3 Things To Know About Home Inspections

The Texas Real Estate market is hot, hot, hot! And a professional property inspection is a huge part of buying or selling a home.  Hiring an experienced home inspector is paramount – so that you can avoid costly repairs to your  new home or allowances to a new buyer.   There are three things that everyone should know about hiring a professional home inspector in Texas – whether it’s for a real estate deal, or just because you want to know what shape your property is in.

Not All Home Inspectors Are Created Equal

Experience counts. Hiring an inexperienced or unaccredited inspector can be frustrating ad costly. Grissom Home Inspections are members of the National Association of  Home Inspectors, Inc. (NAHI), and have completed their home inspector training program, and work according to the NAHI Standards of Practice and Code of Ethics.

1. Home inspections are meant to find needed repairs, structural damage and other real problems.

Some issues are more important (and more expensive) than others. It’s a good idea to attend the inspection with your inspector – you will learn so much! Your inspector will work with you to prioritize what’s important to repair sooner, than later – and what is cosmetic only. Certainly cosmetic updates are important during the staging process and your realtor will assist you with those things. But for your home inspection – the focus is more about needed repairs, faults and safety concerns.

2. Get Your Home Inspection Report.

During our general home inspection, we have an exclusive process to efficiently inspect items in several areas:

• Foundation – Interior and Exterior
• The Parameter and Entire Exterior of the Home
• All Electrical Systems
• Roof and Gutters
• Plumbing Systems
• Basement, Attic, Insulation and Crawl Spaces

We look for cracks, bumps, warps, leaks, broken pieces, and any red flag to more serious problems. We may see issues that we are unable to resolve – like termite damage or large repairs like roofing or foundation – and we will (or your realtor can) help refer you to a reputable vendor. We will provide a written and easy-to-understand report on everything we find.

3. We can be trusted to be truthful. ALWAYS.

The NAHI Standards of Practice are very clear, and require home inspectors to be unbiased, third party support to the real estate transaction. Their Code of Ethics state they “will discharge the Inspector’s duties with integrity and fidelity to the client.” Bottom line: we’re required to be truthful. Real Estate is a business of sales, but those relationships are based on trust. Our clients – both Realtors, buyers and sellers – can trust that they will get a truthful and thorough home inspection report from Grissom Home Inspections in McKinney, Texas!

This is also important when it comes to what the inspectors do and do not find. For example, since we can’t go behind walls or under the floors – there might be some issues that could be reasonably overlooked.  A high level of professionalism and business integrity are required since the home inspectors are not a part of the real estate transaction: if a problem arises post-inspection, a trusted home-inspection partner cannot be held liable for this, if it was something that was not clearly determined.

It is also important to maintain a high level client confidentiality. We take pride in adhering to these strict standards, and keep all report findings private, unless required by court order. As a buyer or a seller, you choose which pieces to disclose.

If you’re a seller, it is not required to disclose the entire report to buyers, but there are items you must disclose, such as any failure in the systems or integrity of your home. Please speak to your Real Estate professional for more information on this.

As a buyer, you need the home inspection to determine whether you can take on the potential repairs or remodeling needs.  Certainly, you can use the report to bring awareness to needed repairs or negotiate a better price. You can also use the report to estimate cost of needed repairs or remodels.

Contact our office today to learn more about how we help realtors, buyers and sellers be more aware of the condition of the properties they are working with.