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house inspection

The real estate industry is a multi-billion dollar sector in the United States. There are many players in each real estate transaction with home inspectors being as important as the real estate closing itself.

Families move, on the average, once every five to seven years. Also, just under 70% of all homes bought and sold in the United States are evaluated by a home inspector. Given these two statistics, the home inspection industry is a major player in most real estate transactions. Home Inspection Defined A home inspection is a non-invasive visual examination of specific components in a residential property. The general components observed or evaluated are the structure, mechanical systems, and the lot or grounds. A home inspection is not a code inspection; they can be very different.

Many states now require home inspectors to be licensed and insured. Licensed home inspectors are considered professionals. So, before selecting a home inspector, ask for their credentials and find out whether your state licenses home inspectors. The licensing state will generally require that the home inspector have a certain number of classroom hours (some actually take correspondence), attend a specified number of "dead inspection", attend a certain number of "live inspections", and pass a national test. In many states, after the test has been passed but before the home inspector performs a home inspection on residential property for resale, the home inspector must obtain Errors and Omissions and General Liability insurances.

States licensing home inspectors will typically have "Standards of Practice" or a "Code of Ethics" that the inspectors must follow. The Standards typically outline the minimum you can expect from a home inspector or what can and cannot be expected in a home inspection. For example, home inspections are generally not technically exhausted. That is, home inspectors do not necessarily inspect the cause of certain problems; they merely report that there appears to be an issue and recommend further evaluation.

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