Home inspection in Dike.

The emphasis shifts hard depending on which Dike you are buying in. The town was laid out in 1900 by railroad engineer Chester Thomas Dike and incorporated on January 16, 1901, and those original-grid houses get the older-home read: stone and early block foundations, wiring updated in layers, chimneys, and clay sewer laterals that earn a scope. But Dike grew roughly 38 percent between 2000 and 2020 at about three percent vacancy, so much of the market is newer subdivision stock, and there the findings are builder details — backfill settlement, grading pitched toward the house, attic insulation and ventilation shortcuts, unsealed ducts, and mis-wired outlets. Radon matters in both: Iowa is EPA Radon Zone 1 statewide, and tighter new houses concentrate it.

Plan on two to three hours for an average home; larger, older or multi-unit properties run longer because there is simply more to document.