Always Get an Inspection

[Frank Gucciardo]

So close on our first buy and hold purchase.

FannieMae Homepath Tri-plex that we got under contract for 160K.  The numbers worked out really well.  Not much work to be done, just a re-paint and I was going to replace all flooring with laminate. 

Waited for our inspector to get back from vacation and had the inspection on Tuesday.. the wheels came completely off the deal, and thank god for our awesome inspector.

the house inspected well, electric was great, structure was good (1950s house), roof only 10 years old.  Great, going to finally get this business off the ground...... except for that lingering smell of sewage outside.  

Come to find out, the property had and old school cesspool that failed back in 2007 (had to call the local septic company and they had records for the property).  Looking at a 30K fix, it was time to cut bait and run.  To compound the problem, the well was only producing enough for a one family and may have been cross-contaminated by the failed septic.

Moral of the story - always get an inspection.. it was worth the $350 we paid (no report only a walkthrough) and you get tons of education on things to look for and test when looking at a house.

I've also learned that I don't want my first property to be on well and septic if possible.

Just thought I'd share

[David Hedges]

@Frank Gucciardo sounds like the inspection really paid off. I haven't had anything too bad come up in most of mine, though my experience is that the inspection always pays for itself. In the end they find enough things that you can bring down the price a bit or have the items repaired. 

You get a lot of well and septic though when you get into more rural homes though... I don't think the are necessarily bad, they just need to be maintained like everything else.