Absolutely no offense taken but you could'nt be further from the truth. I've been in construction my whole life. Worked with my father who was an electrician every summer since about 7-8 years old. I now am the senior estimator project manager with an electrical contractor that i started with as an apprentice in 1990. I started wiring houses for the subdivision we moved into in my 10th grade year by myself in 1986. Did that untill i graduated. The went to TSTI for a year where my father was the program chairman. After that got into the electrical union and went to union school for 5 years. I've been here 33 years.

When my wife and i visited the house we are interested in for the second time i was able to go up into the attic and have a look around. The wiring was all new, new insulation, house has new appliances cabinets yada yada yada. The slab is pier and beam with no appearant cracking. The brick is intact with no areas of repair. My real only concern is the pier and beam and the plumbing. The A/C heat is an older gas unit but appears to be very clean and working well. The condensing unit outside is a newer goodman unit, but still not new.

When we walked into the house yesterday it was a little warm but not too bad. The first question i asked was "what is the thermostat set on". To my surprise it was accompanied by a note asking to please leave on 82* to help keep the electric bill down while the house is vacant. The house felt cooler than 82*. The paperwork with the house listed some of the issues that the owner knew about. All of those were pretty well described. Such as one water heater leaks and water was turned off to it. I turned the water on and it is leaking into the drain pan. Not good. garbage disposal not working. fairly new unit. Could be something simple.

I have compiled a list of things that i have found and what the owner has listed. My thought on this is what if we pay this inspector and he comes back with basically the same thing we have listed. I was thinking the realtor (long time family friend) mentioned somewhere around $500.00 for the inspection and then we only have maybe a week or so to get that done.

Have you looked to see if the permits for the work were pulled? Because if they weren't, how do you know a licensed person did the work?

There's no way I'd tell a client to buy a home without an inspection. Dealing with this right now with my best friend. Only thing I didn't catch was the sprinkler system and I didn't take off the front of the electrical panel. My best friend's dad thought the sprinker system might have a malfunction due to the way the yard looked. Turns out it had one head turned wrong and somebody programmed it with 4 zones running 1 hr 36 minutes and the other 4 zones on for 3 minutes. The electrical panel showed some wires that were too small for their assigned breaker. I don't deal with electricity, so I wouldn't have ever caught that, but I had already told my client about everything else that the inspector noted. Now we're just having the HVAC guy check it and an electrician look at the panel for an estimate.

You can usually negotiate a longer option period for an additional fee. My client paid $475 for the inspection. I scheduled it on Monday for Wednesday morning. Inspector was there at 9:00 a.m. left about 12:30 and had the report sent to myself and my client by 4:15 p.m. Most are usually pretty quick on the turnaround.

One other thing this house is in West, Texas where the explosion happened years back. House is close enough to get some damage. but google earth has street view of maybe a wek after said explosion. This house appears completely intact with the exceptions of window missing. That explains the major renovation with new wiring, sheetrock, cabinets and such.

I appreciate all of the responses. Out of all my running and living in multiple places I have never purchased a house. My wife has. But me, none.

Seller Disclosure take care of that

Home inspectors are good for finding cracked glass, etc

If you really want a real home inspection hire HVAC, Electrician, Plumber to do more evasive test and inspections on those systems

I get it, new home warranty covers most things with the new build, but for instance the inspector I used for the last two found electrical irregularities like reverse poles outlets, a sink that drained slow because it was full of drywall mud, and yes a window that wasn’t cracked but lost it’s double pain seal and was getting moisture inside, plus all the finishing flaws…another thing he did was use a water level to measure the slab and provide a point to measure from in the future, as well he inspected the roof, the attic, etc, etc. dude was thorough !!! Prolly more than most and has earned my business…

I work in the service department for a foundation repair company. Inspectors are great at identify potential or definite issues.

If you're worried about the understructure, have a reputable foundation repair company or structural engineer look at it. Read the fine print. Foundation repair companies are looking to make a buck for their work but they also have to warranty the work. Engineers get a flat fee for the evaluation but they don't have to warranty the work if their repair plan is a bust.

Whoever you choose, make sure they actually crawl it. Not everybody does. Our guys usually take a pen to gently jab at the woodwork to check for hidden rot in the beams and joists.

IMO, the inspection is a negotiation tool. Inspectors are actually legally limited in what they can write up in their report. They have a list of stuff they are supposed to look at, and report on. Also, there is no obligation for the owner to actually fix anything on the list. None. As a buyer you can take the inspection report and adjust your offer to make owner fix certain things, or give you cash at closing so that you can fix them. The owner can absolutely say no or negotiate some sort of deal.

I think an inspection is a good thing, and would not buy a house without it. That said, these guys are not experts in all things, so there are other people that you should also bring out to look. Have a roofing guy look at the roof. If there is a pool, have a pool guy check it and all the equipment. If you see cracks in the driveway or porch (or evidence of prior foundation work) have a foundation guy come look. The house inspector will look at all of these things, but unless there is an obvious reportable defect, he will not be able to tell you about the overall condition.

Another thing you should add into your purchase contract is to require professional cleaning services after the home is empty.

Home inspectors are good for finding cracked glass, etc

If you really want a real home inspection hire HVAC, Electrician, Plumber to do more evasive test and inspections on those systems[/quote]

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Depends on what you are buying. A bunch of inspectors aren't very good so there is that.

I’ve bought 3 without inspections, just performed my own inspection.

Get a pinhole camera and check behind the bathroom walls. Water heater cabinet. AC cabinet, and garage.


The rental house next door is full of black mold. The house across the street is the same. The house down the street is the like. Any evidence of the mold outside the walls get painted over. Especially around the AC vents. (I know the guy involved in maintaining these rental properties)

They'll all, "Pass" an inspection.

We sold our last house to an individual investor he did not want to bother with inspection and we wrote the contract on my kitchen table. He rented it out for a few years the sold it pretty sure he made out very well on the deal. That said no I would not buy one to live in without having it inspected. When we were looking to buy in Flower Mound the first house we put a contract on we bailed after the inspection found lots of issues.

No it won't. If you get an SD from an investor/flipper, they just say they weren't aware. That's why I love the fact that some cities will allow you to search online to see if a property had permits pulled for renovations. I can't tell you how many times I've seen properties listed with 240 to 480 sq ft more than what the tax rolls show...because they added a room, or enclosed the garage, or whatever. No permits were pulled and the SD will state they were unaware an addition was made to the original structure.

Or they are 'unaware' of foundation issues...and yet the driveway is 8.5 inches lower than the garage and the doorways lean to one side and there are obvious signs of cracks being repaired. An SD is a starting point, but a good inspector will catch somethings, but not all things.