The common assumption is that home inspections are limited to when you are selling your home or if you are considering buying a home.

For the most part, that’s true.

But there are some reasons to consider a home inspection even when the thought of selling your home is the farthest thing from your mind. In fact, it is often suggested that it’s worthwhile to have your home inspected every two-to-five years.

The first of these reasons would be to make sure you know of problems that may be on the horizon. While you do have the expense of the inspection, if something is discovered, a small repair early on could prevent you from having to spend significantly more money should the problem get worse.

Second, there are two common issues in Florida that would be brought to the surface with an inspection – radon and mold. With all our moisture, mold is certainly possible. Discovering it early can prevent more complicated issues. The same is true with radon. If you are going to do a home inspection, make sure radon testing is included. If radon and mold are present in your home at high enough levels, the result can be health problems for you and your family.

There are a number of places in your home that you may not enter often or at all. Attics and crawl spaces may be examples of that. If there are problems developing in those areas, you may not know about it until it’s too late. A home inspector will include those spots, and let you know about any issues.

Finally, let’s look at why it may be better to have a home inspector discover problems, whether it be with the roof, plumbing HVAC or any other area. The one and only motivation for the home inspector is to inspect your home. That’s all they are paid to do. We are by no means questioning the credibility of trades professionals, but in each of these trades’ specialties, the contractor’s goals are to repair or replace.

While we provide a list of trusted resources on our website, there may be others in those professions who may not be as professional. In fact, you may have experienced the cold call from roofers who want to inspect your roof for you. It’s likely they are there not to inspect, but to sell you a new roof.

So again, while home inspections are most common before the sale of a home, having an inspection done every few years may actually save you money and protect your home in the long run.