Home inspector's most asked question

As you may know, I've been doing home inspections in Windsor and Essex County for over 25 years. I'd have to say that 9 times out of 10, the homebuyer asks me "Would you buy this house?" or sometimes they phrase it as "Would you let your daughter buy this house?" If I got a dollar for every time I got asked those questions, I'd have over $10,000 because I've performed that many home inspections in Windsor!

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You would think that my answer to both of those questions would be the same no matter how the homebuyer phrases the question but actually my answer to each would be different.  You see, if my daughter were to buy a particular home, her skills, needs, wants, likes, dislikes, budget etc are completely different than mine. Also, having built homes from the ground up prior to beginning my home inspection career puts me in a different bracket than my 24 year old daughter who works at a daycare and is a photographer.  You see what I'm getting at?

As a professional home inspector, I state the facts. When I discover an 'issue' during the home inspection, each home buyer processes the information differently. By the way, I put a quote around the word issue because what is an issue for one home buyer is not remotely an issue for another. What may be a stumbling block for one client is perceived as a cool weekend project for another. I always tell my clients that there is no pass or fail to a home inspection. There are just the facts. 

Stating the facts allows the home buyer to put everything into perspective according to their skills, wants, needs, likes, dislikes, budget etc. It educates the client on what is likely going to be their biggest investment.

I've seen clients buy a home that I would never have bought and on the other hand, I've seen clients walk away from a home that I would have definitely bought.  I guess my daughter could say the same thing. So, I never give a yes or no answer to the most-asked question that a Home Inspector gets. As a professional Home Inspector, I would be doing my client a disservice if I did because unless the home buyer is a repeat customer, I meet my client for the first time at the job site. I have no idea what their skills, budget, likes, lifestyle, dislikes, needs, wants etc are.

In my 25 year career of inspecting homes in Windsor and Essex County, I have never had a client call me and say that they should have bought a house that they walked away from, or that they wished they had never bought the house that I inspected.  Why, because I state the facts and the home buyer makes a decision that is right for THEM. 

By the way, I have often heard new clients say that they wished that they had never bought their house that other home inspectors had inspected, but I'll save those stories for another blog lol.

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