Home Inspection Diploma Program Outline
Module 4 – Appliances, Zoning, and Appraisal
Zoning Laws
Zoning laws stipulate how land and property are to be used. As a home inspector, you may encounter a situation where the property you’re inspecting is in potential or real violation of zoning laws. While you aren’t obligated to report violations, it’s helpful to know what kinds of home improvements or modifications could bring a building up to code. In this lesson, you learn the basics of zoning laws and restrictions – which government agencies determine zoning, which ones can change zoning, when zoning can be a problem, and when it can be an asset.
The Inspection Process
Now that you know what kinds of things a home inspector looks at, you may be wondering how and where to begin. Performing a home inspection is a big job, but with the right planning and organization, you can easily manage the process. In fact, you’ve gotten your own routine down, you should be able to perform a comprehensive inspection in just a few hours’ time. In this lesson, secrets from the pros show you how to organize a home inspection by advising you on what steps to follow, what things to avoid, and how to save time so you can get more jobs done in a day – and make more money.
The Energy-Efficient Home
As fuel costs rise, more and more homeowners are looking for new ways to stretch their energy dollar as far as possible. Many of today’s homes are designed with this goal in mind, using things like solar heating, heat pumps, vapor barriers, insulation, nonstandard wall thickness, alternative-fuel heating systems, plus a full range of high-efficiency appliances and conservation items to help keep utility bills down. This lesson surveys some of the special checks home inspectors perform in today’s energy-efficient house.
Appliances
When a home is bought or sold, major appliances that are attached to the structure – ones like central vacuum systems, trash compactors, garbage disposals, and through-the-wall air conditioners – sometimes come with the house. Since these appliances “convey,” or are included in the purchase price, they should be in acceptable condition. Home inspectors are often called on to make that determination. Here you study the operation of and replacement cycles for these kinds of appliances.
Preparing Inspection Reports
When a client hires a home inspector, what he or she ultimately wants is a detailed, written report that clearly communicates the inspector’s expert observations and recommendations and provides the information needed to help finalize a sale, purchase, or plans for repairs and remodeling. While giving you a look at different options for report format and layout, this lesson shows you step by step how to structure, write, compose, and deliver the kind of coherent comprehensive home inspection reports clients pay top dollar for.
Appraising Property
Although certain states have laws preventing home inspectors from providing property value appraisals, clients sometimes ask inspectors for an informed opinion on the value of work that’s already been done to a home or on the cost of improvements that could be made. Preparing you for the possibility of such questions, this lesson introduces you to the basic principles of property appraisal.
Preparing Inspection Reports by Hand
This lab exercise challenges the student is to translate the information obtained from the on-site inspection into a complete report for your customer ... in this case, your Sonoran Desert Institute instructor! Working from the checklists and notes you've made during your inspection and using the guidelines provided for the student, the student puts together a crisp, clean, “user-friendly” document, complete with detailed explanations of your findings.
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