| Once you find a home and an offer is accepted, you will need to get a home inspection. Most real estate agents will have a referral list of home inspectors and as long as the inspector is ASHI certified, then they are probably a good one. ASHI is the American Society of Home Inspectors. Since anyone off the street can call themselves a home inspector, selecting an ASHI certified inspector is very important!
ASHI inspectors take a fairly rigorous test to become certified and are required every year to go through a certain amount of continuing education. Beware of any agent or seller that tells you this is unnecessary. Some inspectors are better at customer service than others. Try to find one that is willing to walk you through the whole house and will take time explaining all of the little things you need to know (like closing the vents in winter and how to change the filters in the furnace). Visit http://www.ashi.org to search for a local inspector.
A problem I have recently run into involves people purchasing a home in a new development. Oftentimes people that purchase homes in new developments are not represented by a buyer’s agent (I believe you should always be represented by a buyer’s agent). The development’s real estate agent can slip a lot of things past unsuspecting buyers, one of which is telling them that they don’t need an inspection because the house is being newly built. I cannot stress enough how WRONG this is! Not only do you need a home inspection, you need MULTIPLE home inspections. The first, and most important, is the framing inspection. After the home is complete, it should undergo a thorough inspection, and a final inspection about 10 months later before the one year builder’s warranty expires. This may seem excessive, but look at it as an opportunity to catch problems before they become extremely costly.
The development’s agent may tell you that they have a city inspector that does all this for you. This is not true. A city inspector does not work for you and only looks for certain problems. If the agent tells you they do not allow outside home inspectors then ask where it states that in the contract. More than likely, it won’t be in there, but if it is, ask to have it changed. If they absolutely will not allow an inspector in, I would start questioning why they are so unwilling to have a professional look at the house. Remember, YOU are the one spending tens of thousands of dollars on the home, so protect yourself, and get a home inspection. Here are some examples of problems that can happen in a newly constructed house that an inspector should catch: faulty roof installation (leading to costly water damage, usually only noticed after the year new home guarantee has expired), errors in electrical wiring, unsafe venting of heater exhaust, excessive water pressure, foundation poured improperly, etc.
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