All Inspectors. Provide Clients With Reports

Category: Finance, Real Estate.

When.

As a home. buyer/ seller or real estate professional, you have the right to know exactly. what a typical real estate inspection is. Home Inspection is required? The following information should give. you a better understanding of exactly what your inspector should or shouldn t do. for you during the course of a home inspection. Having a home inspected is akin to giving it a physical check- up. A. home inspection. is an independent visual examination of the physical structure and systems of a. house of an apartment, including all sections from the roof down to the. foundations. If problems or symptoms are found, the home inspector may recommend further. evaluation. No destructive testing or dismantling is done during. the course of an inspection, hence an inspector can only tell a client exactly. what was clearly in evidence at the time and date of the inspection.

First and foremost, an inspection is a visual survey of those easily accessible areas that an. inspector can clearly see. The. inspectors eyes are not any better than the buyers, except that the inspector is. trained to look for specific tell- tale signs and clues that may lead to the. discovery of actual or potential defects or deficiencies. These Standards tell what the inspector will and can do, as well as what the inspector will not do. Inspectors base. their inspections on the current industry standards provided to them by their. professional societies. Many inspectors give a copy of the. standards to their clients. The Industry. If your inspector has not given you a copy, ask for. one, or go to the American Home Inspector Directory and look for your home. inspectors association.

Standards clearly spell out specific areas in which the inspector must identify. various defects and deficiencies, as well as identifying the specific systems, components and items that are being inspected. Private water and sewer systems, security systems, solar systems, etc. There are many excluded areas. noted in the standards that the inspector does not have to report on, for. example. The inspector is not. limited by the standards and if the inspector wishes to include additional. inspection services( typically for an extra fee) then he/ she may perform as many. specific inspection procedures as the client may request. Most. home inspectors. will not give definitive cost estimates for repairs and replacements since the. costs can vary greatly from one contractor to another. Some of these. additional services may include wood- boring insect inspection, radon testing, or. a variety of environmental testing, etc.

Inspectors typically will. tell clients to secure three reliable quotes from those contractors performing. the type of repairs in question. Every system. and component in a building will have a typical life expectancy. Life expectancies. are another area that most inspectors try not to get involved in. Some items and. units may well exceed those expected life spans, while others may fail much. sooner than anticipated. The average time for. an inspection on a typical 3- bedroom home usually takes 2 to 4 hours, depending. upon the number of bathrooms, fireplaces, kitchens, attics, etc. , that have to. be inspected. An inspector may indicate to a client, general life. expectancies, but should never give exact time spans for the above noted. reasons.

Inspections that take less than two hours typically are considered. strictly cursory, "walk- through" inspections and provide the client with less. information than a full inspection. These. national organizations provide guidelines for inspectors to perform their. inspections. Many inspectors. belong to national inspection organizations such as ISHI, and NAHI, ASHI. All inspectors. provide clients with reports. Written reports are far more desirable, and. come in a variety of styles and formats. The least desirable type of report would be an. oral report, as they do not protect the client, and leave the inspector open for. misinterpretation and liability. The following are. some of the more common types of written reports: Checklist with. comments.

Narrative report. with either a checklist or rating system. Rating System. with comments. Pure Narrative. report. Inspectors typically. will spend sufficient time in all of these areas to visually look for a host of. red flags, telltale clues and signs or defects and deficiencies. Four key areas of. most home/ building inspections cover the exterior, the basement or crawlspace. areas, the attic or crawlspace areas and the living areas. As the. inspector completes a system, major component or area, he/ she will then discuss. the findings with the clients, noting both the positive and negative features.

The inspected areas. of a home/ building will consist of all of the major visible and accessible. electro- mechanical systems as well as the major visible and accessible. structural systems and components of a building as they appeared and functioned. at the time and date of the inspection.

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