10 Best Business Practices for Home Inspectors

Discover the top 10 essential business practices every home inspector needs to follow to boost client satisfaction, minimize risk, and build a thriving inspection business. From advanced technology to clear communication, this guide has you covered!

10 FAQs about Home Inspection Reports

A home inspection report is created by a home inspector either during or after conducting a home inspection. The report identifies any visible defects, provides detailed explanations, and often recommends industry professionals for further assessment or advice for the homebuyer.

Quality Heating, Cooling, and Plumbing: Tulsans Caring for Tulsans

They can provide service like a large company, but personal-touch service like a small company—with a born and bred local at the helm. They work to ease family minds with frequent updates about everything from project progress to location tracking, so families know right when to anticipate a service team’s arrival at their home.

How to Prevent, Test, and Treat Mold in Your Home

Some families may feel that mold testing is the best first step for them. If you feel unsure about whether your home has been infected with mold, it is appropriate for home ownership hygiene to periodically call for a home mold test. You may be lucky enough to catch a small issue before it becomes a full-blown mold epidemic.

If you fall under the category of a family who just wants to ensure air quality is in tip-top shape in the home as a preventative measure or who is not certain if any mold outbreak is quietly happening under your noses, a home mold test is an excellent step to take.

Other families may recognize that mold mitigation is the appropriate measure to protect their family’s health and prevent mold. For still others, there may be conditions within the home that are ripe for breeding mold spores in the future, or mold spread may have already occurred, and finding a specialist in mold remediation is of paramount importance.

For Sale By Owner - Perks and Pitfalls

If you are selling a house, and choose to do so without a real estate agent, then you’ll be doing a FSBO- “for sale by owner.” Your house is most likely the most expensive thing you have, and your most valuable (and complex) physical asset. When it comes to selling, is it a good idea to sidestep professional help and do it yourself? Every home seller is faced with the same questions, “should I hire a Realtor™, or should I sell my home myself?”

10 Reasons Why Every Homebuyer Should Order a Lateral Sewer Line Inspection (Sewer Scope)

Homebuyers often neglect to have the lateral sewer line inspected during the home inspection process. A general home inspection doesn’t go below the surface, so adding a sewer line inspection can reveal quite a lot more about the property. Here are 10 reasons why every home buyer should order a lateral line sewer inspection on inspection day.

How Location Plays into the Home Inspection

When preparing to do a home inspection, buyers should be aware of how location plays a role. Primarily, location affects the price of a home inspection and what the inspector looks at. It’s good to be thoughtful about your house’s location because it helps you prepare for the home inspection and helps you ask better questions during it.

Properly Maintain your Fireplace and Chimney - 3 Reasons Why

Whether or not your chimney is in need of a fix, there are things you should be doing to make sure your chimney and fireplace are in excellent shape all year-round, so when the season turns colder you’re always ready for a hearty fire! The most important maintenance step you can take is to have your chimney swept professionally once a year.

Why You Should Always Turn on Bathroom and Kitchen Vents

The bathroom and the kitchen. Maybe the two most used rooms in a house, the two rooms with some of the most complex equipment, and the two rooms that can often cause the most trouble. As home inspectors, we often see the kitchen and bathroom as the places where plumbing issues, electrical problems, and DIY-gone-wrong installments are. But there are many common-sense ways you can take care of your kitchen and bathroom so they continue to function properly and be safe places. Today, we’re going to look at just one simple but very important thing you can do: use your exhaust vents!

Homes Near Tulsa's Gathering Place are Increasing in Value

Forever Home Inspection began and continues to be headquartered in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Even as we expand across Oklahoma and Iowa, Tulsa is still close to our heart. As we’ve watched the city grow in the past few years, one of the most exciting developments has been the creation of the Gathering Place, a 66-acre city park (100 acres when fully finished) alongside the bank of the Arkansas River.

Even in 2016, when the park was still only under construction, prices in houses among Brookside (a neighborhood near the park) were surging, the area already anticipating the opportunities the park would bring. In 2018, two months before the Gathering Place opened, News Channel 8 reported that house prices in midtown near the park had increased 18 to 20 percent in the past three years. The construction of the Gathering Place brought along other improvements to the neighborhoods, including repaved roads, new sidewalks, and new landscaping alongside the street and river. Along with the already robust Brookside and Midtown scene, with restaurants, boutiques, walkability, and a Trader Joe’s, the Gathering Place offers an even more family-friendly addition to the area.

Should I Avoid a Neighborhood With an HOA?

When you prepare to buy a house, you must also consider whether or not you want to be apart of a neighborhood with a homeowners association (HOA). As of 2018, there were an estimated “347,000 community associations in the U.S. and 26% of the population resided in areas where there were community associations” (“Homeowner Association (HOA)”). HOAs differ by neighborhood, meaning there’s no way to fully judge whether your prospective HOA will fit the following stereotypes. But, it’s worth considering the general pros and cons:

What Home Inspectors Look For in a Kitchen

During a home inspection, a home inspector will go through every area of a property to do a visual inspection. One place they’ll spend a good amount of time is the place we often think of as “the heart of the home”: the kitchen. The kitchen is where you’ll spend a majority of your time and a crucial (and complex) part of any house, so a thorough inspection is invaluable. So what should you expect for an inspection of the kitchen?

How to Research a Neighborhood Before Purchasing a Home

A neighborhood is just as, if not more, important to consider when buying a home than the house itself. After all, homes can be renovated and are under your control. Neighbors and neighborhoods are not. Therefore it’s critical to take location seriously. After you’ve done the basic research on a neighborhood, such as seeing its proximity to the important places in your life (schools, work, family, places of worship, stores, parks, favorite restaurants, etc.) it’s time to do a deeper dive. Here are 4 tips on how to research a neighborhood before purchasing a home.

Why You Should Always Read A Home Inspection Agreement

Before getting a home inspection, the client must look over and sign off on a home inspection agreement. What is a home inspection agreement? Why is it important, and why should you be sure to read it? Especially if this is your first home inspection, or you’re using a new home inspector, the agreement is key to you understanding what you are getting when you get a home inspection. There are many misconceptions about a home inspection. It’s not an appraisal. It’s not required by law, but it is incredibly valuable. A home inspector won’t go busting down doors or breaking up walls to inspect. A home inspection is a visual, non-invasive examination of a home. Inspectors won’t go anywhere that doesn’t have an access point. They also can’t give you specialized advice. Instead, they can identify areas that need further professional attention. A home inspection can tell you a lot, but they can’t predict every issue a house may have, nor can they be held liable for what they find or don’t find.

Should My Home Inspector Have a Copy of the Property Disclosure?

Why should my home inspector have a copy of my property disclosure? To recap: a property disclosure is a statement given by the seller of a house to the potential buyer after the buyer has made an offer. The property disclosure, which has specific state and county requirements, is filled out by the seller, who must disclose everything they know about the house. This informs the buyer of potential hazards and issues with the property, along with its history, so the buyer can be better informed.

Electrical Safety Tips for Home Owners

Electricity is something we take for granted in our homes, and for most of us, it’s as omnipresent as the air we breathe! We use it for everything, yet rarely take electrical safety seriously or think about how our daily habits could negatively be affecting the electrical use in the home. We’re going to look at seven tips for homeowners to show you how to better protect you and your family!