Home Inspector – He Can Save Your Bacon

Home Inspector | This giant apartment building in Newport, NH is covered with Inselbric panels. It's possible they were installed before 1940. This wall faces south and the sun has damaged some of the surface. But the other three sides of the building look brand new! What will a home inspector say should happen? Copyright 2020 Tim Carter

Home Inspector - Get the RIGHT One or Beware

Months ago I had the pleasure of working with a home inspector in New Hampshire. I was buying an existing house. If you are building a new house you'll need a certificate of occupancy nh from a building inspector.

It was an unusual event for me as the last three houses I lived in for the past 33 years had either been completely renovated by me or built from scratch. Even though I was an experienced builder, this six-year-old New Hampshire home needed an independent set of eyeballs so I wouldn't make a mistake. Over the years, I have done lots of research about home inspectors, so I knew how to find one that would do an excellent job.

How Do You Become A Home Inspector?

If you want to become a home inspector, it's not hard. The trouble is, there's lots of competition. Home-inspector training is not really taught in schools, so it's somewhat of a challenge to become an expert at identifying all sorts of problems with homes. Imagine the broad experience you need to be able to intelligently discuss with a buyer topics ranging from the house's foundation all the way up to the roof shingle caps as well as every other thing in between. Many home inspectors that I know of have had extensive home building or remodeling experience. It's not necessary, but it's helpful.

What is the Current Trend for Home Inpsectors?

The current trend in the marketplace is to be a certified home inspector. You can achieve this by aligning yourself with a home-inspectors association. There are quite a few of these, and the requirements to get certified range from silly to stringent. You can fool some home buyers with a fancy title, but rest assured that many buyers are taking the time to discover what associations really police their members, have strict guidelines and require continuing education. That's, in my opinion, the association I would want to be part of if I was a home inspector.

Is New Home Inspection Easier?

If you plan to choose to become a new-home inspector, then your job is slightly easier. There are many issues in older homes that won't come up in a new-home inspection. But in today's marketplace, the workmanship standards seem to be falling, so as an inspector, you have to really look closely at many things to ensure the house is in great shape. Remember, just because the new house got a Certificate of Occupancy from the building inspector, that doesn't mean the house is in great shape. The building codes are minimum standards. A house that passes the building code can still have issues.

What is the Best Home Inspection Association?

The association of home inspectors I prefer is the American Society of Home Inspectors.

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The individual I used for my New Hampshire home had this certification. This association currently has the toughest entry standards and requires continuing education that keeps their members in the zone with new issues, products and developments in the industry. I also like the code of ethics to which they subscribe.

Do You Need a License?

You may need a license in your state. But you should also wonder if you need a home-inspector license to do business. I can't answer that accurately as the laws change constantly. All I can tell you to do is to contact the Secretary of State of whatever state you want to work in. This government office usually handles this licensing. Sometimes, it may be the Department of Commerce.

How Can I Determine If I Need a License?

The best way is to visit your state's website and use its search engine. This is a great place to explore all the legal aspects of how to become a home inspector in that state. Because the real estate transactions are so large that involve the inspections, you can see why it's necessary to abide by the law, and investigate at the beginning everything you need to do to legally transact business as a home inspector.

How Much Knowledge Does a Home Inspector Have?

Don't underestimate the level of knowledge that new-home inspectors possess. Some of them are walking, breathing encyclopedias of home-building information. You want to become, if possible, a home inspector that has done hundreds of inspections. Buyers tend to look for an individual who has been in the business for some time. These same buyers often do all the necessary due diligence to ensure the inspector is still certified by whatever association he says he works under. Some certifications expire and don't get renewed.

I urge you to become a licensed home inspector. If my audience is an indicator, licensed home inspectors get more initial credibility as well as business. What's more, you may discover it's a mandatory requirement in your state.

I did home inspections many years ago before it spouted into the industry it is today. The inspections were fun, as I took them as a challenge. You are in a position where you're looking for clues and trying to discover places where a deceptive homeowner has tried to disguise or hide a defect. Those are indeed the most satisfying things to uncover in a home inspection!

Author's Note:

Bill Barnes, of Seagate Inspections Inc., offers the following comments regarding home inspectors.

"Tim, As a home inspector with over 2,500 inspections in my experience bank, I could not agree more with your advice to buyers that they should look for certified inspectors. Furthermore, and beyond just being certified is the important fact that the inspector carry E & O insurance (Errors & Omissions insurance) It's expensive but anyone in the business who does not carry it is only a disconnected phone line away from becoming untouchable.

As a company, we have performed over 25,000 inspections and can tell you that our 7 inspectors learn something new each and every inspection. It's been a long time philosophy of ours, taken from the bible, that as iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another. Multi-inspector firms or inspectors who have a large network of peers in the industry will always be your best choice when it comes to getting the value of experience, knowledge and service you deserve as a home buyer. The cost of a home inspection is such a small percentage of the total price of the home, that it is by far the best value a home owner will receive regarding services related to a home purchase.

We are all looking for a turn around in the market in the coming year and recommend to anyone considering a home purchase that strongly considering a home inspection should be your first move. Selling a home? A pre-marketing inspection should be considered also so you'll know what it is that your buyers inspector might uncover. You can then choose whether to repair an issue (at a much lower cost typically) or to disclose the issue and adjust your price accordingly. Why not take away the surprises and renegotiation points a buyer may request after you were prepared for a smooth sale?"

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