You may have heard that buyers should have a home inspection before they purchase a home.
If you’re not familiar with home inspectors and what they do, it may be tempting to skip the expense and hope for the best. But avoiding the inspection can turn out to be a costly mistake.
Home inspectors generally check the major systems and components in a home for damage, such as the structure, plumbing, roof, electrical system, heating and air conditioning, and appliances. Based on their observations, they may recommend that certain repairs be made either before or after you purchase the home.
Most people only hire a home inspector a few times in their lives, so they don’t know what questions to ask. Here are some of the things we recommend you look for in a home inspector.
Experience
Find out how much experience your home inspector has before you hire him or her. Their experience doesn’t have to be only in home inspections—they may have a background in construction or home repairs. No matter what their experience level, they should have some training in doing home inspections.
Membership in professional organizations
Your inspector should be a member of a professional organization such as the American Society of Home Inspectors, the National Association of Home Inspectors, or the International Association of Certified Home Inspectors. These organizations offer certifications to their members and require them to uphold procedural and ethicals standards. If your prospective inspector isn’t a member of one of these groups, you should probably move to the next candidate on your list.
References
You are well within your rights to ask your potential inspector for references from past clients. Consider asking for someone whose home he or she inspected a year or two ago. That should be long enough for the homeowner to uncover any major problems that the inspector missed.
Information about the inspection
Once you’re satisfied that your inspector has the background and expertise to do the job right, it’s time to get some information on how he or she will conduct the inspection. How much time will it take? What, specifically, will he or she inspect? Your home inspector should offer to send you a written report with his or her findings within 24 hours of the inspection. What format is it in, and will that format be acceptable to your mortgage lender?
You should ask to attend the inspection. If your inspector does not want you to be present at the inspection, cross him or her off the list. A good inspector will not only allow you to be present, but will take you through the house during or at the end of the inspection to make sure you thoroughly understand everything that is going into the inspection report.
Buying a home is a big investment. At Loeffler Realty, our only goal is 100% customer satisfaction. A home inspection will help to ensure that the house you want is the house you’re getting.