A study reported that 86% of those buyers using FHA-insured mortgages in 2002 reported engaging professional home inspectors.

AO found that homebuyers rely heavily on a voluntary home inspection to:
1) identify defects, many of which are visible only to a trained eye,
2) enable negotiation of repairs or monetary allowances,
3) enhance purchasing confidence, knowing that "surprises" are less likely.

GAO found a high degree of customer satisfaction among homebuyers using a home inspection.
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Why hire an Austin ASHI inspector?
Hiring a home inspector to educate you about the condition of your new home is a good idea, either at the pre-drywall phase or at the final phase.

The inspection fee is an investment that can actually save the client money, by revealing problems before they become the CLIENT'S problems.

Even newly completed homes are not without defects; in fact, latent construction defects account for the majority of structural problems that become apparent to an inspector over time.

An Austin ASHI inspector can objectively & independently provide you with a comprehensive analysis of the home’s major systems and components.
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Trust us…We speak house
Austin ASHI members know how to "speak house". They are trained to translate what the house has to say.
An ASHI home inspector has demonstrated technical proficiency by sitting for a 4-hour entrance examination.
The ASHI report format requires technical writing skills, & each ASHI home inspector is involved in continuing education in order to become & remain a member.

An ASHI home inspector conducts each home inspection in accordance with the ASHI Standards of Practice, abides by the ASHI Code of Ethics, and provides superior customer service.
Each ASHI home inspector will deliver more than a home inspection, they deliver the "ASHI Experience"!
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ASHI Consumer Protection Activities:
The Texas chapter of ASHI, of which Brent has been a Director & Chairperson of the legislative committee, stepped into a political fracas (at the State level) in the consumers' interest.

Overview:
The Texas Legislature created the Texas Residential Construction Commission in September of 2003. The nine-member board was charged with creating warranty "performance standards" for new homes across the state.

If a home buyer was not satisfied with a builder's efforts to repair construction defects under the builder's warranty, the buyer could ask TRCC to review the complaint and to initiate an arbitration process.

A TRCC registered, State licensed home inspector would (eventually) be dispatched to review the complaint.

Dilemma:
Problem is, the buyer was prevented by TRCC from filing suit against a problematic builder until the TRCC reviewed the complaints, and this often took 4-6 months.

Making matters MUCH worse, TRCC created "warranty standards" that exempted builders from code compliance: "The builder is not responsible for making a home comply with code provisions..."
(Building codes primarily address life, safety, & health issues.)

The builder-friendly TRCC standards were strongly supported by TAB (Texas Association of Builders) during the creation process, but no organized consumer group or lobby was involved to balance the process.

So, Texas' new-construction warranty standards were extraordinarily builder-friendly, at the consumers' expense.

Solution:
Brent, as a Director of the ASHI Texas Chapter, petitioned the national ASHI (American Society of Home Inspectors) President to intervene; in turn, a letter of protest from the ASHI Texas chapter was distributed to over 400 media outlets, with ASHI's national funding.
 
Within 10 days of the ASHI letter becoming public, TRCC revised the proposed performance standards, requiring builders to comply with the "most restrictive building codes and standards available".

This was a VAST improvement to a flawed system.
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Epilogue, 2009:

Texas subjects each State agency to review by the "Sunset Commission" every 12 years or so, and if Sunset Commission recommends elimination of a State agency, the Legislature can make it so.

This is done to streamline the system, by eliminating duplication of services provided among agencies and by eliminating poorly performing bureaucracies.

TRCC was placed on an initial 6-year Sunset Review cycle, which expired in 2009.

The Sunset Review staff recommendation was to abolish TRCC entirely, as it presented an impediment to the consumer's ability to sue a builder, and because of the abysmal consumer satisfaction level with entire process. (Even if TRCC decided a builder was at fault & ordered reparations, there was no enforcement authority.)

The Texas Legislature followed Sunset Commission' recommendation, so TRCC is now history.

(Once in a while, even in Texas, the "Good Ol' Boy" system CAN be defeated!)

Score one for the consumers!!

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