Reader Gary Baldridge writes: “I have heard many comments on the pros and cons of pre-sale home inspections and what liability may differ from doing a buyer inspection.” Now that sellers are being encouraged to obtain professional home inspections prior to listing their properties for sale, a development that I not only applaud but also…

So I wrote a rather lengthy letter to the plaintiffs’ attorney that explained in considerable detail exactly why he would be better off – and his clients would be immeasurably better off – without having the home inspector hammering away at length the manifold reasons why he was not responsible. I first pointed out that…

Joe – Could we get a legal view on the use of thermal imaging devices during home inspections.  A number of guys are touting the relative blindness of those not using them in an effort to promote their new “x-ray vision.” “My opinion? As with any extra-sensory equipment, from electronic induction moisture meters to gas…

Whenever I read the Letters to the Editor of the New York Times or my local newspaper, the Philadelphia Inquirer, I often find myself wondering whether mathematics is still a requirement for graduation from high school. The overwhelming majority of those correspondents appear to truly believe with every fiber of their being that it is…

When one has consulted on close to 600 home inspection claims, there is a powerful temptation to conclude that one has seen every goofy claim that there could possibly be and I was really beginning to think, back in the summer of 2009, that I had. Then I got a call from an inspector friend…

To be an effective advocate for his clients, a lawyer often needs to call upon skills quite apart from a thorough working knowledge of the substantive and procedural law. And if he practices in the northeastern section of the country, as I do, one skill that he will find to be of inestimable utility is…

A few months ago, I got a call from a home inspector in California about a claim some prior client had lodged against the inspection firm for whom he had previously worked and had conducted the inspection in question. This particular firm is exceedingly risk-averse and settled very quickly with the dissatisfied client rather than…

Since this website launched in early December 2010, I have received a steady stream of correspondence from home inspectors asking my opinion on a wide variety of topics related to home inspections. Frequently, these inquiries inspire an article. So keep them coming. A while ago, I got an interesting question from a reader about an…