Buying a home is a major investment, and real estate is always a smart investment. It is key that home buyers utilize the expertise of a professional home inspector, because after all, the home buyer needs to ensure that they are protecting their investment.
While most homes have their homes inspected prior to a purchase, the home buyer should always be weary of exactly who it is that inspected the home. After all, you’d never ask a car enthusiast to take a look at your car, but rather, you’d seek out a licensed mechanic who has the expertise to assess and fix any problems identified.
It is important for home buyers to make sure that a home inspector is well trained and insured, especially since the home buyer is relying on the home inspector’s professional assessment and advice in order to help them decide on whether or not they will take the leap into home ownership.
Search Realty reveals five things to look for in a home inspector.
1. Ensure that the home inspector has the proper training in all aspects of home inspections, as well as ongoing support for questions and changes in residential construction techniques and systems.
2. Make sure that the home inspector is properly certified. Certification should be from a reputable training institute, which requires re-testing annually. Here, home buyers can seek the advice of a real estate professional to learn what authorities provide the right certification.
3. The home inspector should have insurance coverage, including general liability, worker’s compensation and especially E and O (Errors and Omissions) insurance, which is comparable to malpractice insurance.
4. The home inspector should provide a proper guarantee. Home buyers should be aware that a qualified home inspector will never hesitate in providing a written guarantee to back up their inspection findings.
5. The home buyer should ensure that the home inspector is doing their job full-time. The worst thing a home buyer could do is hire a home inspector who does inspection part-time, as well as being a contractor, which obviously becomes a conflict of interest. If the home inspector is only doing it part-time, and it is learned they are contractors as well, it’s obvious that they may purposefully use defects found as an opportunity for themselves to do the repair.
In the end, the worst possible scenario a home buyer could face is a faulty inspection. Not only does the home buyer have a bad investment in their hands, but the future costs of repairs could prove overwhelming.
