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Avoid The Money Pit With A Good Home Inspector

21/06/10

If you think a 12% annual return on your money is good, here's the first time insider secret on HOW TO set your sights on 23% from your mortgage.

1. Get a Home Inspector With A Lot Of Experience:
It takes a full time home inspector at least 50 inspections to start to develop the eyes, ears and nose for hunting down problems. Part-time home inspectors merely don’t have the time in the field to develop that keen sense of detection . Be sure to ask how many inspections the inspector performs annually and how many years theyhave been doing home ispections . A quality full time home inspector performs 300 to 400 inspections annually – low quality inspectors conduct 50 to 100 inspections yearly . Conducting 300-400 inspections each year requires extensive referrals, by previous clients, lenders, real estate agents and others — so there is a much greater chance the inspector has the necessary experience to perform a thorough inspection !

2. Education & Training:
Being a contractor is very dissimilar from being a Professional Home Inspector. Home Inspectors are responsible for evaluating all of the systems and components of the home — not just one aspect , like the brick or the framing . To be able to provide a qualified evaluation of all of these elements takes formal education and training. Did the inspector attend one of the top home inspection schools like The American Home Inspectors Training Institute (AHIT) or Inspection Training Associates (ITA)? Or, did he only complete a correspondence course, or worse have some inexperienced person show him how to inspect?
Upon completion of the inspector’s formal education did they complete a thorough training program where they completed 40 to 50 home inspections with a qualified professional in the field? Or did they learn on the job at someone else’s expense? If the inspector is a one-man operation , then who is checking the quality of the their work? Engineering and technology in today’s home is becoming more complicated all the time. Extensive continuing education and training is necessary !

3. Certifications:
While certifications are certainly important, it’s the combination of Experience, Education and Training that make the difference in the competence of your next home inspector. Certifications ,while important, only proves the inspector can pass a test not that they can inspect a home correctly. We all know people who are certified for one thing or another that we wouldn’t use under any circumstances . There is no substitute for experience and in the field training.

4. The Inspection Report:
The top home inspectors in today’s market don’t produce handwritten reports. A professional inspector will provide a combination checklist/narrative report. Technology has evolved where you should expect to receive a full-color report on site, with digital color photographs of theproblems discovered during the course of the inspection. The report should provide “Summary Pages” with detailed categories like Major Concerns, Safety Issues and Deferred Cost Items, etc.The report should not contain repair costs or action plans for repairs. Professional home inspectors inspect — they don’t repair! An inspector that also does repairs should always be avoided due to the conflict of interest inherent in that situation.Ask for a sample of an inspection report so you’ll know what you can expect for your time and money. Edit this text you are the client!

5. How Long Has The Inspection Company Been Years In Business:

Is the inspection company locally owned and operated or are they some far away faceless corporation where no one is monitoring and evaluating the quality of their inspectors work ? If you are dealing with a multi-inspector firm, how long has the inspection company been in business ? Does the inspection company have dedicated employees serving as customer service representatives to schedule appointments and provide any needed follow up assistance .

6. Ask To See What Other Home Buyers Have Said About The Inspector:
A Professional Home Inspectors ask their client’s to complete comment cards when they complete the inspection. They will also want to know what they are doing right, as well as what might need improvement. If the inspector will not provide client referrals,you probably want to consider someone else!