inspector recommended by a realtor (Howe: real estate, home, home inspection)

[John Barlow]

Should I hire a home inspector recommended by a realtor or should I find my own.

[escanlan]

Originally Posted by John Barlow

Should I hire a home inspector recommended by a realtor or should I find my own.

Your Agent can provide you a list of Inspectors they have used in the past and it can save you some time looking. However where ever you get the list you still need to check the Inspector out thoroughly. If I can offer several important tips to those looking for Inspectors these are what I would recommend.

1. Make a list of the special abilities you think you might need for your home inspection. For example do you need Thermal Imaging as you suspect or would like to rule out water damage issues, insulation issues, etc.
2. Review the Inspectors WEB site and any other advertising before you even contact them. You might even just want to scan Inspector sites that you might not even be using. Read through them and generate a list of questions you want to ask the Inspector(s) you will be calling. You might never have used an Inspector's services before and reading through WEB sites can give you an idea of what to ask.
3. Pick out at least 6 Inspectors you think would fit your needs and give them a call and talk to them about their services. Use the lists you made above to help interview them. The important thing here is to find one that you feel comfortable with when just speaking on the phone. It can give you a good idea about the Inspector and whether they would work for you. What you want to do is find at least 3 Inspectors you would use. Sometimes Inspectors schedules might not fit yours when you need them as they might already be booked. Having 3 helps ensure one is available when you do need them.
4. In your first conversation with the Inspectors don't even talk about the Inspector's fee. That has a tendency to cloud a persons judgment when they run into the varying fee structures of Inspectors. First find the three you like and call them back later and ask about their fee.
5. Depending on the home you might want a termite inspection performed. Never use a Home Inspector that is also performing that inspection. Always use a separate and professional pest control company to perform the termite inspection. I can go into volumes why you should not use the Inspector but will just say the vast majority of times you are not receiving the same level of attention to this inspection as you might think.
6. Always check the Inspectors license status on the Texas Real Estate Commission's WEB site at TREC - Home Page. No offense intended to Agents but I still see a lot of these Agent lists that are not updated and have Inspectors on it that are no longer actively licensed. I've actually seen lists where the individual was never licensed.

Finding Inspectors on your own is not difficult either. If you Google search you will find advertisements all over the place. Another option is to use the search functions on the various Inspector association bulletin boards. Some of these are

International Association of Certified Home Inspectors (InterNACHI)
Home - Texas Professional Real Estate Inspectors Association, TPREIA - Texas Building Inspectors - Texas property Inspectors - Texas Real Estate Inspectors - Texas home inspector training - Texas home inspector education
www.tarei.com
American Society of Home Inspectors, ASHI

You will hear a lot about "Only use Inspectors from XXX association", etc., etc. Associations memberships are no guarantee you will receive a good Inspector. As a matter of fact some very good Inspectors don't belong to any of these associations, and Inspectors from all associations are turning up on bad boy lists and in courtrooms. But the association WEB sites are a good search engine for Inspectors. These association search engines can also provide Inspector WEB site links to make that part easier for you.

You can also obtain a search for Inspectors direct from TREC's WEB page above. Unfortunately this has a limited search capability with little to no real flexibility.

Good luck on your search and if you have any questions feel free to contact me.