As most home inspectors should be aware by now, the new SOP and report form go into effect in February 2009. There have been changes made that we need to be aware of, and that we need to include in our reports. I took a preliminary version of those SOPs to create a simple checklist for our inspections. The requirements are listed on the form, and then spaces are left for notes. In some cases, I put down Yes/No answers which can be circled.

I based it on the SOPs so we would have a quick reference guide to ensure that we are meeting these requirements as we are getting used to them. I also included space at the beginning for some basic information about the job to have on hand. I included reminders to write the serial numbers down for appliances. This is not a requirement, but it is a good practice. You can then say that this is the specific piece of equipment that was examined, in case a unit was changed out, and there is an issue with the new unit. If you come up with any ideas on how to improve this, let me know, so I can update this file. I created this one fairly quickly, so I probably will be making changes to it soon.

Note: there is a new hub page to help real estate investors navigate the site, and help them find other information which may be helpful.

For Real Estate Investors: please use an inspector, he says in a whining tone;) Alright, now that is over with, I am sure that you would like some type of checklist form. This may suffice, but you have to educate yourself on what would be considered a deficiency,how tests are performed, or what the terms mean. The SOPs are just a guide of the minimum requirements of what we home inspectors check. Otherwise, I think this may be a good starting off point for your checklist. You have to remember, home inspectors are not concerned with bad paint jobs, or dirty carpets. You may want to add notes about these concerns.

Here it is in pdf format:

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Tags: appliances, checklist, home, inspection, inspectors, investor, real estate
This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 12th, 2008 at 3:45 pm and is filed under Investor Strategies and Plans. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.