Good morning! My fiance and I are looking into buying the house I grew up in. My parents currently own the house now and are looking to head south - or anywhere but NJ. :grin: But, I'm having a little trouble figuring out where to start with all this.

Honestly, the house needs a decent amount of work. It's 30 years old and is starting to show it. Needs a new roof, stove quit working about a month ago, septic system and well water that I have no clue when were last serviced, etc... So I figured a home inspection might be a good place to start. Does that sound reasonable?

Based on the results of the inspection (i.e. how much work am I going to need to put into this place), I figure I'd be better positioned to work out a price with my folks.

Does this seem logical? This is my first experience with anything like this, so I just want to make sure I do it right!

Thanks! I appreciate any and all advice anyone is willing to offer!

Well water is a HUGE concern. Many never test the quality of the water or upkeep the equipment.

Even if people do test they do it once a year. Well water should be tested at least every month. The reason is one month you can be clear and the next month the well can be contaminated. There are people who have life long illnesses from bad water. You could install and additional filtration system on the house.

Personally I only drink spring water. The difference between spring water and filtered water at the store is that spring water has vitamins and minerals that are good for your body.
Protected springs the company usually owns a few hundred acres around the site and also runs tests every hour to make sure the water meets stringent requirements.

You can separate water into drinking versus non-drinking water.You would want sink,ice maker,shower on clean water and toilet could use non-potable water or for watering plants,pressure washing house etc.Some have public water but I don't drink that either.People flush all kinds of things down the toilet including prescription pills along with chem lawn for yards all end up at the water treatment plants and they can never get out all that crap. So when you are taking a drink of tap water you are ingesting that junk. If you must drink tap water put a filter on each faucet or a main system on the house.

Take your parents out of the equation. You want a full inspection to see all problems with the property.

Great. Thanks for the input. I am trying to treat this as impartial as possible - that's why I thought the inspection would be a good idea.

Regarding well water, ours is terrible. It's full of Iron, turns every faucet, drain, and probably my own intestines orange :/ We have a salt-style water softener, which does help. I'll probably look into something better if I do by the house. I've put up with it for 26 years, and while it is a big inconvenience, it won't discourage me from buying the house. Especially for the right price. Which is sort of my idea behind this inspection. The more things that are wrong, the more things I have to fix, the better I sleep knowing that the "really good price" my parents gave me won't rob them of their retirement. lol!

However, what I am concerned with is, how long do wells last? Do pumps burn out? Sounds costly? Is a well pump something an inspector will check during an inspection? Or is it buried underground? What about septic tanks? We pump ours every few years. Do tanks ever need to be replaced? Any way of the home inspector checking that?

Where I come from septic and wells are not conductuded by the home inspector. They have different certifications. If they have have the certs, their is an additional charge. The lender will require the tests on the well anyways.

My experience with wells and septic, they can be expensive. The pump is fairly cheap to replace, it should be somewhere in the house. If the well gets contaminated it could be expensive. If it ever goes dry, very expensive. Septic sytems could get expensive also.

You should have an idea how the folks want for the house ? Remember Mothers Day is Sunday, so make sure you buy Mom a good gift to soften her up. Make the offer on Fathers Day after getting a nice gift for Dad.

LOL that is funny!

Yes if the well runs dry and you have to dig down even further it can get very expensive. Septic systems do have to be replaced over time.

What they do is a dye test they run through the line out to the tank. It will show any leaks in the system then they check the septic tank to see if it has any cracks and also if it needs pumping out.

For home inspectors do not go for the cheapest. Look for Ashi or Cabo certified. Don't be afraid to ask how many inspections they have performed,what certifications they have,and what kind of report they give and in what format.

Many buyers don't know that in a lot of states home inspectors have no formal training. Some are contractors out of work and some are real estate agents who couldn't hack it. In the forms the home inspector says they ARE NOT AN EXPERT and that they are absolved of any repercussions. The home inspector might point out things to you and say to get it professionally inspected for that one item.Example foundation repair company to further inspect cracks,etc.

Can that cost money it sure can but buying and not paying for further inspection can cost tens of thousands of dollars in repairs more.

Dayton, You come from the land of High Water Tables. Any well over 33 feet deep (due to pulling a vacuum requires that the pump be in the well. Common in our area for wells to be 80+ feet deep.

For the original poster, I have to mention that most of the properties that I have seen sold between family members turn out badly. Seller thinks they got too little, buyer thinks they paid too much, and ill will can be created. Just something to think about.

Good luck with it.

I like hearing what is typical elsewhere in the US.

We're called the Green Mountain State because we too have a high water table; but sitting on granite, a lot runs off, and sometimes the reliable aquifer is very deep.

Some wells must be drilled 600 to 800 feet. I have one property where the well is 560' Deep and the yield is still only a measely ¼ Gallon per Minute(that's only a quart). Within a 1000' of him, a neighbor drilled 75' and gets 100 GPM. You have to employ Clark Kent before you commence drilling. All Wells are not created equal.