Here’s another helpful tip for home buyers. When you get into contract on your next home, one of the first things you’ll need to do is contact a home inspector to set up a time for a home inspection. Your Realtor® may give you a few names on their suggested list or you may get the info from a friend or co-worker.
Have you thought about how you will know to select a “good” inspector? Or are you going to shop based only on price and availability? Will you be asking for credentials? Did you know that a home inspector in Ohio doesn’t have a license or any monitoring as to their credibility?
While I know money can be tight when buying a home, please don’t shop based on price! You’ll get what you pay for, and it could prove to be “penny-wise, pound-foolish”. You want to select someone that absolutely knows what they’re doing because it can cost you dearly later if the inspector does a poor job.
When interviewing the inspectors, there is an area of questioning that you might not consider, but should. Ask them which county they do most of their inspections. If that county doesn’t match the county of the home you’re buying, ask them how familiar they are with the building codes of the county the home is in. If the inspector isn’t all that familiar with your county, they may answer in a round-about way. Put a red-flag by this person’s name.
In central Ohio, each county has its own building codes. Some counties have much tougher codes than others. You want your inspector to do the inspection based on the COUNTY’S codes, not on the more general STATE codes. It’s also helpful if the inspector is knowledgeable enough to know what codes were in the past.
Codes change over the years, and it’s important for the inspector to know if the home “met the code of the day” when the home was built. For instance, consider that the home may have met the electrical or plumbing codes when it was built, but improvements in materials since have resulted in code changes. The inspector should know which codes are considered “grandfathered”. As a buyer, you shouldn’t expect a seller to bring everything up to current codes IF the work was done correctly at the time and passed inspection by the county.
In line with this topic – and your inspector can guide you here – watch for DIY work. Some homeowners may think they are more of a handyman than they really are, and will do the work themselves without obtaining a building permit. The Residential Property Disclosure Form, that the seller must complete, has a question that addresses this building permit issue.
TRUE STORY: I showed a FSBO to a buyer. The owner had finished his basement and was very proud of the work he had done. After he was done telling us all about it, I asked if he had obtained building permits for the work. He answered, “No. Those permits are just a way for the County to make money.” WHOOPS! – wrong answer. Plant a big red flag on this home.
Here are some other articles I’ve written about the home inspection process:
- Inspections a buyer should have done
- Will your inspector take away your dream home?
- You might be a bad inspector when …
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