If you are buying an older home that has not been touched in 50 or more years, you must assume everything must be updated especially the plumbing and electric. You must also consider that parts of JC are considered flood zones, so contact city hall for that information. Houses not in flood zones, have a longer life.

I used DICO too. Those guys are detailed and catch every little thing. But as a buyer you have to be realistic as to what to request when looking at the report. Every little leaky faucet is not going to get repaired nor will you get a credit for it.

While no one can catch everything, in my experience there's a wide range of competence in this field. My 1st purchase the guy was lame, just had a checklist and filled in everything "marginal". Of course it was, it's an unrenovated 100 year old house! 2nd, DICO Home Inspectors (unfortunately the original guy retired) did a meticulous job and explained everything he saw to me. 3rd by an different DICO guy, trained by the 1st, was not quite as informative.

Don't get me started on appraisers!!!

Home inspectors are not psychics. I have found that most of the home inspectors we've hired over the years do a good overview inspection of the home, but if you want to dig a little deeper (especially with the older stock in the area) you really do need to hire independent experts in plumbing and electrical. You learn these lessons when you buy your first house - especially your first old house. I think it's a little crappy to come on here and blame your home inspector - hope he comes on here (he's gotten good reviews by the way in past threads) and gives his side, too.

That's what owning an old house means, no matter what inspector you have, there will be a myriad of issues.

Robin.

I bought an older home in JC last year and used a house inspector named John Estes. He missed so many fundamental issues with the house: faulty plumbing, electrical, chimneys that should have shown up during the inspection.

For example, there were no traps in bathroom, and sewage smell was covered up by seller. We only discovered this after we moved in.

There are many other issues, small and large. While inspectors are not infallible, this one clearly did not see, or overlooked, some glaring problems. We are now paying the price. Buyers beware!