in a house you could see if they have favorites programed into the tv. Bu kids watch tv without a parent controlling the stations like in a car.
    Bil lD

  3. #33
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    Quote Originally Posted by Bill Dufour View Post
    I remember years ago tips on buying a car. Turn on the radio and check the preset stations. Back then if it was hard rock or country the car was driven hard and not maintained. Classical or news radio it was driven carefully and maintained. Today include rap in the driven hard and not maintained group. I suppose in a house you could see if they have favorites programed into the tv. Bu kids watch tv without a parent controlling the stations like in a car.
    As a home seller I would not be happy if a potential buyer was turning on my TV and looking at what TV channels I watch. The TV does not stay with the house so the buyer has no business turning it on. A car is different because the buyer usually gets the radio with the car.

    I never password protected my computer before I sold my first house. I added a password to be no one was snooping in my computer.

  4. #34
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mike Wilkins View Post
    The last tip is my opinion only; don't rely on home inspectors to find any damage to a potential home sale. Remember they are hired by the realtor who wants to make a sale. I have seen homes that were recently purchased with damages that were not obvious to unknowing home buyers, and were left with expensive repairs that an insurance company will not pay for.
    Where do you live that a home buyer has to use an inspector offered by the realtor? Sure, a lot of buyers do use the inspector recommended by the realtor, but in Minnesota at least there is no requirement to use any certain inspector. Realtors want you to use their inspectors because their inspectors often have an incentive not to wreck a sale if they want future business from recommendations.

    I most certainly did not use the realtor's inspector when I bought my house. I used an inspection company that is well known locally for doing through inspections. My house was a wreck when I bought it. I only had an inspection done to be sure I didn't miss a major structural issue. The inspector only found one issue I didn't already know about, but it wasn't enough to cancel the sale.

  5. #35
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    Mot of the posters in this thread would never be able to buy a house in decent neighborhoods in the city of Minneapolis. Houses there are still getting multiple offers on the first or second day they are on the market. In some cases the houses go on the market in the morning and are sold by dinner time. If a house hasn't sold within a week potential buyers would start to wonder what is wrong with it. You're not going to have time for all kinds of research before making an offer if you want the house.

    If you need to bring in ten different contractors and a structural engineer to evaluate a house you probably need to build your own house so you know it is done right. There are builders out there who build very nice houses, but they won't be cheap and they'll probably have a waiting list of a year or more.

    I don't know where you're going to find many existing houses with double layers of 3/4" flooring. My brother is building his own house with just a single layer of flooring and the floor is as solid as a rock. The flooring is glued and nailed/screwed.

  6. #36
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    Quote Originally Posted by Brian Elfert View Post
    Mot of the posters in this thread would never be able to buy a house in decent neighborhoods in the city of Minneapolis. Houses there are still getting multiple offers on the first or second day they are on the market. In some cases the houses go on the market in the morning and are sold by dinner time. If a house hasn't sold within a week potential buyers would start to wonder what is wrong with it. You're not going to have time for all kinds of research before making an offer if you want the house.

    If you need to bring in ten different contractors and a structural engineer to evaluate a house you probably need to build your own house so you know it is done right. There are builders out there who build very nice houses, but they won't be cheap and they'll probably have a waiting list of a year or more.

    I don't know where you're going to find many existing houses with double layers of 3/4" flooring. My brother is building his own house with just a single layer of flooring and the floor is as solid as a rock. The flooring is glued and nailed/screwed.

    Ummm literally every time I've bought a house I made the offer, IF it was accepted THEN the inspection period started. It's the same as the agent hiring an inspector. They've ALWAYS been paid by ME, so I am the client.
    ~mike

    happy in my mud hut

  7. #37
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    Quote Originally Posted by mike stenson View Post
    Ummm literally every time I've bought a house I made the offer, IF it was accepted THEN the inspection period started. It's the same as the agent hiring an inspector. They've ALWAYS been paid by ME, so I am the client.
    Correct, but people are talking about things like going to the city and getting records of permits and stuff like that. You would usually want to do that before making a purchase offer. I suppose you could doing that during the inspection period and then claim the inspection found issues if you didn't like what you found.

    Houses were not selling in a day or two in the area I was buying in so I had time to get the building records from the city if I liked a house enough to possibly buy it. The majority of cities locally have all of their building records electronic now so they could just email me the building records without even going to city hall. I did this before making a purchase offer.

  8. #38
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    Quote Originally Posted by Brian Elfert View Post
    Correct, but people are talking about things like going to the city and getting records of permits and stuff like that. You would usually want to do that before making a purchase offer. I suppose you could doing that during the inspection period and then claim the inspection found issues if you didn't like what you found.

    Houses were not selling in a day or two in the area I was buying in so I had time to get the building records from the city if I liked a house enough to possibly buy it. The majority of cities locally have all of their building records electronic now so they could just email me the building records without even going to city hall. I did this before making a purchase offer.

    Yea, permits.. those are getting stupid easy to get. I had copies of all permits of my current place (we bought it 2 years ago) in a few minutes online. We had made an offer on another house previously, and backed out during the inspections. Too many things were suspect, some were really bad (the pool needed to be either completely redone or filled in, etc), I never gave a reason. That may depend on local requirements.

    Right now, the market everywhere seems to be under listed, I suspect that has to do with covid. So probably more of a reason to really utilize the inspection period.
    ~mike

    happy in my mud hut

  9. #39
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    As an old builder, check on cracks in the foundation, dragging doors, scratches on the floor around doors, wall texture walls and ceiling. This is where flaws will show up.

    Check hose bibs for leakage.

    If there has been repairs you will see them.

    If a slab has had problems you will see them. Use the same diligence you use when car shopping.

  10. #40
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    Quote Originally Posted by Brian Elfert View Post

    If you need to bring in ten different contractors and a structural engineer to evaluate a house you probably need to build your own house so you know it is done right. There are builders out there who build very nice houses, but they won't be cheap and they'll probably have a waiting list of a year or more.

    I don't know where you're going to find many existing houses with double layers of 3/4" flooring. My brother is building his own house with just a single layer of flooring and the floor is as solid as a rock. The flooring is glued and nailed/screwed.
    Brian,
    the purpose of my original post was to see if there are any clues that a person can see on the original real estate tour that would lead a buyer to believe that the house is built with care. A lot of the replies have been more related to faults that a person can see. And those are certainly appreciated. I realize that the market is fast moving so the ability to spot the gem is all the more valuable.

    fyi, my floors are glued, nailed and screwed. My builder glued and nailed them. Then over the weekend, my wife and I pre-drilled and drove screws at about 6” intervals into every joist. Not a single squeak. HA!

  11. #41
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    Quote Originally Posted by Perry Hilbert Jr View Post
    I remember being sort of shocked when I moved from PA to Virginia and saw that many builders and contractors did not use drip edge along the roof edges.
    Drip edge. That could be a good one.

    Is there drip edge?
    is the drip edge extending about 1/2” from the sheathing ore is it snugged up close. The guys on this old house just hate drip edges snugged up tight.

    At the gable end of the House, is there an overhang? One way to cheap up a house is to forget the overhang.

  12. #42
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    I have seen quite a few homes were they used grip edge instead of drip edge with shingles. A sure sign it will rot the fascia.
    Bill D

  13. #43
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    In general, I suspect a house with 2x6 studded exterior walls is insulated better than a house with 2x4 studs in the wall.

    They make infrared cameras the plug into cells phones for about $200+ that might be good for a quick scan of insulation and water leaks, not sure how well the work compared to better infrared cameras

    I've heard concerns that wooden I beam floor joists fail sooner than solid wood joists in a fire, but I've also heard there are ways to address this.

  14. #44
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    I am a home inspector and determining well-built may not be as important as in need of major and expensive repairs. A well built house from the 1980s may need more repairs than a marginally built house from 2018.

    There are a few areas that are expensive and can be checked out by an informed buyer before making an offer.

    The foundation: look for out of square doors, exterior foundation cracks (not corner pops), diagonal cracks from the corners of windows and doors, visually out of level floors, offset drywall cracks, step cracks in brick and stone.

    HVAC: The serial number can be decoded on the web to determine the age of the HVAC components -- same for water heaters. You just need the brand name and serial number. The site is building-center.org. How old it too old varies by climate. In central Texas anything over 10 or 11 years old gets a "may need repair major repair or replacement in the near future" comment. If the house is from the 1980s and has a flexible duct system determine if it has a gray plastic exterior. If so, it is a defective product and mostly likely needs replacement.

    Roof: Look for excessive granule loss and previous repairs. Sometimes on sunny days the edges of the older shingles will shimmer from the exposed fiberglass.

    Windows: Double-paned is much better than single-paned but also look for a gray haze or moisture between the panes. Broken seals are less efficient and can be expensive to fix since there are usually multiple windows needing repair.

    Exterior Siding: Look for rot, separation and large gaps. Most houses need some caulking to seal thing up better but that is not expensive.


    Hiring an inspector:
    Only hire one who will give a walk through at the end. Some guys are more interested in heading to the next job and that means you may get a rushed inspection. The walk through provides great supplemental information to the report.
    Find out if they do repairs. If they do repairs they may only interested in issues they can bid on. Some states do not allow inspectors to repair a house for a period of time after the inspection.
    What they charge has nothing to do with how good of an inspection is conducted.

    As far as realtors referring inspectors who will only write up minor defects that is not really the case in my experience. Never have I been asked directly or indirectly asked to go easy on an inspection. Most realtors want a through inspector who acts professionally and has the time and skills to explain the issues. Writing a glossed over report is the quickest way for the inspector and realtor to get sued.
    Last edited by John Goodin; 10-11-2020 at 9:49 PM.

  15. #45
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    Quote Originally Posted by mike stenson View Post
    Ummm literally every time I've bought a house I made the offer, IF it was accepted THEN the inspection period started. It's the same as the agent hiring an inspector. They've ALWAYS been paid by ME, so I am the client.
    Actually, based on market, what Brian has mentioned is pretty accurate.

    In case of the house we bought, there were multiple offers. To make our offer lucrative, we got house inspection done before making the offer - so that there were no conditions in offer. House viewing to offer acceptance was less than 2-3 days. Of those 2-3 days majority of time went in negotiations. There was one more party that kept escalating the price. There was practically no time to even get an appointment for anything beyond house inspection.

    Our offer was not picked up on one of the houses because of all conditions (inspection, finance etc). Someone made a similar offer but did not have any inspection.

    Most of the houses we looked at, sold in less than 5 days. Houses that did not sell are still not sold. This is in Coquitlam area (near Vancouver). Houses which are still on market are either ridiculously priced or have other problems (grow house, tenants, easement etc).

    Similarly, when we sold our house is Seattle, it was sold in a week or so. We got multiple offers and ones that had any conditions were not considered. Well I would have considered them if they were offering significantly more.

    tl;dr; based on the market one does not always have the choice.

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