Nolo's Essential Guide to Buying Your First Home (58 page)

 

CHECK IT OUT

 

To find out more about moving your pet, visit:

•
www.hsus.org
(search for “moving” on this Humane Society site)

•
www.petswelcome.com
(under “Travel Tips”), and

•
www.sspca.org
(click “Pet Info”).

 

What’s Next?

 

You’re almost ready for the closing itself—but not quite. First, we need to explore the ins and outs of property inspections (Chapter 12) and homeowners’ insurance (Chapter 13).

 

Meet Your Adviser

 

Paul A. Rude
, owner of Summer Street Inspections, based in Berkeley, California (
www.summerinspect.com
).

What he does

Paul is a member of the American Society of Home Inspectors who has performed home inspections and consultations for Bay Area homeowners since the late 1980s. As a licensed general contractor, he has also done extensive work repairing structural damage and leaks. Besides all this, he says his most important qualifications include being both nosy and unafraid of spiders.

 

First house

“It was a big old place, built around 1912, in South Berkeley. I bought it before I’d become an inspector—in fact, before the modern inspection industry really got started. I called a contractor I knew, who walked around the house and said, ‘It’s probably all right.’ Then I spent the next ten years dealing with the house’s incomplete brick foundation, illegal additions, and ancient roof, plumbing, and electrical systems.”

 

Fantasy house

ʺI’m a big desert fan, so I’d like a place in Baja California, overlooking the ocean. Let’s make it complete with a swimming pool, solar power, and a self-contained sewage system. And no matter what or where the house is, I need a good-sized utility area—a basement or a big garage—to keep my tools and do my stuff.”

 

Likes best about his work

“I left the contracting business because once you get into a project, you can’t leave, no matter how difficult the clients or other aspects of the job are. With inspections, I can do one in a day, then it’s over. Also, what keeps me going is the satisfaction of helping people understand things that were formerly mysterious to them—such as the difference between a standard and on-demand water heater. It’s like a teaching profession. People respond, and appreciate the help.ʺ

 

Top tip for first-time homebuyers

“Get a professional inspection! And no matter where you’re buying, watch out for water—whether it’s in the basement, the roof, the siding, or whatever. Water is the most destructive element affecting homes, and water damage is difficult or expensive to fix.”

 

CD-ROM

 

For more tips from Paul Rude, check out his audio interview on the CD-ROM at the back of this book.

 

TIP

 

You’ll be happy you did:
Over three-quarters of all homebuyers obtained a home inspection before buying their homes, and nearly 100% of these people believed the home inspection was a good value. (
Source:
American Society of Home Inspectors,
www.ashi.org
.)

 

SEE AN EXPERT

 

The tighter your budget, the more important the inspection.
According to our adviser, California home inspector Paul A. Rude, “If you have gobs of money and something wrong turns up after you move in, you can simply fix it. But if a $1,000 repair is going to break the bank, then you need to not only have the inspection, but to choose your inspector carefully.”