Q & A about Home Inspections

Question: My wife and I are planning on purchasing a home.  We were told a seller has to fill out a property disclosure form on the home. My friend told us that he received a property disclosure statement saying that the roof was new, the A/C was five years old and the furnace was a year old. He was in the home three months and he had to have an HVAC company in to check out a problem with the furnace. They checked the serial number and found out the unit is over 12 years old which puts it near the end of its predictable life.

The disclosure clearly stated that the furnace was only one-year old.  What can I do to protect ourselves from this same potential problem?

Answer:  You should never rely on a seller disclosure.  Why? The most-honest seller on the planet may not have sufficient information or understanding to complete such a form. For instance, if a form asks "does the roof leak" it may be that to the owner the roof does not leak because he has no information to the contrary. Of course, it may also be true that the owner has never been in the attic. The owner in this situation can honestly answer "no" because to him that's the way it is.

Or “does the furnace work properly”? The owner says yes because he doesn’t hear any strange noises and the home heats up well. But What if there is a crack in the heat exchanger? The owner may not know about the crack, but can honestly state that the furnace does what it is supposed to do….heat the home.

As a buyer, you want information about the condition of the property and the only way to get that information on a reliable basis is to have a professional home inspection. When you make an offer to purchase property be sure that it's "subject to" a home inspection which is "satisfactory" to you.