It's a good time for a home inspection.

In today's flat markets, a home inspection can give buyers a negotiating edge.

Sellers, on the other hand, get an anti-haggling tool.

Actually, it's always a good time for a home inspection. Even in a seller's market, you ought to know what "as-is" really is.

"It's always a good time no matter what the market is like. Today, a lot of sellers are getting a home inspection because a lot of contracts are contingent on a home inspection. The price is negotiated based on known conditions. But it is a buyer's market and they are likely to negotiate the findings" of a home inspection, said Mike Kuhn, co-author of "The Pocket Idiot's Guide to Home Inspections" (Penguin Group, $9.95).

Kuhn, a Housemaster franchisee, says for $350 to $500 a professional home inspector should review the major, visible and accessible components of the home and provide a detailed written report rating each element. The objective report should include detailed information in a way that allows the customer to make informed decisions about the findings.

The inspection can also be a learning opportunity for a buyer or seller who attends the event. The inspection will let them get to know the home, see the inspector demonstrate systems and to learn maintenance tips.

It can also help buyers see through the veil of misleading staging and other cover-ups as well as help buyers uncover building permit and code violations.

Sellers can likewise use the inspection to determine what they need to do to put the home in the best competitive shape for the market, or price it fairly to sell as-is.

While a home inspection, purchased by the buyer or seller or both, is more common than it's ever been, 25 percent of home buyers, or more (depending upon the source) do not buy a home inspection, says Kuhn.

"An even smaller percentage of home sellers acquire a pre-listing inspection to help them better present their home in a competitive way," he said.

Even new homes need a once over.

"There's a misconception that because it's a new home there's nothing wrong with it, but that's not necessarily the case. It could be something as simple as hot and cold water lines being reversed. It could be appliances not connected. You should have this addressed before you take possession," Kuhn said.

Last year, based on data from 20,867 new single-family and 11,128 new multi-family homes inspected in 2005, Quality Built.

The three most common construction problems discovered in single-family homes were in the building envelope (41 percent); framing and structural elements (34 percent); and in the plumbing and electrical systems (8 percent).

As homes age, given the life expectancy of certain systems, the home inspection remains prudent.

Within 10 years, foundation settling could create drainage problems; by the age of 20, appliances are well outdated and the roof and wood components exposed the weather or moisture could need replacing; at 40 years the HVAC system will likely need replacement; and older historic or architecturally significant homes can develop structural problems and need restoration.

The American Society of Home Inspector's (ASHI) "Virtual Home Inspection Tour" can give you a sense of what a professional inspector sees, what areas he or she can't see and won't inspect and what the inspector is likely to find and where.

The virtual tour areas include the structure, exteriors, roofing, plumbing, electrical, heating, air conditioning, interiors, ventilation and fireplaces.

Click around the house to get inside the inspectors head.

Published: September 10, 2007

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Broderick Perkins parlayed a career in old-school journalism into a contemporary digital news service that really hits home. The award-winning consumer journalist, originally from Wilmington, DE, is founder, publisher and executive editor of the bootstrap DeadlineNews Group, a Silicon Valley-based editorial content and consulting service specializing in residential real estate, consumer news and related editorial consulting services. The DeadlineNews Group includes the website, DeadlineNews.com, offering real estate editorial content and consulting services, and its back shop, the Deadline Newsroom, an open house on news that really hits home. Perkins obtained his formal journalism education from University of Delaware and a journalism boot camp, the Institute of Journalism Education at the University of California-Berkeley. He went on to 20 years of service as a daily newspaper journalist at the Wilmington, DE News Journal and San Jose, CA Mercury News. Perkins covered housing on the San Jose Mercury News reporting team which earned a General News Reporting Pulitzer Prize in 1989 for coverage of the Loma Prieta earthquake. He has also produced real estate, consumer and small business content for the Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, RealtyTimes.com, Nolo.com, Better Homes and Gardens, the National Association of Realtors, Homestore/Move and Intuit/Quicken among more than three dozen publications. In addition to managing the DeadlineNews Group, Perkins most recently served as chief editorial consultant for Nolo's Essential Guide To Buying Your First Home, Nolo, and writes real estate television scripts for RealtyTimes.com.