Your Home Inspection Questions Answered

Today Scott from HomeTeam  joins me to answer key questions about the process.

Today I’m joined by Scott Irmscher, who’s here to answer a few key questions about home inspections. Scott has been involved with thousands of home inspections over the course of his 20 years in the business, so he’s definitely an expert in this area. If you would like to visit his website here it is. 

Why do home inspectors sometimes miss certain items?

Home inspections are visual inspections, and inspectors often don’t see everything. There are things hidden behind walls, for example, and the sellers wouldn’t appreciate coming home to find that an inspector had torn everything apart just to try to find all the small items. In general, they’re looking for evidence and signals that a particular area of the home needs further inspection. Think of them like a general practitioner at the doctor’s office; when you visit them and they find something wrong with you, they’ll refer you to a specialist, but they won’t always find everything.

What are the most common items to appear on an inspection report?

Some of the most common issues that Scott deals with include rotting wood around windows and on the exterior of the house, plumbing issues, and GFCI outlets that are wired incorrectly or don’t work properly. If you’ve never seen a home inspection report, understand that it can be about 40 to 50 pages long. Ultimately, it’s a great to-do list to help sellers fix up a home before they sell it.

"Home inspections give buyers a full picture of the property they intend to purchase and help sellers keep up with their deferred maintenance projects."

What is the worst thing you’ve ever seen on an inspection report?

Usually, the worst things that Scott has seen involve water damage somewhere. Often when water intrusion occurs, no one looks at it or tries to fix it. But if it’s left unchecked for a long time, water damage creates mold, mildew, and rotting wood. In his first home, Scott had water issues in his crawl space that took him five years to figure out. It turned out that his downspouts were leaking water into the foundation, which ended up settling and he spent several thousand dollars to raise it, waterproof the crawlspace, and install a sump pump. By comparison, simply fixing the gutters could have saved him a lot of time and money.

If you’re looking to buy a house, a home inspection is highly recommended so that you have a full picture of the property you’re interested in; you don’t want any nasty surprises down the road! If you already own a home, a home inspection can serve as a good maintenance checklist of things to take care of in general.

If you have any questions about home inspections, deferred maintenance, or real estate in general, don’t hesitate to reach out to us. We’d love to help you.