North Carolina home inspector John Hagan is an expert in the industry, as well as owner of Hagan Home Inspections in Raleigh. With a degree in Industrial Engineering from Purdue University and more than 10 years of experience working in the custom home construction business, Hagan is a sought-after expert for people buying and selling their homes. In this article, he tells us the most expensive mistakes that homebuyers make during the inspection process.
Over the years, I have seen homebuyers and sellers make all types of mistakes during the home inspection process which cost them time and money. None, however, is more common or more frequent than making the mistake of asking someone who is not a licensed, qualified inspector to handle the job of inspecting a home before closing on the purchase.
Instead of getting a licensed home inspector to inspect the home they are buying, many people think they can save money by asking their brother or their friend to do the job instead. While their friend might know a little bit about home construction, or maybe he is even a handyman, that does not mean he is qualified to do a complete home inspection.
When you hire a home inspector, you have to understand that this is what we do for a living. Home inspectors see hundreds of homes, and we know what common problems to look for. Friends who know a bit about construction or home building, meanwhile, do not do these inspections on a regular basis. So they do not know what problem areas to look for.
When you are making such an expensive purchase, you should make every effort possible to ensure that what you are buying is a quality product, free of defects. That goes for used cars, homes, or anything else. Having a friend do an informal inspection of a new home is not enough considering how much money you are likely spending on this purchase.
A licensed, qualified home inspector has a trained eye for everything that could go wrong inside a home, and he can spot these issues quickly. So the biggest mistake that a homebuyer can make is hiring someone who is not licensed or experienced to handle a home inspection.
