The process of buying a new home can be both exciting and nerve-wracking. While the initial stages of browsing through real estate listings, touring homes, and dreaming about your future can be fun, you’ll also want to make sure that you’re investing in a worthy piece of property. Especially considering that this will likely be the largest single investment you will make in your life. To ensure you aren’t buying into a ‘money pit’ of problems, it’s essential to have a thorough home inspection performed as a part of the home buying process.

To highlight this point, home inspections nation-wide have been uncovering much-needed property repairs. More than 1 million repairs needed more than $11,000 in costs, according to a February review of 50,000 home inspection reports by Repair Pricer, a home repair estimating resource.

Nearly 55 percent of homes analyzed across the country had doors that needed adjusting, which could be an indicator of foundation issues, the report showed. 54 percent of the homes lacked exterior caulking and sealant, which could leave the home susceptible to extensive water damage and higher energy bills. Furthermore, about 48 percent of homes lacked GFCI protection—this could pose a dangerous electrocution risk to homeowners around water-prone areas like the kitchen or bathroom.

“Homebuyers and real estate professionals across the country should leverage these insights to better position themselves in the stressful negotiation process,” says Christian Adams, CEO of Repair Pricer. “In places like Texas, for example, buyers may only be given three to five days to complete the inspection period, meaning they may only have 24 hours or less to make a decision. During this period, having clarity and insight into the cost of repairs listed in a home inspection report is critical to avoid leaving money on the table.”

The most expensive home defects—uncovered in 9 to 20 percent of the homes studied—ranged in repair prices from slightly more than $1,000 to less than $10,000.

The following is a chart from Repair Pricer of the 10 most common home defects found in inspection reports:

When you consider that in Texas, a good home inspection conducted by a TREC licensed and certified Professional Real Estate Inspector will usually cost just 0.1 percent of the price of the home you are investing in, it makes sense to always have your property thoroughly inspected while in the option period to give you the peace of mind to make the buying decision and foresight needed for proper negotiation and safely closing of the deal.

Many low budget home inspection service companies use either TREC licensed Apprentice Inspectors or standard Real Estate Inspectors which have less stringent educational and experience requirements than the Professional Real Estate Inspector License. Texas Valor Inspection Services only uses TREC licensed Professional Real Estate Inspectors which are the highest qualified inspectors in the state.

Contact Us today to schedule your home inspection!