Like a Dr Checkup, Home Inspections Bring Peace of Mind

As a home buyer,and husband of a realtor, I knew what I was in for when I got into home inspections in central Oklahoma. It’s tricky.

As an inspector, my job is basically to figure out what’s wrong with a house and share it in as much detail as I can gather. That doesn’t always lead to successful transactions for the agents that recommend me.

That’s where my experience as a carpenter comes in.

Here’s what I know that many home inspectors seem to miss, a professional home inspection is like a doctor checkup. I hate it when it’s time to go to the doctor, my wife loves it when I go. Either way, the information we gain from having our systems scoped, poked, and prodded, provides valuable data we need to make smart decisions about our health.

The same is true for your home, or the home you’re considering buying. Here’s a fact, the only thing standing between its current condition and almost every single home you’ve ever been in being the best version of itself, is time, skill and money. With enough of these three elements, almost ANYTHING that is wrong with a house can be fixed. But it often takes a Certified Property Inspector to get the diagnosis ball rolling by locating the problem.

That being said, not every home is a smart investment. Or, it may not be the best choice for that particular buyer. Realtors know this, sellers often fail to recognize it, but a happy buyer is in the best interest of all parties. They hold the cards. And in that scenario, think of My Favorite Inspector as the dealer.

A lemon of a house can turn into everyone’s worst nightmare, and the buyer can make it so for the agent that sold them the house, the inspector who assessed, and the owner who sold it, unless declarations and inspection reports are thorough and clear. That's why hiring an InterNACHI certified property inspector makes sense. In addition to an extensive education, we've got your back with a house buy back guarantee that's unique in the industry.

The truth is, there’s no such thing as a perfect home. A good inspector can find minor defects in even the best of new construction. But, that’s not exactly our job either. As home inspectors, our primary responsibility is the health and safety of the home buyer, and the community that surrounds it. We’re brought in to make sure that, to the best of our ability, we locate any health or safety risks, or malfunctioning systems, so that they can be repaired, corrected, replaced, or at least monitored to ensure the continued safe service of the home as a residence.

To do this, we spend a lot of time training! A lot of time. You may think it sounds fairly simple, and for someone like me with a ton of home improvement experience, both hands on and writing over 3000 professional articles on the subject it’s a fairly straight forward process. That doesnt’ mean it’s a walk in the park to complete 120 hours of advanced coursework, including course finals on topics ranging from electricity to moisture damage! It’s not.

But, if we are the last line of defense for buyers, and some wise sellers who ask us in to assess a property for needed repairs before selling, it shouldn’t be easy.

When we go in for a home checkup, we should be like the doctor who informs the patient of everything they see as a potential problem, and allays the fears when they know an issue is minor, easy to deal with, or won’t cause a problem. After all, most of us don’t know a lot about medicine and it can seem alarmist, or even show a lack of concern if we don’t get good information.

That’s how it is for home buyers, sellers, and even realtors. We inspectors are learning on every job. Every job. No two human bodies are identical, and even when they appear to be, neither are any two homes. There are multiple ways for almost any process to be done correctly and safely, and an infinite number of ways in which they can be done poorly, creating eyesores, issues that need correcting, or in the worst cases, serious hazards.

Not only that, but homes age, just like human bodies. The older we get, the more there is for the doctor to find. That’s why it’s important to read an inspection report. In most cases, unless you built it and lived there through the homes whole life, it’s the closest thing you’ll get to a roadmap to the homes past, present,and possible future.

So, when you choose an inspector, or choose to refer one to a client, or friend, keep this in mind, the more your inspector understands about homes and how they operate, the more likely they are to give you a clear picture, be able to explain any issues, and answer concerns and questions you need cleared up for your own peace of mind.