- Ted Mittelstaedt wrote:

There are good ones, when we bought our first house I had a good
inspector. However, I didn't use an inspector recommended by any
Realtor or agent or any of that.

When looking at houses, my wife and I went with a good friend that has a
pretty varied history in construction. Between us, we were able to spot a
lot of issues just during the initial walk-throughs. Even so, when we
found a house and made an offer, we still brought in an inspector. It's at
least another set of eyes without bias about the property.

Like Ted, I wanted to find a home inspector independent from my agent. I
really liked my agent and would work with him again, but I wanted someone
that only had to answer to me. Instead of the yellow pages, I turned to
friends that had owned their homes for a couple years or more. If there
were any issues the inspection missed, this gave a decent window for
problems to be revealed.

At least for me, this strategy paid off. My inspector was thorough, happy
to answer questions in the moment and listen to my input, and was honest
about the problems that were easy fixes and those that were larger. His
report was professional, and I think it had an impact on the purchase
price. I honestly don't know if a similar list from us would have netted
the same result.

Mark
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Mark Cato