So you’ve been looking for a house while artfully dodging every homebuying trap and pitfall like a video game character.
You’ve done everything you can to polish your credit report into something that looks amazing to anyone who pulls it up. You’ve vetted and hired an incredibly experienced real estate agent. And you’ve even put aside more money than you needed for a down payment.
All you have left is the home inspection.
How can you keep your winning streak going throughout your home search? What can you do to make sure that you end up with the right home inspector?
Here are four mistakes you’ll want to avoid making as you search for a home inspector.
Mistake #1: Not Asking for a Sample Report
Have you ever had a teacher who could explain anything to anyone in an incredibly easy-to-understand way?
Or, if school wasn’t your favorite place to be, do you remember dealing with a teacher or a prof who was impossible to have an organic conversation with?
In the same way that teacher-student compatibility is a concern when you’re taking classes, sometimes the same thing can happen with home inspectors.
For whatever reason, even when the report covers the details you want it to, the way it’s written just doesn’t fully compute to you. Or worse yet, you could get back a report that’s really light on the details you want to know.
A sample home inspection report gives you a glimpse of what it might be like to work with a particular home inspector.
Mistake #2: Hiring a Tradesperson
On the one hand, we get it. House hunting has a way of sucking up your time. If you can find a professional who is capable of handling multiple tasks at once, who wouldn’t gravitate to that?
Everybody loves a one-stop shop. And who could be better at recognizing and fixing problems than a home inspector who is also a plumber, an electrician, and a licensed contractor to boot?
While this might seem like a dream come true, the biggest risk of this approach is that you might end up with a person who has a strong financial incentive to point out every flaw they can find in the hopes of upselling you on their services. And even if everything is above board, sometimes the mere possibility of a conflict of interest can cause a seller to dig in their heels if you bring up the home inspection report.
In the interests of maintaining credibility, you have everything to gain from hiring a home inspector instead of a jack-of-all-trades.
Mistake #3: Not Checking for Credentials or Experience
People can hang out shingles and call themselves home inspectors. But just because someone has taken the title, that doesn’t necessarily mean that you’ll be getting back a detailed report that reflects a keen eye for the finer details that can sometimes point to serious problems with the house.
To make matters even more difficult, the credentials needed to call yourself a “home inspector” will often vary from state to state.
All of this is to say that it’s important to take your time and make sure that you’re working with a reputable home inspector who knows his or her stuff. You want someone who will point out the things you care about as a future homeowner and who will know if the property needs to be seen by a specialist.
And sometimes the only way to tell if you’ve found a home inspector who can deliver on that is to take the time to assess their experience.
Mistake #4: Not Hiring a Home Inspector at All
2021 has been an incredible year for real estate. So much so that there’s even been talk of a housing shortage.
When you’ve got that much competition for houses going on across the country, it’s only natural to think about skipping the home inspection and closing the sale before some other buyer swoops in and takes your dream home.
However, there’s a problem with that train of thought.
A home inspection report can help you find out if there are serious, offer-withdrawing problems with the house, like issues with the HVAC system or the roof.. When you’re buying a house, you’re making a major investment and a home inspector can help you ensure that you know exactly what you’re getting in exchange for your hard-earned money.
Conclusion
Despite being a relatively minor part of the homebuying process, home inspections are a big deal. Done right, it can tell you about any red flags or signs that a specialist should inspect the house next. But at the same time, a report sent by the wrong inspector can leave you saying things like “I wish I’d known about this sooner!” after you’ve purchased the house and moved in.
The good news is that if you stay away from the mistakes we’ve listed here, your home inspection has a better chance of going by smoothly.