Advise & Consult, Inc. – October 4, 2012
It has become pretty common to see advertising on TV and radio for CarFax, a tool that would be used car buyers can use to find out what, if anything, has happened to that particular car prior to them purchasing that car. They can find out if it was in a wreck, a flood, and if it has had any particular mechanical problems. This tool can help you determine if you are still interested in buying that car, and if you are, what you are willing to pay. Certainly a would be buyer wouldn’t pay the same price knowing that there have been some particular problems with the car.
Now, wouldn’t it make even more sense to have something similar to CarFax for an investment that will probably cost 20 – 50 times more than a used car? I think that the only people that are not excited for these types of products are the crooks that are out there selling bad cars and homes with construction defects. Well, I have found one such tool that will help solve some of these issues – www.housefaxreview.com. Right now it is centered on Nevada construction defects, but has the capability to expand to the entire country, and according to the website, will add California in 2013. It currently has over 10,000 entries and growing.
Construction defects can be just as hidden to the untrained eye as mechanical problems are on cars, only now we can be talking about hundreds of thousands of dollars to repair some major construction defects, not to mention the cost and hardship associated with having to deal with the repairs, possible health problems, legal fees, among many other problems.
When you go to House Fax Review, you can search for a particular address, city or state and pull up information on the house(s) you are interested in purchasing. For a very minimal fee – especially when you are talking about a $200,000 or more purchase – varying between $5 and $100, depending on the quality and quantity of the report, you can download a report, pictures and other factual information that can help you decide on buying that house. Going into a purchase of this magnitude and as important as your family’s home, it is good to have these weapons and be aware of as much as you possibly can.
When there are construction defects present, the homeowner must either have the repairs made or disclose the defects when the sale is being made. While having construction defects is a real problem and not fun to deal with, having these problems thrust upon you when you weren’t aware of them, assume that the house is fine, and paid the full price with the assumption that there were no problems. If there are problems and you are aware of them going into the sale to begin with can be a blessing for both parties, but it can get ugly really fast when one party is trying to pull wool over another party’s eyes.