Fairfax Home Inspection

During a recent home inspection in Fairfax, I was reminded about the care that must be taken to ensure a home is properly maintained. This home was a short sale turned foreclosure in Fairfax. Proper procedure is especially crucial for any home that will be unoccupied during the winter. Foreclosed homes are nearly always unoccupied. Often, the central heat is not active because the power or gas has been turned off by the Fairfax utility companies or the asset management company may have decided to turn the heat off to save money. Inactive utilities make it impossible to complete a full home inspection in Fairfax.

The recent home inspection in Fairfax had been vacant for 11 months. Knowing that the home was a foreclosure, I advised my client that the utilities should be turned on to the home, but not inside the home. I explained that, when I arrived at the home inspection in Fairfax, I would complete a test to ensure that pipes had not burst during the winter.

I arrived at the home inspection in Fairfax and began my inspection on the exterior of the home. Though the listing agent had insisted that the power was active, there was no electric meter in the meter box. I could use my generator to power up the home and check electrical components, so we were able to complete this home inspection in Fairfax.

Luckily, the gas and water utility company in Fairfax, VA had activated water and gas to the home, but not inside the home. I checked the plumbing lines with the compressor.

I completed the home inspection in Fairfax and advised my client to let the asset manager and listing agent know that we had identified a leak that should be repaired before we could complete our home inspection in Fairfax. The listing agent advised the asset management company of the issue. For one reason or another, the asset management contractor then activated the water inside the home. Although I had determined that there was a leak during my Fairfax, VA home inspection, the contractor activated the water inside the home.

Three days later, when I returned to complete the home inspection with active water, I walked into a basement with three inches of water. I went back outside and turned off the water at the meter. I called the selling agent, the listing agent, and Fairfax, VA water authority. One by one, they began to arrive at the home inspection.

After several days of leaking, the location of the leak was now evident. My initial home inspection had revealed that there was a leak, but the location was to be determined. I thoroughly documented the damage and continued on to my next Fairfax, VA home inspection.

I spent the next several weeks trading messages with the listing agent. The asset management company was claiming that none of their contractors had visited the home and that the either I had turned on the water during my initial home inspection in Fairfax or that one of the agents had activated the water. I sent the agent my pictures, date stamped on the day of the initial home inspection showing the water was inactive. I also sent the pictures that showed the damage, as well as the water main activated on the day that I returned to finish the home inspection. Because of this documentation, the asset management company was able to identify the contractor who had activated the water main after my home inspection. What an ordeal. This Fairfax, VA home inspection turned in to a huge problem.

After this Fairfax, VA home inspection, I was called by the listing agent. She asked if I could complete preliminary inspections on all of her listings. All of these home inspections were also in Fairfax, VA. I booked a day to complete all five home inspections.

As I was completing the home inspection reports, I realized that four of the five had some sort of significant damage associated with not being properly winterized. The resulting damage would cost five to ten times as much as it would have cost to properly take care of the home at the onset of winter.

Each home inspection in Fairfax, VA is different. That being said, there are many items that are common. Among these items, the most serious common issues are described above.