What Should a Realtor Expect of a Home Inspector?

 

-A home inspector should be either licensed or certified, carries E & O Insurance or has passed the National Home Inspectors Exam; some states do not have licensing (at the bottom of the page there is a list of licensed and no license states).

– Most Real Estate Agents believe that it is important to give out three names of Home Inspectors so they can’t be held responsible, well that is not really true.  If you as an agent give out three names and one you give out is not licensed or does not carry insurance than you take the chance of being sued because you still referred the inspector.  Most Home Inspectors that carry insurance policy read that if they are sued their policy will cover the agent that referred them the inspection job.  I recommend that every Real Estate Agent should ask their Home inspector to provide to them a copy of their Insurance, licensing & certification (let’s hope we never need this information).

– As a Home Inspector arrives at inspection site the first thing after introducing themselves to the customer is have them read the contractual agreement.  This agreement may seem to only protect the Inspector but that is not true because if the customer signs this both the Real Estate Agent and the home Inspector are protected thru the Home Inspectors Insurance Company.

– A Home Inspector is expected to be completely honest and find all major defects in a home and protect the buyer from purchasing a home that could be very costly to themselves.

– The Home Inspector should not pass or fail a home, their job is to simply report their findings and allow the Real Estate Agent and the buyer to makes a decision that works best for them.

– A Home Inspector is not a code Inspector and nor should they quote a code, a home Inspector is there to give an evaluation of the home not a code inspection.  If a Home Inspector is quoting code he or she is going above and beyond what there certifications and standards say to do.

– A home that is approximately 2000 sq ft should take between 2hr and 3hr to fully inspect, as long as no major problems are found.

-Most Home Inspection Company use computer reporting today and will have reports generated on site, some still like to take the reports back to their office and write them.  All reports should be given to the customer and agent the day of the inspection or e mailed the following day.