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Before I was in Real Estate I knew *one* inspector ... the guy who did the inspection on our own house. What did I know then about who was the best?
As a real estate broker, now, I've had the opportunity to work with almost all of the inspectors in the area. I know who is good. And who isn't.
I certainly don't require clients use anyone, but most of my buyers aren't even from this area and really appreciate getting trusted referrals from us. Not sure why anyone would categorically throw that experience out.
i would not be that hard on the OP. It's not always about price. In my area, members of a larger organization/network that does strong marketing, etc charge significantly more than the true independents. This higher charge has nothing to do with quality.
The key is in interviewing the inspector (most people don't know how to do this) and getting a sample report such as the one kindly provided by Ralph on this thread. Trusted friends and family are also a good source ('trusted' meaning someone who knows what they are doing, won't tolerate shoddy work like this and don't have low expectations).
I would also never use an inspector recommended by an agent (a view well supported by some of the agents' comments on this thread).
I always love that remark. How on earth do you think a naive civilian is going to pick an inspector? I have one that I recommend and a couple that I will use if he is not available. The only way I know to evaluate the quality of an inspector is to have dealt with his work product. And it is the anal and thorough guy you want. May cost you a deal now and then but it keeps the customer safe and well served.
I did a Google search on my inspector and discovered that he'd been awarded the Realtor "Affiliate of the Year" in the county. As I said, his report caused us to reject the house.
So there are numerous issues with the professionalism of that report.
Home inspections do a couple of things. The purpose is to clearly articulate and inform the buyer about the condition of the property they are purchasing. There is no room for any additional commentary other than the observations of the inspector.
The second purpose is to help buyer agents clearly articulate any repair requests. I can't tell you how hard it is for contractors to interpret poorly written home inspections and the desired repair coming from that report. Inevitably a repair wasn't' done correctly because it was up for interpretation about what the inspector meant. This creates delays and additional stress in the transaction that don't need to be there.
My favorite home inspector's reports are generally 60-80 pages long with tons of photos, arrows, circles, etc that make it clear where the issue is so that there is no guesswork for contractors. This is so valuable in the transaction when repairs are needed to satisfy the buyer.
He may be a good, thorough home inspector, but that is not an acceptable report, in my opinion.
I always love that remark. How on earth do you think a naive civilian is going to pick an inspector? I have one that I recommend and a couple that I will use if he is not available. The only way I know to evaluate the quality of an inspector is to have dealt with his work product. And it is the anal and thorough guy you want. May cost you a deal now and then but it keeps the customer safe and well served.
You gotta manage your own expectations.
It does not matter how many people posters like that hurt with their uneducated banalities.
The overriding motivation is to get cheap and stupid digs in on a business of which they have no knowledge or experience.
Even a low volume agent routinely sees more inspection reports from more inspectors than almost any consumer.
But, nice Aunt Bertha is a better source because before he passed in 1987, Uncle George hired the nicest fellow to inspect.
Last edited by MikeJaquish; 01-02-2018 at 05:18 PM..
I simply said that I would not use an agent's recommendation because I prefer to keep it separate. Like the concept of 'separation of duties' or 'powers'. Nobody said anyone was a scammer or a thief! Nobody accused anyone of fudging things. Or recommending shills.
My position on this is hardly conspiracy theory territory as you try to make it out to be.
Frankly, instead of acting like I'm the only one with these crazy ideas, you should openly acknowledge the different views on recommendations and recognize that a preference to avoid any cross-pollination is a legitimate consumer choice and a choice that has significant support in the industry (e.g. among some agents, state regulators and inspectors) to reduce any real or perceived conflicts of interest.
So there are numerous issues with the professionalism of that report.
Home inspections do a couple of things. The purpose is to clearly articulate and inform the buyer about the condition of the property they are purchasing. There is no room for any additional commentary other than the observations of the inspector.
The second purpose is to help buyer agents clearly articulate any repair requests. I can't tell you how hard it is for contractors to interpret poorly written home inspections and the desired repair coming from that report. Inevitably a repair wasn't' done correctly because it was up for interpretation about what the inspector meant. This creates delays and additional stress in the transaction that don't need to be there.
My favorite home inspector's reports are generally 60-80 pages long with tons of photos, arrows, circles, etc that make it clear where the issue is so that there is no guesswork for contractors. This is so valuable in the transaction when repairs are needed to satisfy the buyer.
He may be a good, thorough home inspector, but that is not an acceptable report, in my opinion.
I tend to agree.
But, I'd like to see the entire report before passing judgment.
I’d love to see the entire report as well and am interested in what state the OP is in. If they have licensing, I can’t see how what we see would be OK with their standards and regulations. If there is no licensing, the inspectors are usually affiliated with one or both of ASHI and NACHI. Both of their standards of practice should mean you get more than that. Way way more.
I’d love to see the entire report as well and am interested in what state the OP is in. If they have licensing, I can’t see how what we see would be OK with their standards and regulations. If there is no licensing, the inspectors are usually affiliated with one or both of ASHI and NACHI. Both of their standards of practice should mean you get more than that. Way way more.
Yes it would be much easier to form an opinion if we could see the whole report.
The OP appears to be in Florida and Home Inspectors are licensed there albeit with minimal controls. You can read their rules/laws and Standards of Practice (SOP) on the Florida DBPR site here DBPR Professions - Home Inspectors Licensing Program .
The report itself, as displayed here, would be difficult for any average consumer to follow. Each required system has all issues and conditions lumped in one big paragraph that does little to delineate individual issues and conditions of those issues. This may be a result of the OP's copy/paste method and possibly it was a bullet report format originally which would be more readable and clear? As it is displayed here it would not be possible to determine if it fully meets the rules/laws and SOP.
In any case when you have 1 page of actual issue and SOP required descriptions and 39 pages of fluff the report is IMO questionable. The OP should be discussing this with the Inspector as they did pay the Inspector for a professional product!
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