Whos Inspecting Your Home?

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by: James Copper | Total views: 28 | Word Count: 496 | View PDF | Print View
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When you are buying or selling a home you will endure or hire the services of a home inspector. This home inspector is an independent third party to the transaction, compelled to remain unbiased and examine the homes interior and exterior condition. A home inspector isnt always called in at the time of a sale or potential sale, but that is the primary bread and butter of the home inspectors business.

A home inspector will check the homes roof, its basement, the condition of its water heater, its home heating system, its air conditioning system, all its plumbing fixtures and workings, its electrical system and the structure of the house and garage itself. A home inspector is tasked with checking for any damage that might require major repairs and any conditions that are hazardous in terms of safety, health and fire. A home inspector is not the same as a real estate appraiser. A home sale will typically have one of each perusing the home before the sale is completed. A home inspector looks at the condition of the homes major functions and its structure and foundation. An appraiser, on the other hand, assesses the monetary value of the home and its related property.

In the United States, a contract between a homeowner and the potential buyer will be concluded pending a successful home inspection. By successful we mean that a home inspector comes on the property and looks at the exterior and interior of the home. She or he generally must be licensed to do so and will determine if there are any problems in the home that must be resolved before the home is structurally sound and safe for habitation.

Some states in the U.S. do not require licensing of home inspectors, and most states allow engineers who are already licensed to forego the licensing. Their engineering license includes the right to act as a home inspector. For those who must be licensed to be a home inspector they typically have to complete a state-approved course of training and to pass an exam that has been selected by that particular states board of home inspector licensing. Several of the U.S. states also mandate that the home inspector verify additional periodic home inspection continuing education credits in order to get their license renewed.

While a home inspector does not need to be an engineer, and typically is not, you will often hear a home inspection referred to as an engineering report. An engineer, however, as compared with a home inspector, can design repair and reinforcement specifications for structural improvements, while a home inspector can only point out that the deficiencies do exist.

It is important to keep in mind, as you look for a new home and rely on the home inspectors advice that your potential new home is safe and sound, that only 39 states in the United States now regulate home inspectors at all.
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