Home Defects Buyers Miss
The problems that change an offer: how to spot them in a listing, what they cost, and how to negotiate them.
Foundation cracks
Hairline is normal. Stair-step, horizontal, or wider than a quarter is a negotiation.
Polybutylene pipes
Common in homes built 1978–1995. It fails from the inside, without warning.
Knob-and-tube wiring
It can work fine for a century. The problem is everything people did to it since.
Federal Pacific panels
If the panel says FPE or Stab-Lok, budget for a replacement before you budget for paint.
Old roof
“Roof has some life left” is a sentence that costs buyers five figures.
Want the process, not the defect? Read the guides.