Before hiring a home inspector, please do your research. Steve at WIN did a home inspection for me five years ago. As time has gone on, I've discovered several items he did not catch which have resulted in very expensive repairs. The reason I am writing this review at this late date is we just discovered what could have been catastrophic structural failures in the floor joist system. He did not detect or report an obvious lack of support beams under the bathroom and hallway nor did he report what is apparently a decades old rotted floor joist system. Or the ancient rotted beams in the attic. (We call them "the beams to nowhere" because they were rotted in half.) To put it in layman's terms, there is nothing other than sub-floor holding up the tub. Or the hallway. At the time, I asked him specifically if everything "looked OK" underneath the house. He assured me all was fine. Folks, I am a music teacher and even I can see that all is NOT FINE.
Additionally, it was noted in his inspection report that the construction year of the home was 1950. I realize he probably received this information from the realtor. However, one would have thought that a professional would have picked up on the fact that the knob and tube wiring that was both visible and prevalent in the joists of this house had been obsolete since the 1930's. Which means this house is at least 20 years older than its marketed age.
Oh, and there was nothing holding up the exterior end wall of the garage. As in, it was not structurally connected to the house. The trusses in the garage were not properly blocked which made it extremely unstable. (I could have practically pushed that wall over and I am a small person.) How could a trained inspector miss something like that?
In this day and age when you can almost hear the sound of your home depreciating, it is very disheartening -- and infuriating -- to discover that the home you bought during the market boom is not only worth less, it is in miserable condition. All because you put your faith in someone who was hired to supposedly protect you from purchasing such a money pit. Had I known any of this, I would not have purchased this home. Now I'm stuck with it.
Update as of 11/17/2011: We had a professional chimney cleaner/specialist come over today to clean the fireplace and chimney. He asked if we knew how old this house was. We said we were told it was built in the 50's but had found evidence it was older than that. He confirmed it by telling us it was a very old style of chimney and placed the construction date in the 1920's or 30's. Again, how could an inspector not see this? read more
