What Should You Look For In A Professional Home Inspection?

nice home

Hire A Professional

Buying a home is both an exciting and terrifying experience. The thrill of finding a new place to call home is often tempered by the mountain of paperwork and red tape you have to work through to ensure you don’t get a bum deal. One aspect of the buying process that you shouldn’t skimp on is making sure the safety and integrity of the building are up to par, but what should you look for in a professional home inspection? Especially for first-time buyers, it’s difficult to tell the difference between a seasoned professional and a sneaky shyster. We’ve compiled a list of things to look for when it comes to choosing the right person for the job. You can breathe a little easier if you just follow these tips.

Kitchen

Find an inspector that’s ASHI certified

 

The role of a general house inspector is to serve as an impartial and unbiased assessor of a piece of real estate. An inspector gets paid whether or not the house is sold, so he has no vested interest in lying or deceiving you. That said, the American Society of Home Inspectors mandates that the inspectors are impartial and fair. You’ll also avoid conflicts of interest, like running into an inspector who just happens to own a maintenance business! This is a simple little checkbox that assures you that you’re in the hands of a professional who won’t mislead you.

 

Know when to call a specialist

While you can generally trust that ASHI professionals will do their best to give you an honest look at the condition of your new home, sometimes there are some hidden issues that a general inspector might not catch.

 

Things you may need to hire a specialist for include checking for termites and assessing the condition of swimming pools, septic systems, oil tanks and the health of the yard. While these aspects of a home’s condition may sound expensive to confirm, it’s worth the cost for the piece of mind and confidence in your real estate purchase. Trust me, it’s far more expensive to discover a serious infestation of termites than it is to hire a pest inspector!

home

Experience trumps all

As with any profession, you want a home inspector who knows what he’s doing. Don’t be afraid to ask about your inspector’s background when choosing the best candidate for the job. A good guideline is to seek out professionals with a background in housing or construction and several years of experience as an inspector. It makes a lot of sense that a person with experience building or remodeling a house would be able to spot a home’s issues. While this isn’t a surefire guarantee, combined with the other tips you’ll be setting yourself up for success.

 

When it comes time to purchase a home, do your best to make sure you cover all of your bases. A good home inspection might just seem like another chore you have to take care of before you can live in a new home, it’s a crucial part of making sure you don’t get stuck with bigger issues than you signed up for. Hiring an impartial, experienced, and certified inspector who knows when to recommend a specialist is a great way to make sure your new abode is a happy and safe environment.