How and why I got started in Home Inspections.
In the spring of 2006 I left my position as one of six regional managers for the largest privately owned ‘reverse logistics' firm in the nation to come back home to be close to my aging parents and disabled younger brother. I wanted to come and enjoy their company and friendship before they reached the point of needing a caretaker (which inevitably they would). Being the oldest son, divorced with grown children, I would be the logical choice.
Shortly after returning home, a family member in So Cal, expressed a similar desire to move back to this area upon his retirement. Because I had also spent several years in So Cal working with a real estate investment company and contractor flipping duplexes and fourplexes, he asked if I would act as his agent to look at and evaluate properties that he found on the internet. So, armed with my digital camera and Bluetooth earpiece, I was off with his R.E. agent to look at houses. Over the next several months we looked at everything from new 4,000 - 5,000 sq. ft. houses in the suburbs of Memphis to 100+ year old houses in the surrounding small towns and cities. During this time, I developed a good friendship with the agent, who had made several remarks commenting on the fact that I was going into these houses without any "emotional" attachment and honestly evaluating the houses on their "bones". I was looking at foundations and roofs. I was looking in attics and in crawl spaces. WOW! I was basically doing a home inspection without even realizing it. So with these offhand comments in my head and the fact that I was in need of a new occupation anyway, the search for more information began in earnest.
Starting with both the Mississippi and Tennessee Real Estate Commissions websites, I found that each states licensing requirement were based on the standards and code of ethics established by the American Society of Home Inspectors (ASHI). Next stop...the ASHI website.
It turned out that ASHI was the oldest professional association for home inspectors in the nation, was well respected in the profession, and had a world of useful information for home inspector wannabe's like myself. I selected a school (Kaplan/Inspection Training Associates) that offered 90 hours of enhanced classroom and field instruction in Nashville. From there I went on to the national convention in Las Vegas and received another 20 hours of continuing education. (MS requires only 60 hours of instruction for licensing)
Long story short, with 110 hrs of instruction, I passed the National Home Inspectors Examination with flying colors, acquired the required insurance coverage's and received my license from the MS Home Inspectors Regulatory Board August 1st, and created what I like to call "Preferred Home Inspections".
I am very excited about my new career and am looking forward serving my clients' with the same honest and objective evaluations that started me down this path.
Like the old adage "Do what you love and the money will follow", I have found something that I truly "Love" to do. Give me a call; let me prove it to you.
Thanks for your time,
Edwin Moore
Preferred Home Inspections
