Is it worth becoming a certified home inspector

[Account Closed]

I am a newbie investor. I have been looking at houses this last week. I will be honest, I walk into a house and don't really know what I am looking for or how to tell if a house is in good or bad shape. I found out that my city offers a 3 day home inspection training course. Its 2 days classroom and 1 day actually out doing inspections. The price is $1300. Would it be worth the money to attend this training to get the knowledge of how to inspect houses? Thank you.

[Paul Timmins]

@Account Closed 

Look at ASHI they are the leaders.

Two Great reads, I bought both J. Scott The Book on Flipping Houses,The Book on Estimating ReHab Costshttp://www.biggerpockets.com/flippingbook

Good luck

Paul

[Kathleen Leary]

My inspector (who really does know everything!) owned, renovated & managed over 60 properties, was a GC, became an inspector & is certified/licensed in 3 states. 

I don't think three days' instruction is going to give you much more than an overview of the process & a general idea of what to look for. That's not a bad thing - if you're starting out, any information is better than none. But it will take many years & many, many properties to become truly knowledgeable.

Personally, I'd keep the money, read everything I could get my hands on & ask a local inspector if you could tag along. They may say no, but it doesn't hurt to ask! Go look at homes for sale & ask the realtor questions like crazy. (The realtor I use used to be a contractor/investor, so he knows his stuff. Many don't, but it's worth a shot.) If there's a rehab going on, knock on the door & ask if they have time to give you a tour. Lots of folks are very pleased to share what they know.

I've learned more from asking questions of the various professionals around town than you could imagine. I'm sure the plumber doesn't appreciate me crawling under the house with him & pestering him like a seven-year-old, but it's my money & I'm getting every penny's worth!

[Paul Timmins]

@Account Closed 

You cannot go wrong with education. Time and experience are equally important. Call a local ASHI certified inspector ask them if they think the training was worth it.

Paul

[Barry Cohen]

As a licensed home inspector, I cannot imagine that a 3 day class can possibly give you a fraction of the knowledge that any reputable school that teaches home inspection education would provide. You can't even skim the surface of the components to a home in 3 day, really only 2 since 1 day is in the field and you will be looking at thinks that mean absolutely nothing to you. Save your $1300 and read online, watch youtube videos on home inspection and I'm sure you will get a better education. You can go the site www.internachi.com which offers tons of educational information. Save your $$$

[Corey Hajduk]

Sorry if this is a little off topic but I was curious as to if there are any home inspectors that I can connect with and pick their brains on the subject. I was offered the opportunity to tag along and shadow a very reputable home inspector to teach me the ropes and undoubtedly I am going to take him up on the offer but I can't until I am done traveling for my current job. I would like to obtain any knowledge on the subject that I can so I don't show up completely in the dark. I have done my research on the subject but nothing compares to a good ole' fashion Q & A.

[Kim Book]

I would say no, you can get a good home inspector to inspect the house for you for 300 to 400 dollars or less in my market. Network and build that relationship, call some GC and inspectors and be honest with them. One will tag along and help you out. There is a WHOLE lot of free info on the topic to pay for a short class like that. For 3 days it is only general info and you can get all that @biggerpockets for sure

[Jay Lohn]

As an investor and certified home inspector I would recommend using http://www.ahit.com/index.htm you can study at your own pace and be fully certified for around $1000.  I did it because as you mentioned I wanted to know what I am looking at when evaluating new deals and as a previous poster mentioned that each inspection is $300 - 400 so in three deals you will have paid for your education.  You will have all the reference materials from your course and a lifetime online support function, not to mention inspection software that comes with the course.

[Monty Alston]

Abe, you are getting some really good advice here, I am contractor and home inspector and would highly recommend you add interNachi  to your list of programs to investigate. They have a monthly and annual program for around 500 per year. If you subscribed to either Homegauge or Inspector Pro reporting software they will include some free membership to interNachi as well.  

Best of Luck!

[Account Closed]

Hi Abe,

As others have told you, nothing can beat years of experience and on-the-job knowledge. With that said, it could be worth it to take the course you have described and get certified.

But first, I would recommend getting informal experience. Asking to tag along with an inspector is a great idea, but before you do that, watch as many youtube videos as you can on home inspection (and renovation for that matter) and read as many books on the topic as you can. When you're a home inspector, you need to know a lot about every single aspect of a home. So you need to be a roofer, a mason, a structural engineer, a contractor, an electrician, an HVAC guy and more, all at once. And it's just not easy to get and retain all of that knowledge quickly.

Our home inspector is the kind of guy who knows his stuff backwards. He gave us very accurate estimates for repairs and even put us in touch with friends and contacts who did the repairs we needed for reasonable costs. This is the kind of mastery that people look for when they look for home inspectors, and you just can't get there in a few days.

Here's a strategy I would consider.

Get informally educated by watching videos and reading

Tag along with home inspectors and contractors

Go back to step one

And then, depending on how you feel, go ahead and become a home inspector.

As you pointed out, home inspectors are expensive, and if you get a place inspected and decide against closing on it, you do lose a fair amount of money. But it's like an insurance policy. Spending a few bucks on a good home inspector can save you a fortune if he spots big problems.

[Sterling Harpst]

You have to find what your passion is! It depends if you can see yourself doing something in 20 years whether or not it is worth it. I personally will say that being a home inspector has brought me great joy over the years by helping both new and current homeowners get a peace of mind about one of their biggest investments. Most people don't know what they don't know and having a professional take care of some of their biggest concerns while providing a peace of mind has been enjoyable to say the least. It takes a lot of continued education and training, but to be the best of the best it is just part of the process. Good luck on your decision!

Sterling

Home Inspection Newark

[Scott Brown]

In case anyone stumbles across this old thread... I'm a licensed home inspector in NY. If you're asking strictly from an investor perspective. The answer is no it doesn't make sense. The learning curve is too steep to provide value in my opinion, its better to just hire someone. The real value in a good inspector is the unusual stuff that we only come across a few times a year and it takes hundreds of inspections to have that experience. If your more generally thinking about becoming an inspector, it's a great career that provides a lot of life flexibility, but you need to understand customer service which is 80% of the job and the most important part after you get past the learning curve. You also really need to shadow other inspectors 20-30 times bare minimum, but you won't really know anything till you've done 200-300 inspections.