The Importance of Choosing a Good Home Inspector

We’ve all heard it before: The purchase of a home is often the single biggest purchase anyone will make in their lives. As with all purchases, there is an expectation on the buyer’s part that the home they’re buying will fulfill a want or need and a hope that ‘things will go smoothly’ and trouble-free in the new home. A Realtor’s job is to coach the Buyer through the process and introduce the Buyer to professionals that can help in evaluating the purchase to help mitigate chances that they’re buying something that will be a money-pit or cause them issues in the future.

One of the biggest and most important introductions a Realtor can make is to a qualified home inspector. Our team has the philosophy that a deal killed by a failed inspection is a deal that we are glad to have killed. If a home inspector of lesser quality was used, or heaven forbid, no inspector was used, then the deal may go through, but it will be our reputation that is ultimately tarnished if the home turns out to not meet the buyer’s expectations. It should be pointed out that no inspector is perfect, and even the best inspectors only claim to be able to find roughly 80% of all the problems in a home, but a well-qualified home inspector is going to be able to outline major areas of concern, and direct the client to other experts as needed, or other means to protect their purchase. Until x-ray type technology becomes cheaper and more readily available, we’ll never know exactly what is happening behind the walls of homes, but usually there are indications of issues that an inspector can pick up on and make educated guesses about what might be happening.

Recently clients of mine purchased a home that was worth over half a million dollars and was only 2 years old. It was not Tarion-protected because the builder lived in the home so the Buyers would be buying it without the protection and warranty offered by Tarion. A qualified inspector was the obvious choice. During the inspection there were several minor deficiencies noted, none of which would cause the buyers any major worries and generally things were going very smoothly. Near the end of the inspection the inspector noted a major issue. The Exterior Insulation and Finish System (EIFS – a type of wall cladding similar to stucco) on the house was installed incorrectly. If left unrepaired, it could have led to mould infestations that would have greatly reduced the indoor air quality and damaged the interior and exterior surfaces and required major repairs, likely in excess of $50,000. As it was, we were able to work with the Seller to have the EIFS removed and re-installed properly (a roughly $25,000 undertaking), with supervision by both the inspector, and the EIFS manufacturer, to ensure the buyers would not have issues down the line. This inspector was obviously worth his weight in gold.

A home inspection is a crucial part of a home purchase. When a buyer is evaluating the purchase of their home, one of their first concerns, after choosing the right Realtor to partner with, should be in choosing a solid, well-qualified inspector. A Realtor should be able to help in this decision, but ultimately the buyer should be satisfied that the qualifications of the inspector are what he/she says they are, and that their expertise and background give them the ability to diagnose and interpret signs of potential issues so that they know before they make the decision to purchase.

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