I just want to give you a little education about hiring a home inspector and scheduling a home inspection.

As you might be aware there are several different organizations out there that certifies home inspectors and unless you are a felon or convicted sex offender, they except you.

How Do I find a Good Home Inspector?

Just like Doctors, Lawyers and other professions there are good ones and bad one and what you don't want to find out at the house, is that you might have made the wrong decision. So what you need to do is a little homework and ask some questions.

Chances are, you will not personally meet your inspector prior to the meeting at the property, so ask questions. How long have you been a inspector? What is your background? What do you inspect? Do you go on the roof or just appear to inspect it from the ground? What is the cost? What type of format do you use? computer base, digital photo's, hand written etc. When do I get my report? What type of support do I recieve after the inspection and you have my money? What if my inspection go over the alotted time?You get the idea.

I highly recommend lining up an Inspection Company prior to putting a offer down on a house, this way if you do write a  offer on a property and it is accepted, you do not have to scramble to make a rush decision on who to get in there to do your inspection for you, since the clock is ticking.

Picking a good inspector is just as important as picking a good realtor, so do your homework it will payoff in the end and possibly save you thousands of dollars in unnecessary repairs, that should have been identified or detected earlier.

An inspector should never offer to repair any work on the property that might come up as a result of his inspection. Just like realtors, they need to give you 3 names of inspectors, an inspector also needs to give you 3 names as well for contractors, if not, it becomes steering and is not legal.

The best way to pick an inspector would be from a friend, family member or co worker that has use this persons service before or get the number from the last client the inspector has worked for and ask them were they happy with the service. Some inspectors come in and do what I call a "Dog and Ponie Show" just to get paid and miss import things, that need to be looked at. A home inspection should not be about cosmetic items, but rather code, health and saftey issues.

Standard of Practice

Each Assocaition has there own SOP, many are identical or similar on what is to be inspected and what not is to be inspected. I for one do not agree with any of them that I have read and we take it to a completly new level, I inspect your house as if I was going to purchasing it and write down all of my findings, good or bad. We do not do cosmetic items in our property inspections, nor do we miss represent conditions to get the price down on a property. We will not be influenced by any party involved with the real estate transaction. We are there to give an honest and fair evaluation of the property and I guarantee that is what you will get each and every time we step onto a property.

Radon Testing

If you are asking for a home inspection, chances are you want do have a radon gas test as well. A lot of us inspectors use a CRM type monitor, these are a programed computers that deters people from compromising or interfering with the test and let us know what was going on in the house while we were gone. A lot of the inspectors do not want to make the investment in equipment and use a passive type device, like canisters or eperms, both are accurate, given they are not "tampered with" and most need to be sent off site to a lab for results. Example: a passive devices can be covered or picked up and moved outside and brought back in before the inspector shows up to retrieve the devices or the windows could be left open during the testing period and no one would be any wiser, giving a false reading of the building. Now using a CRM tells an inspector, if the test was compromised and gives a reading every hour on the radon levels in a building being tested. Since your paying for it, you want it done right.

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