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How to Deal with a Home Inspector

Contractor checking the fondation on a home.Though the services of a home inspector are absolutely essential when it come to managing your real estate, you should be able to ask him the right questions before hiring him. This article will list out a few questions that you should ask a home inspector before hiring him.

1. Does your home inspector perform repairs?

Ask your home inspector if he does repairs or only provides home inspections. While a home inspector can check the house appliances, a general contractor only tells you about repairs that need to be done in the house. Thus, to get a true picture about the repairs and upgrades to be done, ask your home inspector upfront as to whether he gives advice about these things too, and then ask for a quote accordingly.

2. Is your home inspector insured?

Ask your home inspector if he has insurance and a workers’ compensation scheme, and whether he is insured against errors and omissions. If the inspector meets with an accident while working on your house, and if he doesn’t have insurance coverage, then it might lead to heavy litigation or create liens on the property. Thus, if you want to avoid being personally liable, then you must insist that your home inspector is insured.

3. Can your home inspector provide you with references?

You should ask your home inspector to provide you with references so that you can gauge if he is really up to the mark. Ask his previous clients if they are happy with his work, if he was punctual, courteous, efficient, and consistent and had inspected their house thoroughly. Or ask references from professionals in the real estate business, as real estate brokers often work with home inspectors.

If he was lazy or not punctual, then you can make a more informed decision regarding his suitability for the job, especially if you have a time crunch.

4. Will he take you along on the inspections

Make sure that your inspector allows you to be hands-on and takes you along for inspections. Make sure that he gives you the opportunity to walk around with him and you are at liberty to ask as many questions as you please. Ask him questions about electricity, the cooling and heating systems and see if he answers them comfortably.

5. The Details of the Inspection

You should also have a very clear idea about what inspection include. The inspection should be thorough and he should check out doors, windows, heating devices and all appliances for you so that you know what repairs are to be done. Ask the inspector to check out the irrigation systems, the swimming pools and so on, so that you do not have to spend too much on repairs. After you are done, ask the inspector to send you a detailed report of the inspection so that you can deliberate and make an informed decision.

6. Special skills of the Home Inspector

Make sure that the inspector knows what to do with special kind of properties like old or historic properties and he possesses the skills required for the same. Homes with swimming pools, free-standing home etc. need a lot of special skills so you need to watch out.

Tuesday, March 19th, 2019 real estate Comments Off on How to Deal with a Home Inspector