Thread: Hello from the NCR

So, first post, thinking about becoming a home inspector when I get out of the Army in a couple years. Looks to be a wealth of experience on this forum.

welcome, be shure that you have money to help you through the winter, as it slows down and being new will not help you

The wife will still be working
and I will be getting a retirement check from Uncle Sam

so, this line of work would fit the bill for me to have a job but not a 9-5 type thing.

thanks for looking out for me though.
I am pretty sure in MD you have to be certified to be a HI which is how I ran across this site.

Hello, Scott! Yes, in Maryland you need to be licensed. This requires an approved 72-hour training class, passing the NHIE, and having insurance. I'm not sure if Montgomery College is still offering their class, but that's where I took mine last year.
When you do get yourself up and running, be sure to check out the Mid-Atlantic Chapter of ASHI, which meets every month in Rockville.
Good luck!

I need to save this somewhere to avoid more carpal tunnel. I belive that getting educated, field training, licensed and insured represents roughly 50% of the effort required. You need to be adequately tooled up, find and learn some reporting software and market, ( find ways to let the market plce know you are out there ).

Thanks for your years of service!
If you want to be a shoe-in for the NHIE then go to the Internachi website and start taking their online exam. It has thousands of questions that rotate through so it's never the same exam twice. When you start scoring in the upper 80's or low 90's you should be in good shape. Even before that though you should buy the book, Principles of Home Inspection, Systems and Standards 2nd Edition by Carson Dunlop. Lastly, study the specific standards for the state of Maryland. Those 3 things will pretty much guarantee your passing the exam. Of course, you'll still have to take the 72 hour class but if you have 2 years to prepare why not get a leg up?

Scott,

1) Make sure that you have enough money to last about 2 years of start-up time. It takes that long for you to displace the realtor's old reliable guy.

2) Market, market, market. Schmooze the realtors at their open houses. Take them cookies and muffins and hand out a thousand of your business cards.

3) Join the local realtor associations as an affiliate and go to their monthly lunches to get more "Face time".

4) When you do get a Realtor to try you out, make them say "WOW" with the quality and thoroughness of your inspection so that they become a repeat customer.

I started in 2004 and finally became viable in 2006. the past 5 years have been at about 25% of my 2007 gross revenue. I keep thinking that the market will turn back around, but my revenues have been only increasing slightly each year. Now might be a good time to get started so that when the market recovers you will be ready and experienced.

GL, Be tough.

Scott,
Before I retired from the military (I only did 30 years), I signed up with the American Home Inspectors Institute's HI course. They give a great discount to active duty military and very good advice. I passed the NHIE on the first attempt, started my business one year ago and with some aggressive marketing, turned a profit in my 11th month. I also joined CREIA, took advice from several seasoned inspectors, did ride-a-long inspections and did I mention that I marketed? Only two blemishes to AHIT's support is that their preferred software is less than stellar. Don't buy it. And their website partner is a poor one. You are better off seeking a local website builder/host or do it yourself. Good luck with the business, Shipmate.

Thanks for all the advise. I may be a little ahead of myself as when I said a "couple of years" till retirement, that equates to Aug 2016 (but who's counting right?) Only planning on doing 20, depending on a promotion timeline.

I will definitely take all the advise I can get. The main thing I think I need to prep for is getting the training and certifications knocked out before 2016.

I already go to open houses all the time so I have met quite a few local realtors.

my background other than Army is a BS in Industrial Technology, maintenance electricity in a factory, cabinet making and installation and stuff along those lines. bought and sold several houses and have used a home inspector for each (but one time) which was invaluable so I have seen a few different levels of inspection quality, my first house had the best inspection write up (in Alabama) and I actually still own that house, its now a rental. this is how I kind of got the idea that HI would be a good fit for my next career.

Welcome! Thanks for your service, and good luck in the industry!