Due Diligence and Hazards Beyond the Home

Sometimes a home can have issues that, technically, nobody is required to report. Plus, due to the severely minor frequency of certain events they may not even be worth mentioning, anyway. But wouldn’t you still like to know? In this article we are going to take a brief look at some things most people fail to consider much less even ask about.

Every year there an amazing amount of natural disasters that occur around the United States, with some years being worse than others, and some areas getting devastated more than others. From incredible months of snow storms to raging wildfires, not to mention avalanche risks, earthquake zones, catastrophic flooding, tornadoes that wipe complete towns off the map, and hurricanes that can shut down half of an entire state for the next month.

There are natural hazards and risks everywhere but, while some areas are more at-risk than others, simply knowing what is possible can be a healthy dose of prevention. When you find a home that you are interested in, especially in an area that you not very familiar with, a little due diligence on your part can go a long way towards saving you heartache and financial ruin. Sometimes just a simple search from your favorite search engine (Google, Bing, etc.) with words like, “natural disaster (add city name here)”, you can see what natural hazards are common or have happened in the past in that area.

Then there are other issues to consider, such as a home you are interested in being right in the flight-path for a major airport. Perhaps there is a minimum-security (no fence around the place) prison nearby or a superfund site (polluted location requiring a decade or more of response to clean up hazardous material contaminations) not far away from your ideal home. Again, a few minutes of simple web searching can yield all sorts of answers to these and other curious questions that could affect your healthy and your future. On a rather frightening note, there are far more superfund sites located around the United States than there are colleges. While the sites may not be openly advertised they are publicly acknowledged and their information is publicly available online.

Finally, there are other hazards that are quite unnatural, but just as dangerous. Thankfully, when it comes to things like crime rates, gang activity, and the sex-offenders living in a neighborhood, this information can also be handily available thanks to the web. Even the greatest looking neighborhoods can have some worrisome surprises in their online statistics, while a neighborhood that may not look so great at first glance can actually be one of the quietest and safest environments. Politicians lie, Realtors exaggerate, but numbers always tell the truth.

This has been sort of a dark and scary article, certainly not something to inspire confidence or comfort, but it seemed necessary to finally attempt a discussion about something you will not commonly see posted when it comes to real estate discussions. While articles like this are not very conducive to inspire people to buy and sell homes it is a necessary topic that deserves some consideration when someone is looking for a place to safely raise a family or simply to make one of the largest financial investments of their life.

Please do not spend a great amount of time dwelling on these topics, as they are not meant to cause distress or worry. But please do keep in mind that just a little homework on your part before buying can save you a great deal of grief later on. I’ll be back with a more uplifting topic soon. Until then, as always, take care!