A controversial topic is whether you should point out positive features of a home.  On the one hand, you might argue that the role of a home inspector is to describe the condition of the home, and if the home is in really good condition you should tell the client that.  On the other hand, people worry that you are selling the home and trying to appease a real estate agent if you say anything positive.

I land on the side of telling people about good functional components of the house.  I don’t suggest commenting on cosmetics, but if the house has new high-quality shingles installed well, I think that’s relevant.  If the house has a high-efficiency furnace instead of a regular furnace, I think we should let the client know that.  If the air-conditioning system has a scroll compressor, a very high SEER, a filter/dryer, a thermostatic expansion valve or any other high quality options, it speaks to a quality installation, and I think the client should be told.  While we probably don’t need to point it out to most homeowners, I would suggest that a granite countertop is much more functional than a laminate surface.

If the diameter of the water service entry type on the plumbing system is one inch diameter, instead of the typical half inch or three-quarter inch pipe, that’s noteworthy in my opinion.  That one inch diameter service pipe will deliver better water flow and pressure.  If the water heater is 20 gallons larger than I would typically find in a house that size, I let the client know.  I have said that we should report vulnerable conditions, even if nothing has failed yet.  To me, this is the other side of the issue.  If things are better than normal, or what would be expected, this is part of describing the condition of the home.  We have never had an objection from a client for pointing out these things.  The objections are more likely to come from other home inspectors.

I should be clear that I do not condone misrepresenting the home or making up positive features.  If none exist, say nothing.

This is an optional thing that a lot of home inspectors include in their reports.  Life expectancies are often projected for heating and cooling systems, water heaters and roofs.  There are couple of ways to do this.  You can indicate how many years of life you think remain.  You might be wise to give a range if you do this. 

You can also indicate the age of the system (you can narrow it down quite nicely on mechanical equipment) and the typical life expectancy.  For example, you might say the furnace is 12 years old, and this type of furnace has a typical life expectancy of 15 to 20 years.  I leave it at that. You don’t have to do the math and tell the client how much life likely remains.  You might be wise to indicate that premature failures do occur from time to time.  It’s kind of like predicting when a light bulb will burn out.

By the way, if you have trouble identifying each piece of mechanical equipment, our book called Technical Reference Guide is pretty useful.  You can get it by calling 800-268-7070.

I prefer the second approach, for mechanical equipment at least.  It’s more difficult to know the specific age of an asphalt roof, for example.  There are lots of variables that affect the life expectancy of roofs.  If the roof is relatively new, that is a good thing most homebuyers would like to know.  We will often say the roof appears to be in the first third of its life.  If the normal roof life expectancy is 15 years, that might mean the roof is less than five years old.  If the roof is neither new nor old, we might describe it as being in the middle third of its life.  If it is showing its age, we might say the last third.  If it’s quite worn, we will say replacement is recommended either immediately or within the next year.

This is all part of helping the home buyer understand and feel the same way about the house as you do.

This old saying has some relevance in the world of home inspection.  It means you shouldn’t get rid of something valuable while getting rid of something worthless.  It’s a problem for home inspectors, because if we make one little mistake in our report, it throws our whole credibility into question.  People often dismiss an entire inspection report because of one error.  It’s not necessarily fair, but people wonder where else you messed up.  We need to be really careful, and we need to stay within our scope when writing reports to reduce the risk of errors.

Sometimes issues are raised in the media that are of considerable concern to our clients.  A lot of times, we don’t have any particular problem with these issues, but need to recognize that our clients may be concerned and need good information.  This may include things like urea formaldehyde foam insulation, vermiculite insulation that contains asbestos, aluminum wiring, radon, knob and tube electrical wiring, and so on.  The way we like to address these issues is to find authoritative sources that can be quoted to refute a media buzz that has created an issue for consumers.  We try not to be dismissive of the issue, but help the client put it in perspective.  In some cases, we don’t believe it’s any problem at all; in other cases, we point out how it can be dealt with easily and inexpensively.

Sometimes there is nothing broken, but we think there’s a problem about to happen.  A badly worn roof, a 35-year-old forced air furnace, a lot that directs all the surface water toward the house, or a corroded pipe are all examples of things that I think we should write up even if they’re still working.  Where we think failure is imminent, we include it in our reports.  If you were a lay person buying the house, wouldn’t you want to know?