Ask about the sewer line before you ask about the countertops
The most expensive thing in an old Denver house is usually the part nobody photographs. What to read in an inspection report, and what to pay for first.
Most of the brick houses in Congress Park and the Highlands went up before 1930. They are lovely, and they have a clay pipe running under the front yard to the street.
Pay for the camera
A sewer scope costs a few hundred dollars and takes under an hour. It is not part of a standard inspection, so you have to ask for it. Roots and cracks in an old line can mean a five-figure repair, and the seller may not know.
Read the report from the bottom up
The summary tells you what the inspector noticed. The back pages tell you what the inspector could not see: a roof under snow, a furnace that was off, a crawlspace with no hatch. Each of those is a question for the seller.
What a good report gets you
Sometimes it gets you a credit. More often it gets you confidence. Knowing what is already new lets you write a stronger offer on a house that other buyers skipped.
