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Continue to post by copy-pasting content from InterNACHI's free, online "Introduction to Home Inspections Course," which teaches about how a home works, how to maintain it, and how to save energy. This is wonderful content for hundreds of blog posts. You have permission by InterNACHI® to use the course content for your blog post as long as your an InterNACHI® member and a Certified Professional Inspector CPI®. Get to the course by visiting https://www.nachi.org/introduction-home-inspection-course.htm. Confirm permission and address your concerns with InterNACHI's Ben Gromicko at ben@internachi.org. Invite all of your current, future, and past clients to read your blog. Keep in touch with all of our clients. You actually don't have past clients. They're all current clients in your client network. Keep in touch with them. This is a great way to do just that. Email them now. And keep posting. By the way, you can write a ton of posts and schedule them to come out once a week. You have years of post content if you use InterNACHI's course. Do it now!

Home maintenance is a primary responsibility for every homeowner. Staying on top of a seasonal home maintenance schedule is very important, and the neighborhood InterNACHI® Certified Home Inspector can help. Minor maintenance and routine home repairs should not turn into expensive disasters later due to neglect or simply because the homeowner isn’t sure what needs to be done and when. Every home maintenance or repair project starts with taking a close look. Homeowners should hire a professional inspector to do a close look at the entire home and property. Every home should be inspected every year by an InterNACHI® Certified Professional Inspector as part of a homeowner’s routine home maintenance plan. A home inspection report is a great place to start. Homeowners can use the inspection report as a list of things to monitor, repair, and replace. Homeowners can use their inspector as a home consultant. Whenever anything goes wrong and is in need of repair or renovation, the home inspector is the neutral third-party professional who can be trusted to provide an unbiased opinion about the condition of the home. Homeownership is both a joyful experience and an important responsibility, so homeowners should call upon their local InterNACHI® Certified Professional Inspectors CPI® to help them make annual home maintenance plans that will keep their families safe and their homes in top condition for years to come.

Throughout this blog, there are references to the InterNACHI® - the International Association of Certified Home Inspectors. Visit www.nachi.org for more information. InterNACHI® is the world’s largest association of residential and commercial property inspectors. The InterNACHI® Home Inspection Standards of Practice (SOP) defines what a home inspection is and lists the responsibilities of a home inspector. The SOP can be viewed by visiting www.nachi.org/sop. We will be learning the Standards of Practice to which a home inspection is performed during this blog. We will also be learning about inspecting components and systems that are beyond the scope of a home inspection. A home inspector is permitted to exceed the Home Inspection Standards of Practice. The Home Inspection Standards of Practice are the minimum standards to which a home inspection is to be performed. Next, let's take your first quiz.

Just for a moment, let’s assume that you’re a real estate agent. The seller has accepted your clients' offer and now, with your help, your clients must choose a home inspector. Should you steer them toward the inspector who writes the softest reports? Should you steer them toward the inspector who pays to be on your office's preferred vendor list? Should you help them find the cheapest inspector? The answers to these questions are of course, No, No, and Heck, no. Real estate agents have a fiduciary duty to their clients and, therefore, must recommend the very best inspectors. If a real estate agent recommends a patty-cake inspector, an inspector who indirectly pays for an agent's recommendation, or a cheap inspector, the agent potentially violates their fiduciary duty to their client. The National Association of Realtors defines an agent's duties in their Code of Ethics. Article 1 requires an agent to protect and promote their clients' interests. Article 6 requires an agent to disclose any financial benefit they may receive from recommending related real estate services (including any benefit to an agent's broker). Because most real estate agents get paid only if the real estate transaction successfully takes place, the personal interests and the fiduciary duties may already conflict. Agents should not make the situation any worse. The best way to avoid negligent referral claims, to operate ethically, and to fulfill the fiduciary duty is to help the client find an inspector based solely on merit. And although no real estate agent can guarantee the thoroughness of any particular inspector, there is a strong correlation between a home inspector's fees and the inspector's competence (in other words, you get what you pay for). An agent that helps their client find a cheap inspector for the purchase of their life seems to be a violation of the agent's fiduciary duty. When in doubt, the agent and client should shop price, and seek out the most expensive inspectors for the agent's clients. And for you inspectors, compete with each other on value, not price.

Every homeowner has similar concerns and questions related to maintaining their home. The following questions are those that all homeowners ask themselves: “How do things in my house work?” “How do I maintain them?” “What does a real problem look like?” “How should it be corrected?” The answers to these questions are in this blog. This blog will guide you through the systems and components of a typical house, how they work, and how to maintain them. You will also learn about what common house problems look like and how they can be corrected. The main systems of a residential building include the following: roof; exterior; basement, foundation, crawlspace, and structure; heating; cooling; plumbing; electrical; fireplace; attic, insulation, and ventilation; doors, windows, and interior. By reading this blog, you will learn what is required to be inspected during a home inspection, including all of the systems and certain components within those systems. Not everything is inspected during a home inspection. And not every defect (or house problem) will be discovered during an inspection. That's an impossible task for anyone, not just professional home inspectors. It's not possible to find every problem that exists or could exist by performing a home inspection, because many house systems and components are simply hidden, covered up, and not visible. Most homes do not have major defects, but some do. And that's the main reason to get a home inspection. And in this blog, we will learn a lot about what problems in a home look like, how to find them, and how to repair them. Next, let's talk a little about real estate agents.

The home inspector is not an expert but a generalist. The home inspector can inspect a home and report upon its condition as it was at the time of the inspection. That is the main responsibility of the home inspector. A home inspection does not include predictions of future events, house warranties, or guarantees that nothing will ever go wrong. Future events (such as roof leaks, water intrusion, plumbing leaks, and heating failures) are not within the scope of a home inspection and are not the responsibility of the home inspector. Who’s responsible? The homeowner. The most important thing for a homeowner to understand is that things will break. As time goes on, parts of the house will wear out, break down, deteriorate, leak, or simply stop working. The inspection image shows watermarks in the corner of the ceiling. The watermarks indicate that the water leak has been taking place for some time. One could assume that the homeowner would likely know of this water leak problem since it has been an issue for some time. In a real estate transaction, the inspection report is only supplementary to the seller’s disclosure (what the seller knows about the home), and the report provides additional information to the home buyer. The inspection image of the roof shows a shingle tab that lifted up in the wind and cracked in half. This is a roof defect that happened after a home inspection was performed. This problem is not the responsibility of the home inspector, but of the homeowner. And it's likely that the homeowner wasn't aware of the problem. Future conditions are not the responsibility of the home inspector.

Home Maintenance Made Simple Learn how a home works, how to maintain it, and how to save energy. Home maintenance is a primary responsibility for every homeowner, whether you’ve lived in several homes of your own or have just purchased your first one. Staying on top of a seasonal home maintenance schedule is important, and your InterNACHI Certified Professional Inspector® can help you figure this out so that you never fall behind. Don’t let minor maintenance and routine repairs turn into expensive disasters later due to neglect or simply because you aren’t sure what needs to be done and when. Your home inspection report is a great place to start. In addition to the written report, checklists, photos, and what the inspector himself said during the inspection—not to mention the seller’s disclosure and what you notice yourself—it’s easy to become overwhelmed. However, it's likely that your inspection report included mostly maintenance recommendations, the life expectancy for the home's various systems and components, and minor imperfections. These are useful to know about. The issues that really matter fall into four categories: 1. major defects, such as a structural failure; 2. things that can lead to major defects, such as a small leak due to a defective roof flashing; 3. things that may hinder your ability to finance, legally occupy, or insure the home if not rectified immediately; and 4. safety hazards, such as an exposed, live buss bar at the electrical panel. Anything in these categories should be addressed as soon as possible. Often, a serious problem can be corrected inexpensively to protect both life and property (especially in categories 2 and 4). Most sellers are honest and are often surprised to learn of defects uncovered during an inspection. It’s important to realize that sellers are under no obligation to repair everything mentioned in your inspection report. No house is perfect. Keep things in perspective as you move into your new home. And remember that homeownership is both a joyful experience and an important responsibility, so be sure to call on your InterNACHI Certified Professional Inspector® to help you devise an annual maintenance plan that will keep your family safe and your home in top condition for years to come. Just Like an Engine of Your Car Just like the engine of an automobile, your house works as a system of interdependent parts. Every part has an impact on the operation of many other parts. A typical home has over 10,000 parts. What happens when all the parts work together in the most desirable, optimal way? You are rewarded with a house that is durable, comfortable, healthy and energy-efficient. You can make it happen in just a few steps: Step #1: Monitor the house. Step #2: Recognize potential problems. Step #3: Correct problems properly. This book will help you do all three steps. Homeownership As you know, the home inspector is not an expert but a generalist. Your home inspector inspected the home and reported its condition as it was at the time of the inspection. That is the main responsibility of the home inspector. A home inspection does not include predictions of future events. Future events (such as roof leaks, water intrusion, plumbing drips, and heating failures) are not within the scope of a home inspection and are not the responsibility of the home inspector. Who’s responsible? You are - the new homeowner. Welcome to homeownership. The most important thing to understand as a new homeowner is that things break. As time goes on, parts of your house will wear out, break down, deteriorate, leak, or simply stop working. But relax. Don’t get overwhelmed. You’re not alone. This book is for you and every homeowner experiencing the responsibility of homeownership. Every homeowner has similar concerns and questions. And they are all related to home maintenance. The following questions are those that all homeowners ask themselves: #1 “What should I look for?” #2 “What does a real problem look like?” #3 “How should it be corrected?” The answers to these questions are written in this book. This book will guide you through the systems of a typical house, how they work and how to maintain them. The systems include the following: the exterior, interior, roof, structure, electrical, HVAC, plumbing, attic and insulation. You will learn what to monitor as the house ages. Most of the conditions and events that you will see and experience will likely be cosmetic and minor in nature. Most homes do not have major material defects. Throughout the book, there are references to the International Association of Certified Home Inspectors (www.nachi.org). InterNACHI is the world’s largest association of residential and commercial property inspectors. The InterNACHI Residential Standards of Practice (SOP) defines what a home inspection is and lists the responsibilities of a home inspector. The SOP can be viewed at www.nachi.org/go/sop. Be sure to read the Standards of Practice to which your inspection is performed. This book comments upon the responsibilities of a home inspector because we are assuming that a home inspector has given you this book to read. Sometimes, when a new homeowner is performing maintenance, apparent problems are discovered or revealed. Or, as time goes by, things in the house leak or fail. A new homeowner experiencing a problem should refer to the Standards of Practice, which outlines the responsibilities and limitations of the home inspector.