I am doing an inspection for an individual on Tuesday the 12th and the inspection is going to be paid for by USDA. The persons realtor has not done one of these either. I always get paid at the inspection so I don’t really have an invoice ready to use for this inspection. I will get paid at time of closing according to the realtor. If anyone has a template for an invoice for a government assisted inspection or has any advice to give me I would really appreciate it. I really just don’t know who to ask about this.
Patrick
The USDA typically do not own any buildings, they are generally owned and operated by the General Services Administration, at least that is the way it was back in 1985 when I worked for them.
Look under this link to see if anything will help to what you are looking for.
http://www.gsa.gov/Portal/gsa/ep/home.do?tabId=0
Marcel 
Actually Patrick what your client is probably doing is obtaining a loan that is guaranteed by the USDA Rural Development Housing & Community Facilities Program, much like an FHA or HUD guaranteed loan. See http://www.rurdev.usda.gov/RHS/sfh/brief_rhguar.htm for more information. Like the website says "Section 502 loans are primarily used to help low-income individuals or households purchase homes in rural areas. Funds can be used to build, repair, renovate or relocate a home, or to purchase and prepare sites, including providing water and sewage facilities." I would suspect your standard invoice would work just fine once you find out from the realtor where to send it. Now, if you don’t have a standard invoice then we will have to develop one for you won’t we? Do you use any s/w to track your business? Does it have an invoice you could use?
USDA (United States Department of Agriculture)
That was the meaning interpeted.
Sorry.
Marcel 
Strangely enough Marcel it is the United States Dept of Agriculture that runs the program I mentioned. Don’t ask me why other than it is simply another avenue for rural home buyers to get a loan approved. Their website says they have an $86 Billion dollar loan portfolio. And you thought they just taught folks how to grow corn. 
Yeah, and I thought they only inspected meat!
So did I, or at least that is the way it was back in 1985. ha. ha.
Times change faster than we can keep up I guess. Or the Government is diversifying into more lucrative avenues with all the excess money from the Tax Payers.
Marcel
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Invoice whoever signs your contract. It’s that simple.
I do these types of inspections all the time, basically there are 3 to 4 forms you will fill out on site and give to the clients who in turn give them to the USDA agent in charge of thier loan. The realtor only has to be there to let you into the home. I typically do not charge as much for these type of inspections as I would for a full house inspection. The couples that typically go through the USDA Rural program are low-income, first time or ederly with limited funds. The invoice I use is the same one that I present to other buyers/sellers approved to have the inspection fee paid at closing. Make sure you have the closing/title company name, address, telephone number that will be doing the closing. It doesnt hurt to call them to verify that they are doing the closing and likewise get the closing date from them.
If you have any questions, send me a pm, I have done about 3 to 4 of these a month in this past year.
as good ole aunt clara used to say (god rest her soul)
where’s the beef, WHERE’S THE BEEF !!!
Mic
Thanks for all the info. There is still a problem, I have never had to send anyone an invoice so I don’t have one printed up. Is there anything I should know about making an invoice or do any of you have any templates.
I’m sure there is a way to print up a invoice on the computer,do you know anyone with quickbooks software? Just make sure that you have all important info on the invoice so there is no questions to ask. Your name, address, phone no. date of insp. customers name, property address, amount, etc. and if it has a terms block put due at closing. Now if for some reason the sale doesn’t go thru I don’t know where that leaves you. Might want to find that out up front.
Patrick, do you use Excel? It has several built-in invoice templates available and many more on line at Microsoft Office Online. I use Quickbooks but wouldn’t recommend it for this one time application. There are several values that it automatically inserts in an invoice that would be more trouble to change than it would be worth. PM me with all of the correct information and I’ll do up an invoice for you if you want and send it to you as a .pdf file.
Microsoft Publisher contains templates for Invoices.
Has anyone ever heard of a list of approved inspectors for USDA guaranteed loans… I had a cancellation today as the couple was going through USDA and they received a list of approved inspectors… of which I am not on???
Yes, contact your local USDA office that handles Rural Development, they will send you a set of forms to be filled out. You may also be asked to meet with them to go any questions you may have.
USDA told me they do not have an approved inspector list but that they do often give out a list of names of inspectors from the area just as a means of helping the client get thru the loan process.However they do have a form that is required to be filled out no matter who does the inspection.Our state doesnt require liscense or insurance ,so neither does our USDA office for the "Direct Loan " program.This is a loan made "DIRECT " to the clinet from USDA.However;there is “gauranteed loan” that is taken out thru " approved lenders , that is backed by the USDA with a guaranty the bank will get paid thru USDA should you not be able to repay the loan.For this type of loan the bank is the one over seeing and in charge of the loan approval process and the banks inspection requirements must be used.Some of those banks require you to be liscensed engineer to do thier inspection’s.
Any office supply store usually has a variety of blank invoices that you could use - type/print your name on the top - list the service, extend the quantity (which I am assuming would be one) and total…you need to make sure that the closing agents know that you need to be paid at closing so they can prepare the closing documents properly - so you can get paid…
Hi Pat,
send me your information and I will be glad to
create a template for you
CJ