Inspect Before You Buy Insider Secrets You Need To Know About Home Inspection With Companion CDROM

Posted In: Home Inspection

Brinda Breidel says...

Buying a new home can be a mind-boggling task. So many things to consider, where to live, schools, financing, realtors, and the list goes on and on. One thing homeowners might overlook or brush to the side is a home inspection. However as author Charlie Rose reiterates in his book Inspect Before You Buy, a home inspection is one of the most important processes you should embark upon to safeguard your home.

This book provides specific details of what a home inspector should be checking for in your new home. And also what you should look for when it comes to a home inspector. This book not only focuses on issues of what might need repaired or is the house structurally sound, but it also focuses on issues such as does this house contain poisons or carcinogens that can harm your family.

From the windows to the basement, nothing is overlooked in this book. It provides the homeowner with valuable information so they aren't left in the dark when it comes to the home inspection process.

Posted on August 16, 2010

Lucas Frymier says...

Charlie Rose's INSPECT BEFORE YOU BUY: INSIDER SECRETS YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT HOME INSPECTION provides details on home necessities and how to inspect all the basics systems - and how to get the most from a home inspection. Here are all the tips homeowners need to have in hand to understand how the home inspection process works: what it covers, what it doesn't, how it fails and how to foolproof an inspection. An invaluable guide for any about to buy.

Posted on August 16, 2010

Molly Cosman says...

I really don't understand how come this book is so well rated.

Sorry Mr Rose, but the information in your book is weak. I only red a few chapters and I found a lot of information is missing. The roof chapter for example contains little more than a few comments on a few types of roofs (the one on the house I visited yesterday is not mentioned)

It says little about pro/cons or what we would need to check. As for illustrations: 2 roof pictures! What about some typical defects? In the attic chapter: No illustrations at all...

All in all I feel the athor is more a man of letters and lacks real construction knowledge. There is no focus on what is really important (isolation, humidity problems...) and too much information about secondary stuff. If the fixture is broken you can fix it later, if you discover humidity problems you may need to sell back your house!

Posted on August 17, 2010

Harriette Kratzke says...

This book covers every home inspection task, including the inspection of the kitchen sink!I had no idea that a home inspection covered so many items.This book made me feel well-armed to inspect a house for myself so that I really knew what I was buying.I felt that this book gave me the skills and confidence necessary to evaluate the home inspector's work.I also found this book to be an invaluable source for troubleshooting home repair issues once I became a home owner.

Posted on August 17, 2010

Aaron Dubinsky says...

Did you know that state regulations prevent some home inspectors from moving, lifting or detaching anything even when they suspect a problem?Or that some real estate agents recommend friends to inspect a home and both parties benefit from the transaction?When you're making the largest purchase of your life, you want not only a reliable home inspector but a detailed guide so nothing is overlooked or forgotten.



Written in a straightforward manner and divided in easily referenced chapters, this book includes chapter headings such as: asbestos, radon testing and other serious health and safety concerns, what and how to inspect inside a home, the kitchen, bathroom, basement, electrical wiring, plumbing, attic, heating/cooling, appliances, exterior doors/windows, siding and foundation.Each chapter is divided into subheadings that take the reader, step-by-step, through the same checklist a good inspector will have.



With sound advice on how to select an inspector, where to look for one, what to be cautious of, this book trains the reader on how to inspect a house as both a buyer and seller. Handy checklists can be copied and used during and after the inspection.It is also helpful in describing what to look for when house hunting to help narrow down selections.It's a valuable maintenance resource to continue to use years after you've moved into your perfect, trouble free home.

Posted on August 19, 2010

Virgilio Lotz says...

Thinking of buying a house? With quite a few books on the market that deal with the subject, here is an A-Z guide that provides all the details you need to know before you sign on that dotted line.This handy manual examines the finer points of the inspection, not only from the basement to the attic, but does a virtual tour of the grounds to include the health of the lawn, pool, and also deals with pest infestation issues as well. It is so easy to miss some minor defects which could become major ones (costly too!) after the deal is concluded. This practical, easy-to-read guide includes a detailed checklist, and provides a formidable list of questions for the seller you'd hardly have thought of yourself! As a matter of fact, the manual is so thorough, I'd recommend you get it even if you're thinking of selling, to gain an advantage over potential buyers, who just might have read this gem from cover to cover!

Posted on August 20, 2010

Mireya Havatone says...

Are you neurotic like me?Do you pour over Amazon reviews scouring every aspect of every product so that you don't get hosed on something you buy?Well, imagine how much more that neuroticism goes into overdrive at the prospect of one of the biggest purchases ever -- your home.So this book really appealed to me -- yeah, now I'll have the expertise and know-how to really eye a potential property for defects that cost me a fortune later or at the very least, give me a leg up in negotiating a more favorable price.



And for those two purposes, this book definitely delivers what I intended.But my major complaint is that it is a very difficult read.It was almost like a crash course in home inspection.I'm not sure what I should have expected -- the book is VERY thorough. But that thoroughness is a little overwhelming.It pretty much lists in detail EVERY single thing that could possibly be wrong with a house.And it's organized by room, so you can do it as you walk from one part of the house to another.



But after reading halfway through the book, I started to panic.It was almost like, "Don't forget to to check the wall; don't forget to lift up the carpeting and look at the kind of wood underneath; don't forget to check the entire metal fence for rusting; check the pipes to see if they are PVC, copper, PB, metal, yellow brass, red brass (which is actually pale brown brass), galvanized, etc etc etc etc.WHOA!This is not the sort of thing that you would be able to check on every house that you were doing a walk-through on when you're about to check out 4-5 a day with a realtor.I would be surprised if you could even cover 60% of this stuff by yourself once you narrowed it down to a single house.I mean, you're not going to lift up someone else's carpeting that is probably nailed down to check out their floors.



What this book did make me realize was the value of a very good home inspector.And at the very least, it gave me a more thorough look at what sorts of things could go wrong in a home, the early warning signs and symptoms, the catastrophic consequences if you leave it untended, and how to go about fixing it.It's a great book both for buyers and current homeowners (just to help you keep your property up to snuff).It also helps you to understand so much about the inner mechanisms and workings of your home -- especially if you're like me and the extent of your handiness is putting a nail into the wall to hang up a picture frame.



I would recommend it, but if you're a layman, don't think that you're going to get away with avoiding a home inspector for the price of this book.

Posted on August 20, 2010

Sharon Watte says...

I've read and reviewed many real-estate investment books on Amazon.com, but I've never declared one among them to be truly indispensable: Charlie Rose's Inspect Before You Buy is the first to earn that distinction.



The key to Inspect Before You Buy's value is in the narrowness of its focus. It is not an all-inclusive "become a millionaire in real estate" guide. Rather, it is 200+ pages (242 including the invaluable checklists; 267 including all appendices) devoted to the all-important subject of home inspection, which is usually all but ignored by real estate "gurus" in their how-to books filled with fluff. After all, how can you possibly spot bargains without appreciating the structural integrity of a property? Should you trust an expensive property inspector on every property you consider buying? You can save a lot of time and money by learning how to spot problems early, and with this book, you'll be able to. In fact, this book is detailed enough that a professional property inspection may not even be necessary.



I've read thousands of pages about getting into real estate, but the one thing that's always held me back was my inability to properly evaluate a home from a property inspector's point of view. With the information in this book, I will be ready to take the plunge into real estate investing when the time is right for my strategy.

Posted on August 20, 2010

Mia Lamparski says...

For most of us, our home is our biggest financial investment. Given this, it seems logical that we'd want to know as much as possible about our investment so we can take the best care of it. That knowledge begins before a house is purchased with the home inspection that's done as part of the buying process. But why depend on information from a second party? With Inspect Before You Buy at your side, you can do your own inspection and know a lot more about your home before you even move in.



The author takes you through every step of a home inspection, describes what you need to look for, from roof to foundation and everywhere in between, and provides detailed checklists for recording your findings. Also covered are the big concerns--asbestos, radon, lead paint, water quality--and how to identify and test for them.



Although the title positions this book as one to read before buying a house, it's an equally valuable guide to the inspections a homeowner should do on a regular basis to make sure things are as they should be. "There's always something," is a frequent homeowner lament. Inspect Before You Buy can make it one that's not often heard around your house.

Posted on August 21, 2010

Theressa Plassmann says...

Inspect Before You Buy, is a must read by any potential homebuyer. Charlie has covered every nook and corner of inspecting a house to uncover what buyers need to know before buying. This guide would have saved me thousands of dollars in repairs to my previous homes. His simple terms and descriptions make the reading easy to understand.

Individuals considering selling their home will also benefit from this book. You will be able to learn exactly what homebuyers and inspectors look at during the inspection process. Simple fixes like changing out the front door could mean the difference between a potential sale or getting passed over for the next house.

If you are considering buying or selling a home, get this book. From the front yard, to under the house and everything in between...this book covers it all. It gives insightful tips like checking the kitchen sink water pressure to insuring the air conditioner is properly functioning.Inspect Before You Buy will be a permanent addition to my library.

Posted on August 24, 2010