Home Inspection
Beardoh
| Posted in General Questions on
A friend has an offer on a home built in the 1980s in Washington (Around Chelan area).
He’ll be having a home inspection done in the next few days and asked me for some things to make sure that the inspector looks at.
I mentioned the following:
Water damage is a big thing to look for, in my opinion.
The sill plate, if there is access under the house – especially around the exterior doors, bathtubs.
Floor joists under exterior doors, sinks, toilets.
What else would be good to make sure the inspector inspects?
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Replies
Sadly, home inspection is not so much what the buyer thinks they are paying for! Almost always the inspectors are selected on the recommendation of the real estate agent. If the inspector finds big expensive problems that kills deals, they suddenly stop getting recommendations and go out of business. The incentive is to make a long list of minor problems the buyer’s agent can use to get cash from the seller to the buyer without actually making any repairs.
Often the inspectors do not enter attics or crawlspaces they stick their heads in the opening at best.
Walta
In this case, the buyer found the home inspector I believe
Beardoh,
If you need to make a list, you have hired the wrong inspector. They should have a compressive plan to look at each part of the structure, and each system within it. Any exclusions should just be for inaccessible areas they can't or do not include in their inspections, and those should be listed in their report.
Being certified by NACHI is a good start: https://www.nachi.org/
I agree with you. My friend has heard tales of the young and experienced me buying my first house where the inspector missed rotten sillplates. While I learned a bit from jacking up the house and making these repairs (20 years ago), I still have a bad taste in general regarding home inspectors.
Beardoh,
It's a largely unregulated industry which yields mixed results at best. I just don't think a list would be an effective way of dealing with that. You either have someone you can trust, or you are out of luck.