I’m really excited to announce our latest system: AskNACHI.org . To see the consumer and real estate professional press release, go to http://www.nachi.org/asknachi.htm . But here’s what you need to know as NACHI members:
Anyone can post a question on AskNACHI.org, and that question will be copied to the AskNACHI.org Section of these forums. Responses posted in that forum will show up on AskNACHI.org under the question. This is a way to provide a unified web site for consumers and real estate pros that’s off the NACHI web site and forums. Over time we will add more content to that site, as well as a new branded find-an-inspector search engine.
Everyone can see the AskNACHI.org Section but only NACHI members can post. Remember that your posts are very public. Think things out before you hit submit and spell check your posts.
The system is new and I’m sure there are some bugs. Let me know if you catch anything. I’m going to be updating it over the weekend and we expect to start advertising it to consumers/realtors in a few weeks.
Lower home inspector fees should be regarded with suspicion, as they often identify those who are new to the business or who do not spend sufficient time performing the inspection. A home is the most expensive commodity you are likely to purchase in a lifetime. One defect missed by your inspector could cost 100 times what you save with a bargain inspection. The best method of price shopping is to shop for quality. That’s exactly what you’ll receive with NACHI Certified Home Inspectors.
One more thing… Choosing the right Home Inspector can be very difficult. Unlike most professionals, you will likely not get to meet the Inspector until after you hire them. Furthermore, different inspectors have varying qualifications, equipment, experience, reporting methods, and yes, different pricing. One thing, (for sure) is that a home inspection requires work, a lot of work. Ultimately a thorough inspection depends heavily on the individual inspector’s own effort.
Once we all run it for a while we’ll be offering it to all 2 million+ real estate agents in the U.S. & Canada as part of a free service to them and their clients using our e-newsletter system.
Different inspectors charge different fees for a reason. Usually the reason is that they are better, more professional and experienced inspectors, but not always.
I have a comparison of different inspection styles aand types on my web site (See Here: http://www.deckerhomeservices.com/different_types.htm) but different states have different requirements. It is important to remember that a more thorough inspector, who does a narrative report (with pictures and diagrams), carries Errors & Omissions Insurance (like mal-practice insurance) and provides other inspection services (like Thermal Imaging and Environmental testing) will cost more.
I would suggest that you take all these factors into consideration, not just price, when choosing a Home Inspector.
I think a service like this will be very well received by consumers and REALTORs. I know when I was a REALTOR, I would have loved to have access to 10,000 inspection professionals ready to answer any questions I or my clients might have.
This feature should be sent (by email) through your massive Realtor database. I can predict that more than 90% of the Realtors that receive this feature in their email will save it on their “Favorites”.
Give it a shot. At least perform a small trial to see how many Realtors opt out.
That’s definitely the plan, Dave. We want to let it run for a few weeks first before we start pushing it too much. There are a few tweaks I need to make, and a few more features I’d like to add. Once everything’s up and running we’ll add it to all our search engines, to the NACHI.ORG home page, send it out to the real estate agent database, etc.
It’s in the works, Brian. We’ll probably have a button that just takes you to AskNACHI.org as well as a form that you can add to your site that replaces the first page (where they ask the question).
tjansson
(Thomas Jansson, CMI- IL Lic # 450003340)
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On IE 6.0 if the text size is set to largest the “Have questions about home inspections? Ask NACHI certified inspectors about anything!..” scroll box overlaps the “Ask your Question:” text.
