TLDR: Jonathan is a highly skilled and diligent inspector who has a keen eye for the small details as well as the issues sellers intentionally try to hide. Without him, we would have purchased a well-concealed lemon of a home likely requiring 100k in repairs.
To give some background, my partner and I are first-time homebuyers. Buying a home is, by a great margin, the biggest purchase/investment we’ve ever made, and making sure it is a good investment was the most important thing to us. As such, we spent several hours researching different inspectors as well as professional engineers. After narrowing it down, we called each to check their availability and to examine their recommended approaches for the address we were slated to purchase. After the call, it was exceedingly apparent Jonathan was a high energy person who takes his job not just seriously, but personally; it’s his craft. He told us on the phone that he inspects each home like it’s his family member’s purchase, and he more than lived up to that. After the call, my partner immediately said, “That’s the inspector I want.” While I was strongly leaning that way after the call, I wanted to do my due diligence and compare quotes with our other candidates. And we did… but getting in touch with our other top candidates proved to be difficult—massive delays between the voicemails we left and hearing back. Comparatively, Jonathan was proactive and would get back to us quickly. Jonathan’s timeliness was really reassuring to us that we wouldn’t be delayed. He also had a very reasonable prices relative to the other candidates, and even offered infrared imaging for no additional charge (on an as-helpful basis); the others up charged considerably.
On the day of the inspection, we showed up at our to-be house about 10 min early. Jonathan wasn’t anywhere to be found… but that’s because we didn’t look up. He was already up on the roof documenting issues about 20 min before we even arrived. Jonathan is very affable and introductions were pleasant. Right from the beginning, Jonathan was informative of things to be aware of as homeowners and went out of his way to talk us through the things he was looking for (which we really appreciated as first-time homebuyers). We’re not sure how long inspections are supposed to be, but had heard it’s usually 1-1.5 hrs. However, Jonathan spent close to 4 hrs providing a thorough inspection. He went through every room, checked every outlet, every appliance, and made sure to not miss anything that could potentially be an issue. Although he never directly stated it, it seemed apparent throughout that he was baffled with the unprofessional and unsafe work done by the previous owner—it was as though he took it personally that we were in a contract to buy the property. Jonathan truly has homeowners’ best interests in mind. He identified issues—many of which seemed intentionally concealed. Although inspections can be overwhelming, Jonathan did make the whole experience a positive one as he made it educational and even managed to make light of the situation (in a sensitive way). The inspection report was completed the same day and he appropriately detailed all the issues as well as recommendations for repair.
If you’re not an inspection expert, and/or you’re a first-time homebuyer like ourselves, you want someone like Jonathan to make sure you don’t make the worst investment of your life. Based on everything unveiled, we decided to walk away from the purchase which would have easily required 100k to salvage it from its state of disrepair. Despite being duped into a contract and having to get the house inspected for a non-negligible cost, that cost pales in comparison to what we would have lost if we assumed ownership of that home; Jonathan saved us countless dollars and stress. We have used the things he taught us as we’ve continued our home search; they have proven really helpful in considering homes. We are so grateful to Jonathan and we’d recommend him without reservation.
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