How to Inspect Homes and Apartments
for German Cockroaches
Before you purchase a home, rent a home, or rent an apartment, you should always inspect it for German cockroaches before you hand over a down payment or security deposit. Failure to do this make place you into one of the worst nightmares of your life.
Before you begin, make sure that you have a good flashlight with you. Your cell phone can work with a pinch, but there's nothing like a really good flashlight.
The best place to start your inspection is in the kitchen. Look in the base cabinet under the sink. Use a flashlight to examine the pipes. If you see any material on the pipes that looks a bit like pepper, that is quite likely to be cockroach fecal matter. The cleaning crew will often clean this off the pipes, but they will almost never clean it off the bottom of the sink. So, you need to stick your head under the sink and look up. You should also check where the pipes are entering the wall or running down into the floor. If you see any cockroach fecal matter, body parts, or even live cockroaches, then this is not the home for you.
If the sink comes up clean, then open the refrigerator doors and check around the rubber seals. Many times, you will find cockroach fecal matter in the folds of the seals. If that looks good, then pull out the refrigerator and look behind it. Cleaning crews often miss the area where the refrigerator is located. Again, we're looking for fecal matter, body parts, and live roaches.
Check behind and under the stove as well. Many times they will not let you pull the stove out, particularly if it's fired by gas. Still, you can look behind and under the stove with a flashlight. If there is a storage drawer under the oven, open it and inspect that entire area. Don't forget to look under the burners. Some stoves have a feature that will allow you to lift the top of the stove up for cleaning. If this is the case, then lift it up and see what you can find.
If there's a pantry, check all the shelves. If there are doors to the pantry, look inside the pantry on the floor behind where the door jamb is located. Cleaning crews almost never remove cockroach body parts from this area. You should also inspect all your closets throughout the entire building or apartment in the same manner. If there are roaches, you will almost find them inside the closet behind the door jamb.
If this is a house, and all these areas past inspection, then the house is probably clear of cockroaches.
If this is an apartment, then you should take one final step, which is talking to other tenants. Don't sign the lease the same day as your inspection. Return later in the day or another day and knock on some doors. Ask other tenants if they are having a problem with cockroaches. While you are at it, you can also ask them if there are any other problems that they can tell you about. You would be amazed how much information you can learn simply by talking to other tenants. If people are upset with the landlord, they will spill their guts. If even one person tells you they have cockroaches, then this is not the apartment for you.