How to Hire a Great Home Inspector

Hiring a Great Home Inspector

One of the most important steps in purchasing a home is ordering the home inspection. There are great home inspectors and there are not so great home inspectors as is true in any type of business. How can you tell the difference? Here are a few questions you should be asking.

• Speak directly with the home inspector. Do you feel comfortable? Are they short with their answers? Do they seem annoyed by the questions you have? They should be more than willing to spend time answering your questions without you feeling as though you are bothering them.
• How long will it take them to do the inspection? If it's a two-bedroom condo, two hours is usually adequate.  A four-bedroom colonial? Four to five hours and a historic three-story Victorian Home? Five to six hours. Be sure they are going to spend the time necessary to complete a comprehensive inspection.
• Will they provide you with an inspection report on site? They should. It should be typed with lots of photos and printed right there on site. Too much information can be lost between your home inspection, another home inspection and the return to the office to write your report.
• What will they be inspecting? I cannot tell you how many times an inspector has told a client that he didn't have a ladder high enough to get to a three-story roof. It's unacceptable. Every area of the house should be inspected.
• Be sure they maintain membership in a professional home inspector assocation. They should have their membership ID on the home inspection report they provide to you.

Ask your realtor if they have any good suggestions on who to use and ask them WHY they recommend that person. Friends, vamily and co-workers can also give good recommendations. Hiring an inspector is a very important part of purchasing your home.