Home inspection reports are more important now than in the past. In March of 2008, 53% of all single family homes sold in the three counties of El Dorado, Placer, and Sacramento were owned by a bank. As a first time home buyer there is a good chance you will be buying a home from a bank rather than an individual. Buying a home from a bank is different in several ways. From an inspection prospective it is more important to complete your due diligence inspections. Banks are not required to provide as much documentation regarding the home you are thinking of buying because they have no firsthand knowledge about the home since they did not have the opportunity to live in it. So no one at the bank will know that the circuit breaker trips whenever you run the clothes dryer and coffee maker at the same time. You must rely on the information provided by professional inspectors.

All homes include dozens of systems and features, all of which make our lives comfortable and pleasant. The more systems and features a home has increases the potential for serious headaches (expenses) when they malfunction. If you buy a new computer, and it doesn’t work, you can take it back to the store. If you buy a new home and discover on the first rainy day that the roof leaks, unfortunately you’re now the proud owner of a leaky roof. The role of an inspector is to expose the flaw’s in your dream home so you can go back to the seller to negotiate the terms of the purchase. Generally, if the owner (bank in some cases) is selling a home "as-is", the seller may refuse to negotiate. Then it becomes the buyer’s decision to complete the purchase with previously agreed to terms (glitches and all) or not.

Before hiring your own inspector, we encourage you to carefully review all of the information available from the owner and listing real estate agent. The owner and listing agent are required to disclose everything they know about the condition of the property. For example, you may be thinking about a property that was previously under contract, but the buyer canceled the contract when an inspector reported a major crack in the exterior stucco wall and foundation. The seller and listing real estate agent are required to include that information in the disclosures provided to you; giving you the opportunity to walk away. This disclosure requirement is a major motivation for the seller to come back to the bargaining table because the new information will have to be disclosed to all future buyers.

The report your inspector provides will be critical to your making a well-informed home-buying decision. So when looking for a trusted advisor is not the time to scan the Yellow pages. Remember, you are hiring a professional so start by collecting referrals from the people you know and trust. Be sure to plan on interviewing several candidates. For a list of probing questions to interview an inspector contact Michael for a Special report on interviewing professional inspectors.

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