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GAZETTE Newspapers
By: Arthur S. Lazerow
Title:
Selecting
Your Realtor and Home Inspector
Question: Marc from
Gaithersburg emailed: “My wife and I have decided interest rates
are as low as they will be in the near future and we are told
that there is a large selection of homes on the market. We have
decided to choose a Realtor and get moving to buy our first
home. We read your articles and you seem reasonable in your
advice. I know I cannot ask you for a Realtor referral, but
when we find a home, our friends who just settled on their new
home tell us we will be able to have a home inspection. What
advice can you give us in selecting a home inspector?”
Answer: Great questions and important to a successful
purchase. As to selecting a Realtor, here is my unsolicited
advice. Either (1) get a referral from a happy camper who had a
totally successful experience with a particular Realtor or (2)
decide where to live and find the neighborhood specialist. This
is what I did when I bought my home 25 years ago and did not
know any local Realtors, having lived and worked in Frederick
for a while.
As for the home inspector, since you currently live in
Gaithersburg, I will assume the house you purchase will also be
in Maryland. The first bit of advice is to make sure you work
with a Maryland licensed home inspector. The Maryland
legislature has recently amended the consumer protection law to
relieve sellers from obligation to correct home inspection
findings if the inspector was not a Maryland licensed
inspector. This guts your contract rights under the Maryland
standard purchase agreement property condition clause which
obligates sellers to repair on a mandatory basis any mechanical
deficiencies.
If you come to trust your Realtor’s advice, ask for a list of
quality inspectors with whom your Realtor has worked. If your
Realtor is a buyer’s agent, that Realtor’s obligation is to
represent your best interest and will do so. An experienced
Realtor will have worked with several home inspectors and will
have a preference which you can be comfortable relying on.
Ensure that any home inspector you work with is certified by one
of the major national home inspection organizations. The
American Society of Home Inspectors (ASHI.org) is the oldest and
largest national organization and has the most rigorous
standards for certification and performance. There are also
excellent inspectors certified by other organizations, but check
carefully.
Call the home inspectors on your Realtor list and speak with
them personally. Ask about the inspector’s independence, is he
or she affiliated with the Realtor or Broker? Does the
inspector have errors and omissions insurance in case a
significant deficiency is missed, which can happen to the best
inspector. How long has the inspector been in business? What is
the inspector’s background in construction? Is the inspector
part of a multi-inspector firm that may have a wide range of
experience should your inspector observe a condition that may be
outside his or her knowledge? These are the type questions that
should be asked.
The worst mistake you could make is to hire a home inspector
based on lowest price rather than best credentials and
experience. There probably is not a $75.00 difference between
the least experienced inspector and a fully experienced old
timer. When a caller to our office starts negotiating price, we
gladly give the caller the name of an inspector who is cheaper
than we are, since our experience is that the bottom feeder is
not appreciative of quality work and believes every home
inspector is equally qualified, which is not the case.
Check the inspector’s website. Does the website give you
confidence in the attitude of the inspector as reflected in the
website?Finally, there is nothing wrong with asking for
references to call prior clients and making inquiries. There is
nothing more reassuring than to drive up to your home just put
under contract of purchase and meeting your home inspector who
you thoroughly vetted and learned to respect.
Have a question relating to housing or an environmental issue?
To contact Mr. Lazerow, click on “Contact Us” at
Albaninspect.com. Mention “Gazette Newspapers” in your
question. Every question will be answered and some will be
included in this column.
Arthur Lazerow, president of Alban Home Inspection Service,
Inc., was a homebuilder for 25 years and is now a nationally
certified ASHI home inspector, having performed more than 5,000
inspections during the past 10 years. He can be heard every
Saturday from 10 to 11 a.m. as co-host of Real Estate Today
on WMET 1160 AM.
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