Home Tips for Women

  • Home
  • Home Features
    • Appliances
    • Doors
    • Electrical & Plumbing
    • Fireplaces
    • Flooring
    • Heating & Cooling
    • Home Lighting
    • Roofing & Siding
    • Windows
    • Wood Rot Repairs
  • Rooms at Home
    • Kitchens & Dining Rooms
    • Bathrooms
    • Attics
    • Basements
    • Bedrooms & Closets
    • Decks & Patios
    • Family & Living Rooms
    • Garages & Sheds
    • Home Offices
    • Laundry & Mud Rooms
    • Outdoor Living Spaces
  • Home Aspirations
    • Architectural Details
    • Decorating
    • Furniture & Accessories
    • Gardening & Landscaping
    • Green, Healthy & Safe
    • Holidays & Entertaining
      • Christmas Holiday Tips
    • Homeowner Stories
    • Life at Home
    • Organization & Storage
    • Painting & Color
    • Build a House
  • Saving Money
    • Bills, Budget & Saving $
    • Buying a House
    • DIY Home Tips
    • Energy Efficiency
    • Mortgages & More
    • Moving
    • Repair & Maintain
    • Selling Your Home
    • Smart Homes
  • Glossary
  • Homeowner Resources
    • Homeowner Books
    • Building Products
    • Tools
    • Organizing Gadgets
    • Homeowner Checklists
    • Contractors Tips
    • Housing Industry News
    • Glossary
  • More
    • Contact Us
    • Share a Homeowner Story
    • Contribute Articles
      • Meet Our Home Experts
    • Tina Gleisner
    • Where Can You Find Tina
      • 4 Walls 1 Roof
    • Online Advertising for Home Products & Services
    • Media
    • Disclosure

House Information For Your Home Inspector

by Tina Gleisner, in Buying a House

a home inspector needs lots of house informationWhen buying a home, we research house information online to find homes that match what we want. As you prepare to sell your home, your real estate home professionals will ask you for all sorts of information and now that I'm starting to prepare my sister's condo for sale, I'm gaining a whole new perspective on why it's important to maintain your home and make upgrades every few years … and even I'm surprised and a bit nervous.

This is the second article in a series about Selling a House. As the trustee for my sister and legal owner of her condo, this transaction is less emotional  for me. I'm able to look at the process and learn still more after buying 13 houses and selling 12. You can join our journey starting with Selling a House: A Plan and Team to Sell My Sister's Condo.

The House Information Your Home Inspector Needs  

I often say we take our homes for granted. We expect clean fresh water when we turn on the faucet, the vegetables to be fresh when we take them out of the refrigerator and a quick cup of coffee when we're on the run in the morning. We rarely think about the magic that delivers all these things to our house, until something doesn't work. Then it's time to sell your house and guess what, your home inspector needs a lot of this forgotten house information.

Today's houses are magical!
Do you know where your water, heat & electricity come from?

Wondering what I'm babbling about? Sitting here looking at the “contact us” page that the home inspector asked me to fill out before we meet at my sister's condo later this week. You might fill the form out without giving it a second thought. I have to work a bit harder because I don't live there, so I'm having to guess at many of the answers.

Address of the inspection – that's easy but realtors will ask about schools and I have no idea.

Type of home – single family, multi-family, condo or townhouse (not sure why this matters).

# stories – 1, 2, 3 or more. 

Year built – no idea so I went to Zillow and they show 1986.

Square footage – again no idea, so Zillow gave me 1,460 square feet (on Trulia, I calculated estimated price / cost per sq ft).

Number of bedrooms – 2.

Number of bathrooms – 1, and often a bathroom that only has a shower is a 3/4 bath … so what do they call a bathroom with separate shower and bathtub?

Number of half baths – 1.

Under the house – basement, crawlspace or slab (my sister's condo has a finished basement).

House Information – Where Water & Heat Comes From

your home inspector needs house information about heat, water, etcType of heating – oil baseboard, oil hot air (never heard of this before), gas baseboard (really?), gas hot air, electric, steam or don't know. I was thankful to check of “don't know” or I would have guessed gas hot air because there's central air conditioning.

Water supply – city, well or don't know and again because it is a condo, I said I don't know.

Waste – septic, city or don't know … and you know what I picked.

Electricity – wasn't one of the questions and I'm guessing that's because there's only one supplier.  

Your Home Inspector Share Your House Information

Remember this is a seller “pre-listing” home inspection and we haven't picked our realtor yet. That's one of my goals for this visit (Selling a House: A Plan and Team to Sell My Sister's Condo), as we're doing a home inspection and getting punch list recommendations from three realtors.

Here's the real estate information requested by the home inspector, to be completed at a later date. Notice the other types of testing many buyers will request but we're not doing any of these.

home inspector needs realtor info in addition to house information

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Watch for our next article on realtor requests for information.

 

More from my site

  • Selling a House: A Plan and Team to Sell My Sister's CondoSelling a House: A Plan and Team to Sell My Sister's Condo
  • Home Inspection Checklist & Finding a Home InspectorHome Inspection Checklist & Finding a Home Inspector
  • Home Inspection Conflict of InterestHome Inspection Conflict of Interest
  • Why Your Insurance Company Wants to Inspect Your HouseWhy Your Insurance Company Wants to Inspect Your House
  • Home Inspections: Who Should Attend?Home Inspections: Who Should Attend?
  • Selling a Home Takes TeamworkSelling a Home Takes Teamwork

Tags: home inspection, home inspector, home professionals, house information, house utilities, real estate team, selling a house

About Tina Gleisner

Tina helps women homeowners create homes they love, homes that support how we live today. Leveraging her experience owning 14 houses and running a handyman business, Tina offers a free Savvy Homeowner Report.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

every homeowner needs home repair books to maintain their home & protect their investment

Articles for Homeowners

About Us

The name tells our story! We provide women homeowners with "how to" resources to manage their homes with confidence. We strive for homes that support how you want to live, while building equity for your future too.
 

Learn
Smart Decisions
Save Money!

Home Tips & Resources

  • Homeowner Books
  • Building Products
  • Tools
  • Checklists
  • Contractors Tips
  • Homeowner Stories
  • Housing Industry News
  • Glossary

Home Tips for Women

609 Portsmouth Ave, #426
Greenland, NH 03840

  • Disclosure
  • Privacy Policy

Get Social With Hometips

  • Facebook
  • Google+
  • LinkedIn
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

©2019 Home Tips for Women. All rights reserved worldwide.