Home Inspections or "One Flew over Someone Else's Cuckoo Nest"

If you are even considering buying a house, you HAVE TO get at inspection...or better yet, hire an engineer.
They go into the dark, stinky basements to check the wiring, plumbing, foundation.  They go into the attic to check for venting and insulation...and usually find the one obligatory dead something or other.  They are your eyes and ears.  After all, I'm not about to drag my butt into the attic and look around if I don't have to.

You get a fancy report with all the flaws of the property....and this becomes your bargaining point.  And if there is enough wrong with it, you get to run away and fast.. So.. if you offer to sell a box of apples to me for $15, I offer to buy it for $12, the engineer's report comes back and says 3 of the apples are smaller than the rest, 2 are slightly bruised and 1 has an odd smell.  I am still interested in the apples, after all you can always make applesauce...but I digress...I am still interested, so I offer to buy the apples for $8 rather than having the sale go nowhere.  The seesaw begins...who will give and who will bend...who will ultimately get their way.
It becomes a test of wills and endurance....the one that goes insane first...loses.  Maybe that extra room can have padding put on the wall....someone's sure gonna need it.