Hire a Home Inspector to Look Over Your Current House

Here's a great money saving comment left on my post titled Follow Your Home Inspector Around:

We've been in our house for 5 years now and we actually had our original inspector come put this summer and give the house a check-up. With the housing slump we were able to negotiate a great rate and he was able to give our house a thorough going over without having the responsibility of having to provide a full inspection report. He found quite a few things that I'm hoping if we fix now, before they become a potential problem, it will save us a lot of money in the long run.

I think this is a GREAT idea!!!! A long time ago I suggested that we could all save money by maintaining our stuff. But there are probably several items in each of our homes that need maintenance -- and we just don't know it. By having a home inspector come and identify the issues then getting the problems corrected, you could save a TON of money in later (and probably more expensive) repairs and damages.

I'm sure adding this to my future "to do" list. Anyone else do this?

Comments

[Mark B.]

This is an even better idea for you since you may be trying to sell your house soon.

[Kevin]

We've only lived in our house 3 years and plan on selling next year, so I doubt there's anything major that has happened in that time. In fact, we've done quite a bit of work and there is probably LESS wrong than when we bought it. If something is found when our buyers have an inspection, we'll negotiate then.

[JB]

When we sold our house earlier this year we hired an inspector and found a leaky shower pan. It was a simple fix, but if we had continued to live in the house it could have led to serious damage if undetected. That's the kind of thing an inspector can help you with.

Also, a few years ago, I hired an inspector to do a home energy audit. It was a good idea, but he was just starting to do them, so I don't think he was very knowledgeable at the time. I would imagine an experienced energy inspector could save you hundreds of dollars with their advice.