Via Abitat Inspect.

Photo submitted by ASHI home inspector: David Maudlin, Indy Pro Inspection Service, Inc., Carmel, Ind.

Keep this popular ‘Postcards from the Field’ feature going by emailing your photos with captions to judyd@ashi.org.

Via American Society of Home Inspectors Facebook Page. 

Photo submitted by ASHI home inspector: Kirk Bingenheimer, B-Sure Inspections, LLC, Mt. Pleasant, S.C.

Photo submitted by ASHI home inspector: Drago Nevistic, Ability Home Inspections, Woodinville, Wash.

The Senate has sent the financial overhaul bill to President Obama’s desk. In addition to many other provisions, the bill includes a section that will add home inspection to the HUD housing counseling program in a big way.

HUD will be enlisted to do the following:

•     Actively advise homebuyers across the country to obtain home inspections as a key element of buying a house
•      Tell buyers that obtaining a home inspection is a decision they need to  make, and should make
•       Tell buyers what professional characteristics to look for in a home inspector, and where and how to find one
•       Ensure that homebuyers reached by the HUD counseling programs consider obtaining a home inspection as early as possible in the process  – when home inspections have the greatest utility to homebuyers.
•       Develop new documents and training materials both for training HUD counselors and for distribution to the buyers they counsel
•       Make all of these messages available to all homebuyers regardless of whether they finance using government-backed programs or private sector lending.
•       This national de facto marketing effort will occur at no cost to ASHI members, and will be conducted under the authority, funding and staffing resources of HUD.

With completion of this legislative phase of the project, ASHI will shift to the next phase – administrative implementation. We have set the stage for ASHI to meet with the key HUD staff, who will implement the new home inspection counseling provisions. We fully anticipate that ASHI will have important input into the implementation phase. In fact, ASHI has already helped HUD draft some of the key documents that will be used by HUD staff – the “For Your Protection, Get a Home Inspection” document, as well as the “Ten Questions to Ask Your Home Inspector” document, that prompts homebuyers to consider the quality, professionalism, ethics, experience issues that strongly favor ASHI home inspectors.

Further, we note that there may be training opportunities in which the ASHI office might participate as a grantee. We will discuss possible funding opportunities for ASHI to engage in such a role and perhaps generate a new revenue opportunity.

Purpose of the legislation

Previous research conducted by GAO (also requested by ASHI) demonstrated conclusively that there are numerous reasons why homebuyers do not obtain home inspections, and many of those reasons are unrelated to cost.  Many of those reasons relate to confusion, lack of adequate information about the benefits of a home inspection, poor timing, simple lack of awareness and failure to attend to details, not knowing when a home inspection should be obtained, and more.

It is reasonable to assume this confusion costs ASHI members large numbers of prospective client opportunities and considerable revenue. Yet, nearly all ASHI members do not have the resources to, on their own, fund or staff a coordinated effort to redress this revenue-sapping confusion and misinformation.

However, the federal government does have the resources to address this problem.

ASHI developed a compelling comprehensive argument that it is in the national interest, and consumer interest, for the federal government to help.  ASHI associated home inspection with consumer protection, a winning strategy in the current environment.

Further, ASHI devised an acceptable mechanism to implement such a national program by modifying existing programs – the HUD housing counseling programs (which are receiving increasing attention, priority and funding in the current environment).

Further, ASHI crafted a new legislative proposal to provide the legislative authority for HUD to apply resources specifically to home inspection counseling on a nationwide basis.

ASHI was successful in convincing key Members of Congress at the heart of housing legislation that the legislation was substantive and would help homebuyers make better homebuying decisions.

The effort culminated with passage of the ASHI language within the larger financial reform bill.

Read the rest of this article at homeinspector.org.

Photo submitted by ASHI home inspector: Matthew Steger, WIN Home Inspection – Elizabethtown, Elizabethtown, Pa

Photo submitted by ASHI home inspector: Bob Beisbier, BK Home Inspections, LLC, Mukwonago, Wis.

Author: Best Franchise Sources

You have decided you want to be a home owner. You have started shopping around and have narrowed down your choices of homes. The next step is to narrow it down to the one you will call home. This is all great and dandy until you move in and realize that you need a new roof, or there is mold growing in the basement, or the air conditioner doesn’t work correctly. No matter what the problem is, it has now become your problem and you have to pay to have it fixed. If you would have gotten a home inspection you may have been able to find out before you purchased your home. You could have then went with one of the other houses that were an option.

On average only ¼ of homebuyers get a home inspection, an even smaller amount of home sellers get one. This is something that is simple and can prevent future headaches. A home inspection doesn’t take that long. It takes anywhere from an hour and a half to three hours. If you are buying a home it is worth taking the time to have a reputable, certified home inspector come look at the home you’re looking at buying. The home inspector will go through the house and check the heating and cooling systems. They will check the interior plumbing and the electrical systems to make sure they are working correctly; they will check your roof to make sure that the shingles are all in place and there isn’t any spots in the roof where there is rotting. They will also check the attic and visible insulation to make sure that it is intact and there isn’t any mold growing anywhere. They will then go around and check the walls, ceiling, floors, windows, and doors. They will then go around and check the foundation, basement, and structural components. They will check for any holes, cracks, or gaps. The reason it is important to check for any cracks, gaps, or holes is because these are paths were either water can get in and cause mold or radon can get in and cause high levels of radon. If your home tests positive for high levels of radon you need to act immediately and get as much radon out as possible. The reason for this is that radon damages lung tissue causing lung cancer. People live in their homes for years and years and sometimes never find out they have radon in their homes until it is too late.

A home inspector will bring some tools to help with his inspection. For example they will bring a ladder to get on the roof, a flashlight to get down in crawl spaces, electronic testing equipment to test for carbon monoxide, they will also bring a circuit analyzer to test the outlets and circuits to make sure they are all in working correctly; they will also bring a moisture meter. This will help them determine how much moisture is in the air. If there is too much moisture it could start to cause mold and other problems.

Knowing what problems a home has is going to save to a lot of headache down the road. It will also help you to make the decision if the things that need to be fixed are still worth buying the house or is it going to cost you more money than the house is worth. Knowing everything up front is going to help you be less frustrated once you move in for the fact you knew before hand what you were up against all because you spent a little extra time and got a home inspection.

If you don’t know where to find a company to do a home inspection you can go online to websites such as HouseMaster.com. Here not only will you be able to find reputable home inspectors in your area but also a plethora of information on home inspections.

Written By: Chauntel Greenwald

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/home-improvement-articles/save-yourself-a-headache-by-getting-a-home-inspection-5408506.html

About the Author

My passion is writing and researching about anything and everything. I love being able to learn about different topics and to share with the world what I have discovered.