What Does A Home Inspection Report Do For Investors?
by Larry Goins
Before you purchase or sell your next investment property, consider ordering a Home Inspection Report. It can help protect your investment with a thorough home/property inspection, help you get to know the condition of the property you are about to buy or sell, and give you the confidence you need to make an informed decision.
What is a Home Inspection Report?
You are buying broken houses as-is. If there are any serious problems with the house that would result in higher repair costs, you want to know about them before you close.
A thorough home inspection will give you the information you need to make a wise buying decision. Home inspection reports cover all the systems and components of a residential building such as HVAC, plumbing, electrical, foundation, roof, masonry structure, and exterior and interior components. If there is anything wrong, a home inspection will find it.
If you are dealing with a house that needs lots of repairs, you should order a home inspection as well as a contract inspection. Sometimes the home inspection service will uncover what your contractors missed. A home inspection is going to cost you about $300.00. But in the case of the possible problem house, it is well worth the extra cost.
Find a Good Home Inspection Service
Home Inspection Services are held liable for the information they report. That is why the best ones are covered by errors and omission insurance policies. Here are some places to find home inspection services:
Yellow Pages – Term to use is “Home Inspection Service”
Online Searches – Homeguauge.com & Homecheck.com are a good start
Networking – Talk to your realtor and other members of your local REI club or REIA. There are probably lots of home inspection services involved in these groups. And do not forget to use your social networking sites and online real estate groups to obtain referrals.
Prescreen Home Inspection Services
Most states require home inspectors to meet certain standards of practice, licensing, and education requirements in order to inspect a home. If you live in a state that requires home inspectors to be licenses then ask your home inspector to include his or her license with their quote or brochure. This show that the home inspector has some training and has passes a competency test.
Also, ask your home inspector to supply documents showing his or her professional standards. The most common are from eh American Society of Home Inspectors or the National Association of Home Inspectors.
Look for someone who is smart and thorough. Houses are complex structures and you need a smart cookie to go in and identify critical issues. Make sure you are comfortable with the intelligence, credentials, and experience of your home inspector.
Finally, be sure your home inspector carries errors and omission insurance. This insurance costs a lot. But having this insurance is a sign of professionalism.
Larry H. Goins is not only licensed as a mortgage lender and mortgage broker in North Carolina and South Carolina, he is also licensed in both North Carolina and South Carolina as a Real Estate Broker and General Contractor. He is a member of the North Carolina Association of Mortgage Professionals and a member of the National Association of Mortgage Professionals.
Over the past few years, Larry has served as President (2003 & 2004) of the Metrolina Real Estate Investors Association in Charlotte NC, a not-for-profit organization that has over 350 members and is the local chapter of the National Real Estate Investors Association.
In addition to conducting his own sold out 3 day Dream Big & Wakeup Wealthy Boot Camps several times a year, he is also an active real estate investor and speaks at various Real Estate Investment Associations about investing and finance.
Between speaking engagements and mentoring other investors, he oversees the daily operations of Investors Rehab, Inc., of which he is a co-founder and officer. Investors Rehab, Inc. is a real estate investment company that buys and wholesales 10-15 houses per month to other investors at 70% of ARV.
Larry Goins is also the Owner and a Managing Member of Financial Help Services, Inc., a Mortgage Broker and Lender specializing in Investor Loans. Financial Help Services, Inc. offers traditional and hard money loans to investors.
This post provided by REIClub.com for creative real estate investors. Copyright 2002-2012 All Rights Reserved. Published with Permission of Author. No part of this publication may be copied or reprinted without the express written permission of the Author and/or REIClub.com.
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