If you are in the market to purchase a home, it can be easy to fall in love
at first sight. Do so at your own risk. While the overall appearance of a
home is important, the quality is in the details. In this article, I provide
a checklist of window issues you should consider when viewing a home.
Windows
If you are considering buying a home, you should have a checklist of things
to review for the property. There is an old cliché that eyes are the
window to a person’ soul. In the case of a home, they can be a clue
to the quality of the home building if you check the following:
1. The first item to check is whether the windows open and close properly.
Quality windows should slide easily and with little noise. Cheap windows
tend to stick and make grinding noises. If any window will not open or close
at all, careful attention needs to be paid to why. Is it the quality of the
window or has the house started moving because of foundation problems? Make
sure you know the cause.
2. The second item to check is soft or mushy sills at the base of the window.
Often you can identify a soft sill by a “rotted” look, but make
sure to run your hand across the sills with light pressure to see if there
are any soft spots. If you find a problem, warning lights should be going
off in your mind. A mushy sill means there is a water penetration problem.
More importantly, it also means the problem has existed for some time. Long-term
water problems can mean the existence of mold and mold can be an expensive
problem to fix. If you are really interested in the home, demand an inspection
paid for by the seller. If the seller refuses, walk away from the home.
3. Water stains are the final window item to check for during your viewing.
Just because the sills are not soft, doesn’t mean there isn’t a
leakage problem. Stains around a window frame are sure signs of water problems.
If a room has been painted, try to find one that hasn’t. If the entire
interior has been painted, ask the seller to state in the sales agreement
there were no water stains before the house was repainted.
Windows are almost always an indicator of the quality of workmanship for
a home. Giving them a good “once over” should tell you a lot about
the house you are considering.
Raynor James is with http://www.fsboamerica.org - providing homes for sale
by owner, "FSBO", properties. Are you thinking, "Should I sell my home?"
Visit http://www.fsboamerica.org/seller.cfm to sell your home sale for free
for one month.
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