With many lenders tightening up and me being on title for less than a year I just want to be able to justify the increase in price from what I paid for it.I don't want some hard-*** inspector who pretends to be a code inspector pointing things out that might not meet code but are still safe and scaring a potential buyer.

Buyers can walk from any contract in the state of calif in 3 days regardless due to the current case studdies, Most don't know this though.It's just as easy to just make no deposit or a token deposit.Of course once you have your reputation then you can do these with no deposit almost every time.If your going to put in a clause for inspection 3 to 5 days is more than enough to get an inspection done anyway.I do my own inspecting for properties that are within 5 hr drive.If it's beyond that I hire inspectors with a contract covering liabilities.

The city actually requires you to have inspectors come in and approve the property - because it has been vacant for 3 years and now lost it's Certificate of Occupancy - I have an idea of what it is going to take, but from the windows to the walls to the fixtures, switches, plumbing - the works needs to be repaired and I need to do the labor to cut back on labor cost.

I have a great management team in place and former realtors and home inspectors to do the things that I am not good at.See, the beauty of the phoenix market is that the values have bottomed out and are leveling off.

Holly, I can probably help since I live in Buffalo...I am a licensed RE agent, a licensed property inspector, and own a property managment company here.If you need help please feel free to ask me, there are alot of good deals here in Buffalo but you really need to beware of the scams here also.contact me if you would like.Jim

I cannot think of any reason you would send money elsewhere, except perhaps a few hundred dollars to an inspector or someone else who is performing a service directly to you.

Cast iron can crack, something both me and my inspector missed on this last house.

Also, you can call a home inspector in your area, tell him you are going to be buying houses and need a good inspector.

I know that there are not serious problems exactly the same way a home inspector would know - by looking.

I have a good home inspector, because I do NOT crawl under houses or go up on roofs.