15. Inspection Issues by Build Era

The key points

• Paramus is a 1950s town. Half of the homes standing today went up before 1960, and four in ten went up in the 1950s alone.¹⁹⁴
• The decade a house was built predicts what an inspector finds more closely than its price does.
• Three extra checks answer what a general inspection cannot: a tank sweep, a sewer camera and an electrician's look at the panel. Together they cost under $1,000.
• The Borough requires a certificate before a home is sold, and every open permit must be closed first.^195, 196 This is the rule that delays closings.
• New houses need an inspection too. Since 2015, 528 single-family houses have been built in Paramus, most of them on lots where an older house came down.¹⁹⁴

A dagger (†) marks a figure or statement that rests on a secondary source or is not confirmed against the primary document.

When Paramus homes were built

Table 15.1. Paramus homes by build era.

Source: Borough of Paramus tax list.¹⁹⁴ The 1950s are 39.5% of the total, and the median year built is 1960. The tax list shows the year of the house standing now, so a teardown lot shows the new house, not the old one.

What this means for you
If you are buying an original Paramus house, you are almost certainly buying a 1950s or 1960s house, and those two rows of the next table are the ones to read twice. If you are buying new, read the last row and the new-construction list below.

What to expect by build era

Table 15.2. Typical findings and the inspections to order, by build era.

A few of these need a word of explanation:

• Old wiring and panels. Many insurers ask for knob-and-tube wiring to be replaced before they will issue a policy, and they routinely require replacement of Federal Pacific and Zinsco panels. A 60-amp or 100-amp service cannot carry an EV charger, a heat pump or an induction range without an upgrade.
• Aluminum wiring. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission reports that homes built before 1972 and wired with aluminum are "55 times more likely" to have connections reach fire-hazard conditions than copper-wired homes.¹⁹⁷ An electrician can tell in a few minutes at the panel.
• Asbestos. Assume nine-inch floor tile in a 1950s basement contains it until tested.¹⁹⁸ Left intact, it is generally managed in place. Disturbing it means licensed abatement.
• Lead paint. For any home built before 1978, the seller must disclose known lead paint and give the buyer 10 days to test, unless the buyer waives that in writing.¹⁹⁹ That covers about three of every four Paramus homes.
• Radiant heat in the slab. Some 1950s ranches and capes were heated by tubing cast into the concrete floor. When it leaks, the repair is a new heating system, not a patch.
• Radon. The State rates Paramus as low radon potential. Of 3,921 Paramus homes tested, 108, or 3 percent, were at or above the EPA action level.²⁰⁰† A test adds roughly $100 to $150 to an inspection, and a mitigation system runs $1,200 to $2,000. A seller who has tested must give the buyer the results when the contract is signed.²⁰¹

Oil tanks

Many early Paramus houses were built with oil heat and converted to gas later, often with the tank left in the ground.

• Check for one. A tank sweep with a metal detector or ground-penetrating radar costs a few hundred dollars.
• An abandoned tank is still a question. New Jersey allows a tank to be abandoned in place, but lenders and insurers increasingly do not accept it. Removal needs a permit from the Building Department.
• A leak must be reported to the State right away at 877-WARN-DEP.²⁰²
• Plan to pay out of pocket. A clean removal runs roughly $1,500 to $3,000. Where soil has to be cleaned up, the cost is $10,000 to $50,000 or more. The State's grant fund holds applications until money is available, with an estimated wait of "3.5 years from the date of receipt."²⁰³

The sewer line

Cast-iron drain pipe has a working life usually put at 75 to 100 years. A house built in 1951 is 75 this year. A sewer camera inspection costs a few hundred dollars and is the only way to see the line from the house to the street. In a house with no basement, the plumbing runs under or through the slab, so the camera matters more.

What I tell my buyers: in Paramus the question is rarely whether the house has a 1950s problem. It is which ones have already been fixed. A tank sweep, a sewer camera and an electrician's look at the panel cost under $1,000 together, and they answer the three questions the general inspection cannot. On a new build I ask for the final CO and the warranty certificate before I ask about the countertops.

Flood: past claims and how to check an address

About 782 acres of Paramus, 11.6% of its land, sit in FEMA's mapped flood zone.²⁰⁴ Much of that is county parkland along the Saddle River, but not all of it.

Table 15.3. Flood insurance claims in ZIP 07652, by year of loss.

Source: FEMA flood insurance claims data.²⁰⁵ FEMA does not tie claims to streets.

Ida itself produced 29 of the 2021 claims and $2,260,519 in payments. Ten of those 29 claims, carrying $1,096,348 of the total, were on homes outside the mapped flood zone.²⁰⁵

How to check an address:

• Look at the FEMA flood map at msc.fema.gov, on the NJDEP flood mapper, or at the Building Department, 1 Jockish Square.
• Know which parts of town to check first. The Borough's drainage rules point to the strip west of Paramus Road down to the Saddle River (which includes the Dunkerhook area), the Sprout Brook corridor through the middle of town between Midland Avenue and Ridgewood Avenue, and the blocks north of Midland Avenue toward Green Valley Road and Roosevelt Boulevard.²⁰⁶
• Read the seller's flood disclosure. Since March 20, 2024, every New Jersey seller, including one selling "as is," must state whether the property is in a flood zone, whether it has flooded and whether flood claims have been filed.²⁰⁷ Ask for it before you bid.
• Ask before you plan to rebuild. State rules adopted in July 2023 raised the required elevation for new and substantially improved buildings in river flood areas.²⁰⁸ Near the Saddle River or Sprout Brook, that changes the foundation and the cost.

What this means for you
In Ida, about a third of the Paramus flood claims and nearly half of the dollars came from houses the FEMA map does not put in the flood zone. Lenders require flood insurance only inside the mapped zone. If the house is in one of the areas above, or near any stream, get a flood insurance quote during attorney review whether or not the lender asks for one. Outside the mapped zone it is usually inexpensive.

What Paramus requires at resale

Paramus requires an application for a Certificate of Compliance before a home is sold or rented.¹⁹⁵ The fee is $100.²⁰⁹ The Borough states that "occupancy without a Certificate is a violation of the Uniform Construction Code and is subject to a penalty of up to $2000."²¹⁰

The inspector checks smoke and carbon monoxide alarms, the house number, the Borough-issued garbage and recycling containers, the fence around any pool, and, if the house has a generator, solar panels or battery storage, a printed warning label within 18 inches of both the main electrical panel and the electric meter. A handwritten label does not pass.^196, 211 Hardwired alarms from the original construction may not be swapped for battery units.

A fire extinguisher is no longer required at sale. The State dropped that rule on February 3, 2025, and the Borough's guideline sheet calls one recommended.^211, 196 It costs about $25† and belongs within 10 feet of the kitchen anyway.

Inspections are held Monday through Friday, 9:00 am to 12:00 pm, and are scheduled after the Borough receives the application and payment. All open construction permits must be closed at least one week before scheduling.^210, 196 Building Department: 201-265-2100, ext. 2230.

What this means for you
The open-permit rule is the one that delays closings. A 1950s house often has a permit that was opened and never closed, or work done with no permit at all. Sellers: pull your permit history at the Building Department before you list. Buyers: ask for the Borough's certificate and the permit history, and treat finished space with no permit as a cost.

New-construction checks

Section 2 covers the economics of new construction, and Section 9 covers the added tax bills that follow completion. What to check on the house itself:

• The certificate of occupancy. Ask for the final Certificate of Occupancy from the Paramus Building Department, not a temporary one, and for confirmation that every permit is closed.
• The warranty. New Jersey requires the builder to be registered with the State and to enroll the home in a warranty plan: one year on workmanship and materials, two years on mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems, ten years on major structural defects. The warranty runs with the house. Ask for the certificate at contract.²¹²†
• Grading and drainage. A larger house on a 1950s lot covers more of the ground than the house it replaced. Look at where the roof leaders discharge and how the lot is graded toward the neighbors.
• The punch list. Write it before closing and attach it to the contract with a completion date and a holdback.
• Stucco. Where stucco or synthetic stucco is used, ask a certified inspector for a moisture survey.

Two more things to look up

• The water service line. The water company's notice, posted by the Borough, states: "If lead is found, Veolia will remove it AT NO COST TO THE HOMEOWNER."²¹³ Look up the address in Veolia's online service line inventory before you offer. If the line is listed as lead, galvanized or unknown, call 1-800-422-5987.
• Nearby cleanup sites. The State lists 51 known contaminated sites in Paramus, almost all of them along Route 17 and Route 4.²¹⁴ A listing is a record that a cleanup is being supervised, not a finding that neighboring homes are affected. Look up the nearest site on NJDEP DataMiner before the inspection period ends.

† Figures marked with a dagger are best-effort research, so verify them with the issuing office (the Borough of Paramus, the school district, the county, the state or the utility) before making judgment calls or decisions on them.