How home inspections fit into the housing affordability picture
For buyers with stretched budgets, unexpected repairs can break the bank. Yet home inspector regulation is spotty, and the cost of incompetence can be high.
Key points:
- The home inspection sector isn’t nationally regulated in the U.S., and 12 states do not have any specific licensing requirements for inspectors.
- Some agents in those states have seen firsthand how inexperienced or less competent inspectors can affect transactions by causing undue alarm — or even property damage.
- Most buyers in today's market aren’t waiving inspections, but some find the cost of hiring an inspector too high, which can also have expensive consequences.
High gas prices, rising inflation and the ongoing housing affordability crisis are putting pressure on would-be homeowners.
For many consumers, those financial challenges are making it increasingly important to choose a sound investment when purchasing a property, and home inspections can play a meaningful role in the process.
But reliable home inspections aren't as easy to come by as some might expect, especially in states where inspectors don't have to be licensed — and when mistakes are made or inspections are skipped altogether, it's often the consumer who pays the price.
A spectrum of regulation
The home inspection sector is not nationally regulated in the U.S., and states have widely different standards, from strict licensing and training requirements to none at all.
Home inspectors are not required to be licensed in Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Kansas, Michigan, Missouri, Maine, Minnesota, Utah and Wyoming. California and Georgia also have no licensing requirements, though both states have regulations that offer guidance on what home inspectors need to check for and/or measures that protect the consumer from unethical practices, according to the American Society of Home Inspectors (ASHI).
By contrast, home inspectors in North Carolina are required to take 120 hours of classroom training and 80 hours of field training as part of their pre-licensing requirements. They must also renew their license and earn 12 hours of continuing education credits annually.
The price of inexperience
Multiple agents interviewed for this story said one of their main concerns about less-qualified inspectors is the unnecessary panic they can create.
"Inexperienced inspectors, they are causing a lot of alarm," Tamara Mattox-Kabat, a Redfin agent in Denver, told Real Estate News. In some cases, they're "recommending the replacement of major systems, including air conditioning units and water heaters or something that may only be a few years old with 10 or 20 years of useful life remaining."
Occasionally, less-experienced inspectors even end up damaging the property they're inspecting.
Mattox-Kabat recalled a recent seller client who had to make a significant repair after the buyer hired a subpar home inspector: "When the inspector was trying to remove the front of the electrical panel, he ended up ripping off the whole thing. The entire wall needed to be redone — re-textured, re-drywalled, new paint — and this is right before closing. And of course, there was no accountability whatsoever."
The financial consequences of waived inspections
While a poor home inspection can be costly, so can forgoing the inspection altogether. Waived inspection contingencies aren't as common as they were during the pandemic-era homebuying frenzy, but they are still happening in more competitive markets — and even in calmer markets, some buyers are simply hesitant to spend the extra money.
"While I don't think an inspection is a place to cut corners, for some buyers, it's just a heavy number to shell out over $1,000 for inspections," Jo Chavez, a Redfin agent who operates in Kansas and Missouri, told Real Estate News.
But inspections are often far cheaper than unexpected repairs, which can run into the thousands or even tens of thousands of dollars. The cost of most home repairs has increased "substantially" in the past few years, according to a study by the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, which found that plumbing repair costs rose more than 30% between 2022 and 2024, while structural repair prices were up 21% and electrical repair costs were nearly 19% higher.
"Interest rates are higher, and repair costs, costs of materials, construction, labor costs have all increased," Mattox-Kabat acknowledged. "So with that, when at all possible, I advise buyers not to waive their inspections," she said. Buyers should know "what they are getting into before they make such a significant investment."
For agents, identifying good inspectors is essential
Finding reliable inspectors to recommend to clients can be challenging, especially for new agents who haven't yet figured out which inspectors are trustworthy or have a working style that meshes with their own.
"I think asking other agents who have been in the business a long time is really critical," Chavez said, noting that whenever an agent joins her team, she provides them with information about the reliable inspectors in the area.
Her curated list of top inspectors is organized by client personality type, Chavez said, because she's found that some clients prefer a high-level overview that just pulls out important points of concern, while others want as much detail as possible and an inspector who's willing to answer their many questions.
Taylor Ratliff, an agent with Keller Williams Advantage Realty in Colorado, has a go-to inspector she recommends because of his skillset — which includes a background in engineering and radon inspection — and his ability to deliver reports in a straightforward, fact-based way.
"It's such a resource to have somebody that has a wealth of knowledge, not only in inspections, but in all these other facets of the industry," Ratliff said.