Home Buying Checklist - Windows
By Raynor James, Fri Dec 9th

If you are in the market to purchase a home, it can be easy tofall in love at first sight. Do so at your own risk. While theoverall appearance of a home is important, the quality is in thedetails. In this article, I provide a checklist of window issuesyou should consider when viewing a home.

Windows

If you are considering buying a home, you should have achecklist of things to review for the property. There is an oldcliché that eyes are the window to a person' soul. In the caseof a home, they can



be a clue to the quality of the homebuilding if you check the following:

1. The first item to check is whether the windows open and closeproperly. Quality windows should slide easily and with littlenoise. Cheap windows tend to stick and make grinding noises. Ifany window will not open or close at all, careful attentionneeds to be paid to why. Is it the quality of the window or hasthe house started moving because of foundation problems? Makesure you know the cause.

2. The second item to check is soft or mushy sills at the baseof the window. Often you can identify a soft sill by a "rotted"look, but make sure to run your hand across the sills with lightpressure to see if there are any soft spots. If you find aproblem, warning lights should be going off in your mind. Amushy sill means there is a water penetration problem. Moreimportantly, it also means the problem has existed for sometime. Long-term water problems can mean the existence of moldand mold can be an expensive problem to fix. If you are reallyinterested in the home, demand an inspection paid for by theseller. If the seller refuses, walk away from the home.

3. Water stains are the final window item to check for duringyour viewing. Just because the sills are not soft, doesn't meanthere isn't a leakage problem. Stains around a window frame aresure signs of water problems. If a room has been painted, try tofind one that hasn't. If the entire interior has been painted,ask the seller to state in the sales agreement there were nowater stains before the house was repainted.

Windows are almost always an indicator of the quality ofworkmanship for a home. Giving them a good "once over" shouldtell you a lot about the house you are considering.

About the author:Raynor James is with http://www.fsboamerica.org - providing FSBOhomes For Sale By Owner. Visit our "sell my home" page athttp://www.fsboamerica.org/seller.cfm to list and sell your homefor free for one month. Visithttp://www.fsboamerica.org/buyer.cfm to see homes for sale byowner.

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