A smart way to purchase property without regrets after the sale consummates, is to put safe guards in your sales contract that give you a safety net.  One of these nets is to always make any offer subject to a SATISFACORY property inspection.  Now, whether you can perform this yourself or hire a professional, you still have a legal way of voiding the contract to purchase if something should be revealed that could cause potential financial risk down the road for you.  Finding such an inspector is not a hard task and word of mouth within the real estate community is usually the best route. But you can also locate potential inspectors on the internet as all should be licensed with their state. 

You are looking for hidden or masked areas of structural, electrical and plumbing problems that the owner is purposely or inadvertently not disclosing that could be major issues down the road for you. If you feel you possess adequate expertise to perform your own inspection, be sure to pay close attention to the following list of possible trouble areas:

• Roof age and/or present and future damage, insufficient gutters and downspouts, etc.
• Foundational issues such as cracking in the cement or side walls and sloping issues
• Evidence of black mold or water marks on the basement walls, also be on the look out for potential places water could seep in down the rode
• Pest infestation in the trusses or wood areas as well as any dry rot
• Old water and sewer lines that may be unusable\
• Bare, stripped or missing electrical wiring and red flags for fire hazards

Another area of concern that most home buyers take for granted, is past land use that could have caused residual soil contamination. Such as, if a gas station or industrial business that typically used gas or cleaning solvents in the past or the property was used as a dumping ground for hazardous/toxic wastes of some kind.  

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