How To Choose The Right Las Vegas Home Inspector
Posted on January 10, 2008
Filed Under Las Vegas Real Estate |
Choosing the wrong Las Vegas home inspector can cost you more than the inspection fee. Choosing a home inspector based soley on price is foolish. And no one wants to be foolish.
I’m still amazed at people who will spend countless hours, days and months looking for just the right home and then choose a home inspector solely because he was $50 or $100 than the next guy.
Local and national home inspector schools turn our hundreds of new home inspectors each year. These people come from all walks of life. One week they are the door greeter at Wal-Mart, the next they’re a “Certified” home inspector inspector your dream home.
Tips For Choosing A Las Vegas Home Inspector
Tip #1: Do your due diligence. You’re responsible to research the best home inspector for your purposes. Find out all you can about the inspector you wish to hire by calling them up and talking to them on the phone. Are they easy to talk to? Do they seem knowledgeable or do they have to search for the answers to our questions? See if they’ll email you a sample of an actual report. Once you have the report, see if it’s easy to read and understand. If it’s not, move on to another inspector. A report should be very detailed, easy to understand, written in common sense English and include photo’s of major defects.
Ask your friends and coworkers for referrals from when they bought their homes. Never take their recommendations blindly. The majority of people have no idea if they received a good inspection or not. All they know is they liked the inspector and he pointed some things out. Research, research, research!
Tip #2: Never hire an Inspector solely on the recommendation of your Real Estate Agent. While you may think that your agent hung the moon, they could be pushing you to use a “wink and nod” inspector, or as we in the business call them, “Drive by Inspectors.” They grab your check as the drive by the home their suppose to be inspecting. These types of inspectors “don’t rock the boat” or are not “deal killers”.
These inspectors get their business from agents who control them. The agent knows the inspector will see to it that the inspection doesn’t derail the transaction. Even if your agent recommends 2,3 or more inspectors, only a foolish consumer would rely on that recommendation.
Tip #3: The word “Certified” means nothing. Listen up. You yourself can become a “Certified” home inspector by sending fifty or a hundred bucks to one of many home inspection associations. They’ll then send you a cute little certificate stating you’re a “Certified” or “Master” home inspector. No experience required. Just send them the money and they send you a computer generated “Certified” certificate. Pretty easy huh?
In Nevada, what you want to look for is a home inspector certified/licensed by the State of Nevada and has the required insurance. If an inspector is “Certified” through an association, then you need to look elsewhere.
Sure, it’s good that your inspector should belong to some state and national home inspector associations. Most professionals in any business belong to industry associations in their field. Home inspectors are no different. However, there are many companies out there looking to make a buck off the backs of new home inspectors. Don’t fall for the “Certified” or “Master Certified” home inspector label. Some of these organizations use the word “Certified” in their name to try and sound credible. Buyer beware.
If you’re looking for an inspector on new construction, you do want to look for a Code “Certified” inspector.
There are two national home inspector associations that you can trust when searching for a Las Vegas area home inspector, they are the American Society of Home Inspectors (ASHI)- http://www.ashi.com and the National Association of Home Inspectors (NAHI)- http://www.nahi.org. If the inspector you choose does not belong to one of those organizations, continue looking until you find one that is.
It’s not to say they are a bad inspector if they don’t belong to one of these organizations, what I’m saying is that the majority of inspectors who belong to these organizations are experienced and honest inspectors. No, not all are honest, that’s why you’ll continue your research by asking for referrals, insurance verification and sample reports.
ASHI has very strict requirements for membership including passing the National Home Inspector Examination. NAHI has similar requirements.
Tip #4: You get what you pay for. Price should never be the determining factor when searching for a Las Vegas area home inspector. A good, thorough and knowledgeable inspector will save you money while a poor inspector will cost you many times their fee. You may need that $100 bucks you saved to try and repair that $10,000 roof your cheap inspector failed to warn you about.
Here’s an example of how a bad home inspector can cost you money.
Let’s take a 2000 square foot home. A top of the line inspector who knows what he’s doing will cost you approximately $350 to $600 or more for this size home, depending on a few variables. You have to ask yourself, if the inspector I choose charges less, why? What will be missed or left out of the inspection?
On the other hand, a good inspector will find things others will miss. You may want to go back to the Seller and renegotiate the price of the home. I’ve seen Sellers drop their price $30,000 because of the items that were found wrong with homes during the inspection.
Tip #5: Check with you state to see if they require home inspectors to be licensed. More and more states are requiring home inspectors to be licensed. Even in these states, there are some inspectors who can’t meet the standards and will be performing illegal inspections. Check them out before hiring them. Nevada law provides for the certification of home inspectors of structures by the Real Estate Division of the Department of Business and Industry. Look closely at your inspectors credentials.
Choosing the right Home Inspector is a very important process when buying a home. Don’t leave it to chance. Do your homework and you will save money in the long run. Afterall, that’s one more reason to choose your Las Vegas Home inspector with care.
Comments
-
Search For Las Vegas Foreclosures
Untitled Document