Buying a Home? Here's How You Educate Yourself

When it comes to buying a home, knowledge is power. And we’re not just talking keeping abreast of the stock market, the housing market, mortgage rates, and other such stocks of information over which you have little control. It’s important to learn more about what you can control, too.

Professional home inspections give you a source for just that kind of information. Awareness on things that are usually reflected in an inspection report – like major systems, important shut-off valves, repairs that have to be made, minor and major defects – can spell the difference between a smart real estate investment and a potentially disastrous one.

However, too many homebuyers – not just in the Chicago Metropolitan Area, but throughout the United States – still don’t appreciate the importance of home inspections – as well as the kind of information they provide. According to Kathleen Kuhn, President and CEO of HouseMaster, the first and one of the largest home inspection organizations in North America, buyers spend months researching neighborhoods and mortgage providers, but not nearly enough time on professional home inspectors.

“A good home inspector is a critical component in the process of buying a house,” Kuhn says. “That’s because inspection reports help tremendously in forming realistic expectations of a home. How does it operate? How do you keep it safe? What needs to be maintained, and for how much and how regularly? Buyers will need that kind of information before they even move in, so it’s alarming that not a lot of people even consider looking up lists of home inspection providers and professional home inspectors.”

Kuhn adds that home inspections would take only a few hours – depending on the size of the property – so buyers need not balk at the idea of going through it. “Besides,” notes Kuhn, “home inspections can serve as very useful backstage tours of how homes work.” She says that “many of our clients – say, in Chicago and the nearby suburbs – felt empowered by what they learned from the home inspection. It put them in the right frame of mind to make informed decisions about buying a home.”

For more information on home inspections, home ownership, and home maintenance, visit HouseMaster.com.

Keep Reading and Check out these Articles:

1. Buying a House? Get a Professional Home Inspection
2. Buying a House? Weed Out Potential Trouble with Professional Home Inspections
3. Home Inspections: Why Good Things Come to Those Who Don’t Always Wait
4. Home Inspections: Why Good Things Come to Those Who Don’t Always Wait
5. Education and Inspection: The Keys to Home Buying