Home Inspections: What is the right balance between objectivity and speculation?

Home inspections are a great asset and important tool for buyers.  Having said that, not all inspectors are created equal.  The role of an inspector is to find problems with the home.  I think it is important that the buyer understands this upfront.  Every home is going to have some type of issue. This sounds obvious but I think it's part of the problem.  Most buyers don't know what to focus on and end up thinking a small issue is a huge problem that the seller MUST fix.  The inspector should be able to educate the buyer as well as pointing out and discovering major defects and smaller issues.

A home inspection is overall an opinion, just like an appraisal.  I have found that a lot of inspectors are more concerned about protecting themselves than they are about actually educating the buyer as to the important issues to focus on.  I think the inspection should be more factual and less speculation.  Although I do appreciate a thorough inspection, sometimes there can be too much information given to the buyer and they become overwhelmed thinking the house has more major problems than it actually does.

My favorite inspector that I work with focuses more on educating the buyer and walking them through the problems that he finds.  He points out safety related issues that are common in a lot of homes and helps them to understand the minor and major defects and what they focus should be on. I think a good inspector should be more objective rather than being an alarmist.  When I receive an inspection report that is 30-50 pages long, I'm overwhelmed, and as a buyer I would be downright scared off.  My favorite inspector's reports are roughly 10 pages long.  It's factual and to the point and has 3 simple categories for repairs needed:  MAJOR, MINOR, AND SAFETY ISSUES.  

My least favorite inspector has scared quite a few of my past buyers.  He actually scared one so bad that they walked away from the deal and lost their earnest money.  A few of the issues that he listed as MAJOR were anything but that.  Here are a few examples:  The roof had 20 year shingles and was roughly 14 years old.  Yes, it was nearing the end of it's life and my buyers needed to know this, but it was not as a MAJOR item.  The junction box in the attic didn't have a cover on it so he listed it as MAJOR and recommended having a licensed electrician come out and investigate.  That is downright ridiculous.

Most home buyers are nervous enough, they don't need an inspector to makes things worse.  

 

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