In today's world where money is tight, it is often tempting to forgo a home inspection. But that really is risky. Of course being a home inspector, you would expect me to say that! You don't need to take my word for it; read this short article published on the HGTV site to learn about the risks you take by not having an inspection.
How much should I pay?
Let's agree that it is worth having an inspection and try to answer the question "how much should you pay for a home inspection?" This is not a simple question to answer because it depends on the age, size and type of home you are buying as well as the qualifications and experience of the inspector you choose.
How long will the inspector be at the house?
A better question to ask is how long will your inspector spend inspecting the home you hope to buy? If he or she is going to be at your potential new home for less than two hours you may not be getting the thorough inspection you want. It rarely takes less than 3 hours to inspect a small house of 1200 sq.ft. Depending on the age of the property it can take longer. Another clue to not getting the detailed inspection you want is being told the inspection report is completed on site. That means the inspector will complete the report and go on to the next job and never come back to review the report the next day. Surely you want an inspector who inspects his own work? Any engineer will tell you that "sleeping" on a report overnight helps them get it right!
What sort of report will I get?
You should also ask what sort of report you are going to get? Yes really, you must ask that question since a basic written report is not going to help you understand what the inspector found. You want pictures -- lots of them. I typically have more than 200 photographs and 1 hour of video at the end of an inspection. With that sort of record it is possible to review the inspection by watching the video and ensuring that all the information you need is clear and understandable when you come to look at the report days after you met with the inspector. Take a minute to look at some of the video of a real inspection to see the detail you get from a video record.
What about special tools?
Most inspectors do not offer you special inspection tools and this can put you at a disadvantage when it comes to assessing the potential for your new home becoming a money pit. You can have inspectors with infrared cameras, digital level meters and even fiber optic cameras that go down the sewer. All these tools offer you more information on the property condition. I think the sewer cam offers you the most information. Follow this link to a short video on a sewer cam inspection of a pier and beam house. It shows a pipe that is breaking apart from the inside out. The outside still looks perfect! This sewer cost $6,000 to repair! That would not be good to find out a year after you moved in, would it?
What is important to me about buying a house?
When you think about what you should pay for an inspection remember that the work is not based on a percentage of the property sale price but purely on what you are willing to pay. Ask yourself this question: "What am I willing to pay to get a thorough inspection before I make one of the biggest financial commitments of my life? We all know the saying "You get what you pay for." A home inspection is no different. Time is money and if the price is low the amount of time spent inspecting will be shorter. I'll finish here with a real comment I received back from a top Keller Williams agent. He told me that the couple buying the house insisted on using the same home inspector their friend used. He was fast and very competitively priced. When he had been there for an hour and a half he handed them the partially completed report saying: "I have checked everything except the bathroom faucets. When the water heater gets up to temperature run the hot faucets to check you have hot water". Then he took his check and left!
It does not have to be like that! Call Yellow Hat -- we will help you understand what you are buying.
