Do I need a home inspection?
Ever wonder what home inspectors ACTUALLY do?
How can I tell if the home inspector is good or not?
What is the purpose of a home inspection? Well, there are things about the home that the regular buyer is unaware about. When you buy a used car, do you take it to the mechanic to make sure it’s not a lemon? If you’d spend $100 on the purchase of a $10,000 used car, why wouldn’t you spend $300 – $500 on the largest purchase a family will likely ever make?
There are 3 “Always” that I recommend for my clients.
1. Always Do a Home Inspection
There are exceptions when a home inspection isn’t typically needed. Some exceptions include:
– If you are a builder and you’re just buying the land that the house is on in order to tear down, then you may not care if the house is falling apart or not.
– If it’s a brand new home built by a reputable developer, then you also probably do not need a home inspection
– If you’re in a crazy hot real estate market and the only way to buy the home you want is to write subject free offers, then you also may not need a home inspection
There are others and it depends on the situation so talk with your Realtor.
But in general, just for your peace of mind, get a home inspection unless you are an experienced contractor and you know what to look at when you are looking at the home.
2. Always Be There
Since you’re paying for the home inspection already, you might as well be there and ask the home inspector a ton of questions. As a Realtor, I’m always at the home inspection. I’m not a home inspector and in getting my real estate license, they didn’t really teach us about the technical details of a home and so I learn a lot from the home inspections I attend. I ask the home inspector a lot of questions and learn what they do.
3. Always Choose a Good Home Inspector
As with most things, you get what you pay for. Great home inspectors often go above and beyond the call of duty. They read over warranty and depreciation reports for you. They offer post-inspection service so if you have any questions or concerns about the home inspection, you can always call them.
I’ve worked with clients who didn’t choose the home inspector I recommended. They looked up some home inspector on Craigslist that was $150 and he wasn’t incompetent but it was obvious that he wasn’t of the same caliber as the home inspectors I’m typically involved with. Luckily, the building that the home inspector inspected was in good condition, so there weren’t any big problems.
I sometimes get the question below:
How old should the home be before I do a home inspection?
In my opinion, I’d say if the property is older than 1.5 yrs old, then you might want to do a home inspection.
But why Gary? It’s basically a brand new property?
You see, with brand new properties, there’s a 2-5-10 yr warranty. However, the 2 yearr warranty often is not actually 2 years. Here’s what I took from the Home Protection Office website
Home warranty insurance on new homes includes
a minimum of 2 years on labour and materials
(some limits apply), 5 years on the building envelope,
including water penetration, and 10 years on structure.
The 2-year labour and materials coverage is broken
down as follows:
Any defect in materials and labour:
• 12 months on detached homes and on noncommon
property in strata units (includes fee
simple homes)
• 15 months on common property of strata
buildings
Defects in materials and labour related to the
delivery and distribution systems (electrical,
plumbing, heating ventilation, air conditioning, etc.):
• 24 months for all buildings.
There’s a lot more I can go into. Feel free to contact me for more information on the ins and outs of home inspections.
Yvonne Yang 
Carlos Garcia 
