Blog by All-Star Home Inspection Services LLC.

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Customer question

Dear Kirk,

We had expected an answer today on our offer.  Unfortunately, it is a bank owned home, and the process is somewhat more complicated than a normal transaction.  Yes, I do want to schedule an inspection as soon as I know my offer has been accepted.  Whether it is this house or another one I will give you a call.  By the way what kind of licensing does a home inspector have to hold?  My wife asked me, and I did not have an answer for her.  Thanks for getting back to me.  ..............................Brent

She has a good question…

In California, Home Inspectors don’t need any state license or hold any certificates.  They don’t have to be insured, bonded, or have any certain amount of experience.  They don’t all have the same inspection reports either.  It’s really a buyer beware marketplace, and you should certainly do research before you hire one.  You’ll hear of nightmare inspectors from the realtors quite often.

You can find information about home inspectors all over the web; try starting at google.com or yahoo.com.  You’ll find that there are a couple of Home Inspector organizations that have a scope of work, their educational requirements, and a listing of their certified inspectors.  The two that All-Star Home Inspections currently belongs to are: California Real Estate Inspectors Association (CREIA), and National Association of Certified Home Inspectors (NACHI).  We used to belong to a few others but it was just throwing out our membership fees for nothing. 

Once you narrow your search down to the certified inspectors, you can look at their individual web sites or call and talk to the inspectors personally.  Inspectors give two types of reports.  The first type of report is the verbal one at the time of the inspection, and the other is their written report.  With some home inspectors, the written report is just a simple checklist template, carbon copies, and hand written remarks.  Our reports have full explanations of the condition of every component in the home printed from our computers.  We include color pictures so that you can understand what we are reporting on. One of the things you can look at on our web site is what our reports look like. 

Take a look at: www.allstarinspector.com 

Good luck in your process and we are ready when you are to inspect your new home. 

Kirk