4 Key Ways To Identify A Good Knoxville Home Inspector
After writing an offer on a West Knoxville home, there is the home inspection to worry about.
A home inspection is much more than just one more thing you need to check off your list when you buy a home. It’s an essential and critical part of the home buying process. A home inspection gives you the opportunity to learn more about a home before you buy it. If your home inspection reveals issues, then you will have the time to work through those issues before signing off on the final paperwork.
Still, an important part of the home inspection process is finding the right Knoxville home inspector to do the job. You want someone who will be thorough and honest with you and who has a professional reputation and experience.
In this post, we’ll help you identify 4 key ways to identify a good Knoxville home inspection.
The Inspector Is A Referral From A Reputable Source
A referral can be the simplest way to help identify a good Knoxville home inspector. The easiest source to get this information from is your Knoxville realtor. Normally, realtors have a few different inspectors that they refer to, so they can provide you with a list of inspectors to choose from.
Realtors who have been in the business long enough know those home inspectors who do a thorough job and those who don’t. In their time in the business, they’ve probably worked with many different inspection companies and they can help you identify which companies have a good reputation and those who don’t.
Realtors are present during home inspections so they are able to get an inside look at what inspectors spend the time on every property.
Your Inspector Comes With Certifications
When you’re hiring someone to inspect your biggest investment, it can be nice to know they come with additional certifications. A Knoxville home inspector with an American Society of Home Inspectors (ASHI) or the International Association of Home Inspectors (InterNACHI) can give you additional confidence when it comes to inspecting your home.
Both ASHI and InterNACHI have a strict code of ethics. Both of these certifications are also required to complete additional examinations and additional inspection courses in order to complete the certifications.
When a home inspector has done the additional work to obtain the certification, it can give you additional confidence in your home inspector.
The Company Only Does Inspections
Reputable home inspection companies should only do inspections. When a company does both inspections and repairs, that’s where a very questionable gray area can exist.
Here is why this can be a big red flag.
When a home inspector is also a part of a firm that does repairs, that should automatically come into question anything they flag on your report. Being in both businesses allows that company to double dip in both services, which could make it easy for a company to fib on an inspection report. They may embellish a little bit on the inspection report, in homes that they may get the bid for the repairs.
When it comes to hiring someone to inspect your house, you want someone who is completely impartial. That’s why you want a Knoxville home inspector who is only in the business of doing inspections.
Previous Customer Feedback Is Good
Finally, even if your realtor gives the inspector rave reviews, there is nothing wrong with digging a bit deeper. Previous customers speak volumes about their Knoxville home inspectors. There is nothing wrong with doing a little digging online to see what previous customers are saying.
Facebook, Google, and Yelp are all great places to start. These are places where customers can go and leave the good, the bad, and the ugly about a home inspector. It’s a place where you can go and get unfiltered feedback from previous customers without much effort. Sure, there can always be the one customer who had a bad experience, but for the most part, the reviews should show you a true picture of what the home inspector was like.
If you want to dig a big deeper, you can always ask the home inspector for a few names to serve as a reference. Your realtor may be able to to the same as well if they refer to the same few companies for their home inspections.
Are you interested in buying a West Knoxville home for sale? If so, please do not hesitate to let us know. Rick can be contacted at 865-696-9002 or via email at [email protected]. Kati can be contacted at 865-696-1888 or via email at [email protected]. Also, be sure to check out our West Knoxville home search page to see what homes are for sale in the area.
