Portland Real Estate Questions: How Can I Find a Good Home Inspector?
One of the most important aspects of purchasing a home is the home inspection. Although the Sales Agreement* in our local market contains an "As Is" clause, this does NOT prevent buyers from conducting due diligence.
Most home buyers do not know the following:
- Where to find for a good home inspector
- What to expect from a home inspector
- What the home inspection process is all about
- How the information provided by the home inspector is used by the Realtor®
- If the home inspector is an ALARMIST
In a recent home inspection, I witnessed a home inspector making "what if" statements about functioning equipment, not thoroughly inspecting major components of the home, not documenting obvious conditions that needed repair, not fully documenting conditions they VERBALLY mentioned to the buyers, making exhorbanent claims about what the seller "needs to repair" for the buyers (which seems to cross over into negotiations/practicing real estate without a license,) and quoting exorbitantly high (IMHO) repair costs/costs to fix.
Selecting THE WRONG HOME INSPECTOR can cost you the house AND the expenses of the home inspection
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Home inspectors should NOT be hired to negotiate repairs
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Home inspectors SHOULD be hired to inspect the property UNBIASEDY and OBJECTIVELY
When hiring a home inspector THE BEST ANSWER TO THE QUESTION: HOW CAN I FIND A GOOD HOME INSPECTOR is to ask your Realtor® for referrals.
I supply two or three names of QUALITY home inspectors in the Portland Metro area.
The following is a quote from a home inspector who knows how to do his job and refrains from the alarmist behavior:
"The other side of the coin is the buyer that "wants me to find every little thing and make a big deal out of it" so that they can grind the seller on price. My usual response is that "I'm just here to observe and report". I don't have a dog in this fight and I don't care who wins. Not my job, man! Being professional, friendly and informative is my job." Dana Bostwick True Professionals, Inc.
There are a few home inspectors I've run into recently that have killed the deal and cost the buyer a lot of money.
BE CAREFUL WHO YOU HIRE and if you want to know how to find a GOOD HOME INSPECTOR -- ASK YOUR AGENT!!
If you don't trust your agent to supply you with quality referrals to home inspectors, then WHY are you working with them?!?
Read my previous articles:
- Portland Real Estate Questions: What is an "AS IS" Provision?
- Portland Real Estate Questions: How Can I Find a Good Home Inspector?
- Portland Real Estate Questions: Will Sellers Do ALL The Repairs?
- Portland Real Estate Questions: Is This Property Priced Right?
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