Real Estate and Your Chimney

Ready to buy or sell your house?

With warmer months come real estate season. Although people buy and sell houses all year long, more houses go on the market and sell when the weather is pleasant. Whether you are looking to buy a home or list your house for sale, Valley Chimney wants to remind you that your chimney is an important part of this process. Making sure your home listing and fireplace are in sync might even help you sell/buy for your next move.

An important step in every home buyer’s process is the home inspection. When a potential home buyer puts in an offer on a home, the whole transaction is usually contingent on the home inspection. The National Fire Protection Association requires chimneys to have a Level II Inspection upon sale or transfer. That exam includes inspection of the chimney’s interior and exterior. If the chimney runs through attic, crawlspace, or basement, the inspection will cover those areas.

As the home seller, this is part of prepping your home for sale. Putting your house on the market and getting the best price possible requires some work. Your realtor probably told you about that you need to declutter and deep clean. Add a chimney sweep and inspection to that list too. At the end of the day, you can advertise your potential home buyers that the chimney was inspected and ready for a winter full of warm toasty fires.

As the potential home buyer, you want to know as much as possible about the house you are considering buying. Dave Morgenroth of Morgenroth Home Inspection said, “a home inspection includes disclosure of the condition of the visible components of fireboxes, flues, and chimneys and is an important aspect of the property inspection” in Home Inspection and Your Chimney, a guest post on the Valley Chimney blog. Sometimes that means bringing in a specialist, like an HVAC technician, an electrician, or possibly a chimney sweep to further inspect before the home sale goes through.

And even if the seller tells you the chimney is all good, you might consider bringing in your own chimney sweep for an inspection before cuddling up to the fire this winter. This would saved an Aurora chimney sweep client over $2000 last week. Use the Chimney Safety Institute of America’s website to find a CSIA Certified Chimney Sweep® in your new home area. However, if you are in the western Chicago suburbs, Valley Chimney can help. Not only are we CSIA certified, but our team includes the longest continually Certified Chimney Sweep® with the lowest CSIA Certification number being actively used.