BEFORE buying any second home or even before buying a structure intended to be leased, one needs to inspect it not just physically but legally and financially. This is not just intended for completely furnished homes, this is also for vacant lots. For a vacant lot, all documents associated with it must be thoroughly verified by the potential buyer to be accompanied with his lawyer and real estate broker of course. For a fully furnished house, items to be inspected are not just the functionality of the appliances inside but also the status of certain amenities in the surroundings. Examples of which are the status of the orchard and the mango trees therein, the status of the swimming pool, the functionality of the panic room and the alarm system, the status of the basement and the attic and many other aspects in the estate. In particular, one must have a close inspection of the trees and other shrubs growing in the area whether they have infestation. In the home, the potential buyer must also inspect the financial status of the property whether there is a hidden debt associated with it and if there is one, whether it is transferable to the new owner. Utilities are a common issue here. Are Internet, cable TV and home connections intermittent?

A professional home inspection team may be costly but using one can definitely justify buying the property. After all, a real estate is a huge investment and more so if you and your family will ultimately call it a home. Speaking of family, even your three-year-old daughter must have a say in the home up for sale. The professional home inspection team must be composed of an anti-vermin consultant, a civil engineer, an architect, an interior designer, a plumber and an electrical engineer. The anti-vermin consultant is obviously responsible for all the pests such as rats and ants both inside and outside walls of the house including the drainage pipes. The civil engineer is responsible to inspect the structural integrity of the foundation of the house. The architect is responsible for the overall exterior appeal of the house. The interior designer is responsible to arrange the settings of the various rooms in the house such as the living room, the bedrooms and the kitchen. He or she will be the one responsible to suggest to the new owner the arrangements of the several drawers and closets in the house. The plumber will supervise the inspection of all pipes and drainages and the electrical engineer will of course supervise the inspection of all electrical wirings in the house.

The United States and neighbor Canada have relatively similar methods in home inspections. In Canada, there is the so-called registered home inspector. Engineers and architects are obviously exempted from being a licensed home inspector since they have already earned related degrees. A person intending to become a registered home inspector must take a six-academic month crash course on professional home inspection and take the qualifying examination before he can receive the certificate of being one.