Finding the right home inspector is important, whether your Indiana home or prospective home is new or old. A certain buyer simply took the inspector recommendation of her realtor and hired a franchise inspector from out-of-town. He was very professional, but was in and out of the house in an hour and handed her a page and a half report.

The buyer moved into the house, close to Lafayette Indiana, and immediately discovered that the wiring was slightly mixed up (certain switches did not do what you would expect!) and that the wood floors were alarmingly creaky.

Both of these, however, were minor inconveniences compared to the major crack in the concrete basement wall and an improperly fitted window well - which the buyer discovered as soon as the first heavy rain hit. A combination of these structural deficiencies and improperly graded land, which rolled water toward the foundation instead of away, resulted in sump pump failure and a completely flooded basement. The buyer suffered $3000 worth of direct damage, not including the material loss resulting from water damage.

When confronted, the builder and developer took no responsibility, and the buyer is now faced with serious renovations if she wishes to prevent a recurrence.

The moral of the story? Hire a highly qualified home inspector who is familiar with the area and local building codes so that he can advise you on typical problems and steer you away from developers with bad reputations - don't settle for anything less than a full report before closing!