The Home Inspection Nobody Wants!

A long-term client (and friend) of ours is currently in the process of purchasing a Smoky Mountain log vacation home here in Gatlinburg. As a part of that effort our buyer ordered a home inspection from a company that could provide the results very quickly. This was a requirement because our client was committed to leave the country (on a church mission trip) and wanted to have the inspection completed prior to his departure. Our client chose the company that would conduct the inspection without input from us and the inspector's name was new to me as well.

The real estate that the buyer is purchasing is a very attractive and well priced foreclosure property which has been vacant for a few months. We expected some possible issues but the result of the inspection was anything but expected. The "report" that the inspector provided has had the company and inspector's name removed to prevent embarrassment but the actual inspection results are unedited. To view this so-called home inspection please click here.

While we do always recommend that our buyer clients get a home inspection this is NOT what you should expect. A proper home inspection will be multiple pages, provide a full description of systems checked, and often will have digital photos of any issues found by the inspector. The point of this post is to be very careful who you select as your home inspection company. We will be glad to provide a list of reputable inspectors and can give you samples of the report you should receive.

Buying Gatlinburg area real estate is a major investment and a home inspection is a smart way to make sure that you don't end up owning a home with major issues. While no inspector can guarantee that they will find every issue a home may have, some inspections simply aren't worth buying. Unfortunately the inspector that our client chose (who was not on our list) was pretty much a waste of our friend's time and money.

Comments

Anonymous said…
How much did this report costs? My guess is $1.95 I bet Jeff with as many cabins as you have seen your walk through probaly caught more than this. We used Sentry Inspections back in July 2007 on our Gatlinburg purchase. I was very pleased with his detailed report, and as time has gone by it has proved to be very accurate. Bob
10:53 PM
Jeff Schoenfield said…
Sadly, the cost was a pretty typcial amount so the value was unbelievably bad! Sentry Home Inspections is one of the reputable companies that we recommend as well as Heartland Inspections which also does a great job. Moral of the story - Don't use the folks who can get the inspection done the quickest!!
5:15 PM
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