So, you just reached mutual acceptance and now it’s time to find a home inspector. Where do you start? You have a total of 10 days to get an inspector in and out and decide if the home is worth purchasing still at the agreed upon price. A home inspection is costly but it’s important to note that you get what you pay for. It’s important to spend the extra money upfront so that you won’t have extra, unexpected costs in the long run. A great quote by Michele Dawson from realtor.com is, “In fact, two in five resale houses will have at least one major defect that could cost you from a few hundred dollars to as much as $15,000 to repair, according to the 2000 HouseMaster Resale Home Deficiencies Study.” This quote goes to show that a home inspection is worth the expense.
Looking for a home inspector can be a difficult process, here are a few tips to look for and ask when its time to hire a home inspector:
- Ask what their price includes. Do they inspect any outbuildings, go under the house, check all appliances, go on the roof? It’s easy to just look at the price and go with whatever inspector is less expensive but make sure they are still going to do a thorough job.
- Ask about their experience. How long have they been licensed? Do they have any references or client feedback they can share with you?
Michele Dawson includes a full list of questions that ASHI (American Society of Home Inspectors) recommends. You can view that here as well as read her entire article on finding a home inspector.
You can also go directly to the ASHI website here.
Thanks for reading,
Danielle