Search

Product Description

    Mortgage

    Building inspection tips for novice owners

    2024.03.13

    After the U.S. Federal Reserve continued to raise interest rates for more than a year, it finally suspended raising interest rates for the first time, which means that interest rates are very close to peaking. For prospective buyers who have been waiting for a long time, they can take advantage of the time before the interest rate cut and before property prices rebound sharply. Now is a good buying opportunity; coupled with the government's intention to further relax mortgage ratios, it is expected that the real estate market trading atmosphere will improve in the second half of the year. What should novice owners pay attention to after taking over a property?

    The acceptance process for buying a new building and a second-hand building are actually quite different. Since the developer of a new building will follow up on the inspection, the owners will have fewer worries. The developer will provide the owner with a move-in letter and send someone to inspect the unit with the owner. It will also provide the owner with a list of defects. As long as the owner writes down the problematic parts, the developer will arrange for personnel to repair it.

    Hire a building inspector to inspect carefully

    Owners who are capable can also hire a building inspector to carefully inspect the unit. Once the repair work is completed, they can move in. In theory, the acceptance inspection of second-hand buildings is simpler than that of new buildings, but the follow-up matters for owners will be relatively troublesome. The reason is that unless the first-hand owner promises to repair the unit; otherwise, after the closing date, any problems in the unit will be the responsibility of the new owner, and the first-hand owner has no responsibility to make any improvements to the property after the settlement. Therefore, two or three days before the closing date, second-hand owners will usually inspect the unit again under the arrangement of the broker to pay attention to whether the owner can complete the settlement on time and to see if there are any other damages in the house.

    Since buying a second-hand building is not like a first-hand building, there is a list of defects provided by the developer and a dedicated person to handle the defects. Therefore, the new owner needs to find someone to handle all the repair work. If the renovation project is quite complicated, the waiting time for official occupation will naturally be longer. long. Whether it is a first-hand building or a second-hand building, the items that owners need to carefully check after entering the house are the same, and the most important ones fall into four categories.

    Check the water supply in the kitchen and toilet

    (1) Water leakage/seepage: On the day of the building inspection, the owner needs to carefully check whether the water in the kitchen and toilet is flowing smoothly, and use paper towels to check the pipe connections to see if there is any leakage or water seepage. Also check the walls of the entire house. , there is no leakage or discoloration. (2) Check the structure: Owners can bring their own leveling ruler to check whether the walls, window sills, door frames and floors are smooth. They can also pay attention to whether there are cracks in the walls and other problems.

    In addition, whether each door and window opens and closes smoothly is a must-check. (3) Test plugs: Owners can bring simple power testing tools, such as three-pin plugs and wires, to test whether all the plugs in the house are powered. (4) Check the furniture and facilities: Many developers now provide a variety of home appliances. During the building inspection, remember to check whether the home appliances can operate smoothly and whether there are any water leakage problems.