Beacon Home Inspection Services Home Inspections in West Palm Beach, Boca Raton, Jupiter and Surrounding Areas

When buying an as-is home in the West Palm Beach area or anywhere in Florida it is extremely important to hire an experienced, licensed and insured home inspector. It also helps to have a home inspector that well rounded knowledge in maintaining homes and the components within. Most importantly is to hire a home inspector that has at least some experience with mold. It is estimated that over 50% of foreclosed homes in the United States have mold to some extent. This is a national average so if you figured out what the percentage of foreclosed homes in West Palm Beach or anywhere in South Florida (though there are no official statistics) I would imagine those numbers are much higher especially when you take into consideration that West Palm Beach has one of the highest foreclosure rates in the country and the type of weathering that South Florida homes must endure. Here are a few tools to help you understand a little better. The following link has an interactive map showing foreclosure rates by counties. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=111494514

The next link is an estimate of the mold issues in foreclosed homes.                       http://www.npr.org/2011/07/13/137629788/as-number-of-foreclosed-homes-grows-so-does-mold

Most of the time the first question from a potential client when calling to book a home inspection is, how much is a home inspection going to cost? My response is usually "A lot if it's not done properly by an experienced, licensed and insured home inspector."There is a reason why home inspections, good home inspections aren't cheap. The price of home inspections are usually directly proportionate to your home inspectors experience and the amount of effort he plans on putting into the inspection and the report. For an average sized home around 2000 sf expect to pay no less than $300.00 and that's on the low end. It should take any where from 2 to 3 hours depending on the age of the home. Any cheaper than that and you may as well have your uncle Bob inspect your new home. If you were to call out licensed professional contractors to inspect all the different components of a home that price would increase ten fold and for them to actually give you a written report on the condition of each component you'd be looking at well over $3000.00. That price pales in comparison to what it would cost you if an inexperienced home inspector missed something like mold in the home or a house built with Chinese drywall. A moderate mold remediation job could set you back well over $10,000.00 and that's not including the cost of healthcare, litigation or the inconvenience of being uprooted out of your new home while the process of remediation grinds on. Real Estate Agents will always recommend a handful of home inspectors to their clients for consideration. A really good Real Estate Agent will know what kind of experience the home inspectors they recommend have. I would highly recommend checking on those home inspectors credentials yourself before trusting that they are experienced enough to be called a home inspector and with Google right there at most peoples fingertips there's really no excuse no to. If you are thinking about buying a foreclosure or as-is home there are three must have inspections in South Florida, The Home Inspection, Wind Mitigation Inspection and a Termite Inspection. There are a couple of reasons why mold is such a big issue in West Palm Beach, Boca Raton, Lake Worth, Wellington and the Jupiter areas are The year round weather and humidity, storm damage to homes that has not been properly repaired, houses sitting vacant whether it be from a home being foreclosed on and sitting vacant for years with no electricity or air conditioning or from owners going back up north for the summer (the best time of years when conditions are conducive for mold growth) and not ensuring the home is properly ventilated. Broken plumbing supply lines, leaky inlet valves for washing machines, corroded and leaky water heaters and clogged air conditioning condensate lines are the main culprits for the more obvious moisture issues within a home but the the more subtle issues can pose even more of a threat if they're not properly diagnosed and repaired. When buying a foreclosure in South Florida an air quality test is a must. It's better to pay the $300 to $400 for the preliminary report than to find out after closing that you have a mold issue. Once this happens the cost of remediation can range from a few thousand to tens of thousands of dollars and guess who gets to foot the bill for the remediation process. When buying a foreclosure in West Palm Beach it's even more important to choose the right home inspector. Not all Home inspectors, even licensed home inspectors are not experienced and licensed for mold and most likely if your home inspector isn't experienced in mold he's not going to be looking for it. When Home Inspectors are inspecting a home there is a lot of information that he's has to process we sometimes tend to get tunnel vision. This tunnel vision can make a home inspector overlook the subtle signs of mold or conditions that may be conducive to mold growth. So...when buying a foreclosure be diligent in making sure your buying the home of your dreams and not someone else's nightmares.

Sincerely,

William Scott

Beacon Home Inspection Services 

http://www.west-palm-beach-home-inspection.com