Home inspection in Lilydale.

What we see in Lilydale homes.

Lilydale is one of the smallest cities we cover: 0.88 square miles and 809 residents in 2020. The old village lay on the Mississippi floodplain, where the Twin City Brick Company mined Decorah shale from the bluffs above from 1894 into the 1970s. Repeated flooding pushed the town up onto the bluffs, and the floodplain became Lilydale Regional Park, named for the lilies on Pickerel Lake. The 2010 census listed 444 housing units, so the stock is small, and the bluff and floodplain setting still shapes it.

Slope and water are the story. On bluff-top and hillside lots, retaining walls, grading, downspout discharge and any signs of soil movement or foundation cracking matter, since bluff erosion is an ongoing concern in the neighboring park. The old brickyard quarries and clay pits are a reminder that ground history matters, so settlement and basement moisture are worth noting. Whether the home is detached or an attached unit, the exterior envelope, decks and balconies, roofs, and the mechanical systems inside also matter.

Local facts checked September 2026 against: Wikipedia, nps.gov, home.nps.gov, tclf.org.