Home Touring Checklist

Most of what goes wrong with a house in the Pacific Northwest is water going where it shouldn't, and most of what's expensive is structure. Everything else on this list is either a system with a service life or a preference you can change later. Walk the house in that order and you'll spend your attention where the money is.

The short version: think like water. Then look for anything that's moving.

This is a touring aid, not a substitute for a professional inspection. Get the inspection. Use this so you know what to ask the inspector, and so you don't pay $700 to learn something you could have seen from the sidewalk.

Section 1 — Before you go

Five minutes of research sets what you're looking for.

• Year built — each era has its own materials and problems. Pre-1980s: seismic, foundation waterproofing, original wiring.
• Lot and hazards — county GIS for floodplain, wetland, liquefaction, slope. Ridge-top means fire.
• Utilities — public water and sewer, or well and septic? Natural gas, or all-electric?
• Permit history — no permits on a 30-year-old house is normal. No permits on a finished basement is a question.
• The market — in a bidding war, this list is your eyes-open budget. In a slow market, it's leverage.

Section 2 — Walking up: the exterior

Where does the water land, and where does it go?

• Roof — condition, age, sag, patching, moss.
• Gutters and downspouts — present, attached, clean. Water kicked well away from the house, not two feet and done.
• Grade — slopes away from the foundation on all sides. Watch for low spots that pool.
• Flashing — where a roof meets a wall, and above windows and doors.
• Siding — type and condition. Look hardest at the lower and upper corners of windows and doors for softness or rot.
• Windows — age, install quality, caulking. Sloppy inserts on an older house are a water problem waiting.
• Stone or brick facade — on a pre-1980s house: any gapping or pulling away from the wall.
• Foundation — visible cracks, white mineral staining, wet spots at grade.

Section 3 — Through the door

Smell first. Then look for water.

• Smell — musty means moisture or ventilation. Animal is fixable with money; musty needs a cause.
• Ceilings and walls — stains, bubbling, patched drywall that doesn't blend.
• Floors — stains that could be water from above rather than a pet.
• Basement or crawl space — dampness, wall staining, smell. Concrete is not waterproof.
• Wet locations — under sinks, around toilets, behind the washer, at the water heater.

Section 4 — Structure: is anything moving?

A crack on a flat wall is usually the drywall settling. A crack with a dip is something else.

• Floors — flat underfoot. Dips, slopes, bounce. Squeaks are usually subfloor, not structure.
• Ceilings — bows, humps, or a line where a wall used to be.
• Removed walls — open plan in an older house: who did it, was it permitted, was it load-bearing?
• Cracks — hairline in a flat surface is benign. A crack where the surface is visibly out of plane goes to an engineer.
• Doors and windows — that stick or won't latch can mean movement.
• Exposed framing — basement, crawl, garage: replaced or undersized joists, notched beams, homeowner repairs.

Section 5 — Mechanical systems

Age, condition, and does the work look like a licensed pro did it?

• Furnace or heat pump — age and last service. Fifteen years on a furnace is a good run.
• Water heater — age, location, any sign of leaking.
• Electrical panel — brand and age. Some panels are insurance and appraisal flags. Capacity for EV, heat pump, modern appliances?
• Wiring — knob-and-tube or original early-1900s wiring in older city homes. Insurers care.
• Plumbing supply — galvanized steel rusts shut from the inside; old copper fails at the joints; PEX is modern. Three materials in one system means nobody planned it.
• Water pressure — run the highest faucet in the house.
• Orderliness — clean, labeled, straight runs suggest a pro. Tangles and mismatched materials suggest an uncle with a Honda Civic.

Section 6 — Wastewater and water source

The part nobody thinks about until it's a $20,000 problem.

• Public sewer — the line from the house to the main is usually yours. Ask about a sewer scope, especially with older pipe or big trees.
• Septic — age, last pump and inspection, and room on the lot for a replacement drainfield.
• Well — age, flow, water quality test.
• Treatment — softener or filtration — what is it treating?

Section 7 — How the house lives

Finishes are easy to change. The floor plan isn't.

• Bedrooms — where the primary sits relative to the others, and whether that's what you want.
• The grocery route — garage to kitchen. Walk it.
• Light — at the time of day you'll actually be home.
• Walls you'd move — note them, then assume you can't.
• Ignore for now — paint, fixtures, appliances, countertops. All changeable.

If you don't know what you're looking at

Take a photo. Send it to a friend in the trades, or ask an AI tool what it is — then you'll know what question to ask the inspector. AI is genuinely useful for what is this and should I care. It is not useful for what a repair costs; the numbers it gives are usually a fraction of what a licensed contractor who warranties the work will charge.

The point isn't to become an expert in roofing, wiring, and septic drainfields. You just want to buy a house. The point is to walk in knowing which questions belong to which house, so the surprises come before you're under contract instead of after.