Home Inspection

Last week I had my home inspection, pest inspection, water inspection and because Navy Federal & the VA had their acts together, my VA appraisal all happened on the same day.

My dad came down to visit, so the house was full of people as we explored, dug and I started to learn about this house o'hopefully mine.

The pest inspection revealed some evidence of termites near the house (at some old fencing) so they were going to request a 'termite treatment' be done, (and from what I understand it will be mandatory for VA acceptance.)  Everything else looked fine with that. ($65.00 for this.)

The water inspector took some time to show me how the water treatment system worked.  (The house is on well water, but does have a public sewer connection.)  Most, if not all of the houses in Cape St. Claire require some sort of conditioning, this houses had 'the full system' with salt/conditioner/two iron tanks and aerator.  I learned a lot from him and really appreciated the time/effort he spent in giving me a run down on usage of the system.  He grabbed his tests and then headed out. ($116.00 for the test.)

VA appraiser had been there for some time already, so I only got a chance to talk with him for a moment, he said he still had to look at the 'comps', I don't think he wanted to give me any word for or against, but he didn't seem to have any major concerns that I could tell.  Still waiting to hear back on that...and the cost was $400 but handled by Navy Federal out of my account directly to the VA.

Home inspector was great.  Mary Kay says he's a retired architect and he was personable, and appeared knowledgeable.  The binder of standards he gave me with his write up is/has/will be helpful as I go through the process of making this property my own.  Some concerns that were brought up were that the basement bathroom shower was mounted ~1" off the floor (looked like on 2x4s) and that it leaked when the shower was run.  The electrical panel had some double-taps (multiple lines going into a single breaker), an ungrounded plug in the basement, a light out in the kitchen, and that the roof was, while in good condition internally, was at the end of its useful life and would require replacing this year.  There was also some wood rot in the downstairs door threshold to the porch.  (Cost ~$365.00)

Mary Kay and I talked about what we were going to submit back to the seller as 'needed to be fixed/contingent', and I decided the electric work, and the bathroom / doorway wood rot were of primary concern.  The roof replacement I'd rather pay for myself and can be done this Spring.  (I wasn't going to ask them to replace a roof in questionable weather of February/March, while trying to keep that March 23rd closing date in mind.)  That's going to the seller and we will have to see how they respond.

I was tempted to just have them work on the electrical, I'd pull that shower stall out and fix it up right w/Dave & Meghan's help, make the whole corner a shower instead of worrying about the work being done, but Mary Kay said we'd stipulate licensed contractor work for the electrical/plumbing/carpetry.  (She's pretty great, earning her commission...that I don't pay!)

We got the water inspection report back within a day as well, and it passed the extended VA requirements with flying colors.  So, that's been sent to Navy Federal and hopefully I should hear back from them on if they need any more required documentation.

Things on the horizon:
a) Contact insurance agent for home insurance;
b) Start getting more boxes from mom & step-dads (I had them store most of the boxes from my move last year.);
c) pack;
d) coordinate friends/family/strangers to help me move the weekend of March 24-25th;
e) yeah, and get a moving truck.
f) hear back about the repairs.