Are you thinking about buying a house? Considering the absurdly high home prices in most regions, it’s more urgent than ever to get the biggest possible bang for your buck (or 500,000 bucks, as the case may be). To do that, of course, you need to do plenty of shopping to assemble certain the homes you’re considering are competitively priced.

But once you’ve narrowed it down and gotten really serious about a specific house, the most critical next step is to have a home inspector thoroughly check it out. Getting a really good professional house inspector–and having him or her give you a complete report on the house you’re thinking about buying–can give

you fair peace of mind that you’ll be making a solid purchase. The last thing you want to do is sink your hard-earned dollars into fixing the foundation, replacing the plumbing, or eliminating termites from The Money Pit. For a complete report, see the free HomeTips guide on Selecting a Home Inspector. Before you actually hire an inspector, you may want to perform a basic inspection yourself (so you don’t waste your money whether the house can’t clear a few fundamental hurdles). For more about that, see Home Inspections: 10 Things to Check Yourself.

© 2007, Don Vandervort, HomeTips.com

Orginal post by Head Homeboy