Home Inspection Blog

You don't need a $30,000 kitchen remodel before selling your house. You might need a $7 furnace filter. That's not nearly as exciting. Nobody posts before-and-after pictures of their new furnace filter on Instagram. There's no HGTV show called Extreme GFCI Makeover. But after inspecting hundreds of homes throughout my career, I can tell you that inspection reports aren't filled exclusively with dramatic foundation failures, collapsing roofs and haunted electrical panels.

The Home Inspector’s Early-Fall HVAC & Safety Check The Midwest Homeowner Survival Guide: Summer → Fall — Part 4 Check these 10 crucial furnace maintenance tips for Illinois homeowners to ensure a safe and efficient transition into fall. Stay prepared with Midwest Inspect's safety checklist. The worst time to discover your furnace doesn’t work is the exact same morning everyone else in Illinois discovers theirs doesn’t work. You know the morning. Yesterday it was 78°. Today i

Snow is nature's version of fresh paint. Everything looks great when you can't see what's underneath it. Every fall in Illinois, our homes slowly begin disappearing. First, the grass gets covered with leaves. Then the landscaping starts dying back. Daylight disappears sometime around lunch. And eventually snow arrives and gives the entire property a beautiful white blanket that says: "Don't worry about any of this until April."

By late summer, your house has taken a beating. As a home inspector with Midwest Inspect, this is the time of year when I start noticing the evidence. The good news? Late summer and early fall give homeowners a perfect opportunity to catch small problems before snow, ice, freezing temperatures and another Illinois winter arrive. So grab a cup of coffee, walk around the house, and pretend you're a home inspector for 20 minutes. Here’s what I’d be looking for.

If you've ever owned a home, you've probably had one of these moments. You're carrying laundry downstairs. You notice a crack. You stop. You stare at it. You immediately grab your phone and type: "Is this normal?" Ten minutes later, Google has convinced you that: your foundation is collapsing, your furnace has one week to live, and your water heater is plotting against your family. Take a deep breath. As a home inspector with Midwest Inspect, I answer these questions almost e

Some of the most expensive home repairs I’ve seen started with something small. Really small. Not a failing roof. Not a cracked foundation. Not a furnace gasping for its last breath. Sometimes the problem starts with a $12 outlet. More specifically: A missing or failed GFCI receptacle. And that tiny safety device can be the difference between: a minor repair, a serious electrical hazard, water damage, or a very expensive insurance claim.

Nobody ignores a $20,000 repair. But a $100 repair? That one's easy to put off until next weekend. Or next month. Or... next year. As a home inspector with Midwest Inspect, I've learned something after inspecting hundreds of homes throughout Illinois: The biggest repair bills almost never begin with a catastrophic event. They begin with something so small that most homeowners barely notice it.

There's a moment during some home inspections when everyone in the room gets unusually quiet. The buyer stops taking pictures. The Realtor slowly lowers their pen. The seller suddenly becomes very interested in the weather outside. And I'm standing there thinking... "Well... this one isn't going to be fixed with a trip to the hardware store." As a home inspector with Midwest Inspect, I've inspected hundreds of homes throughout Illinois. Most homes have normal maintenance item

As a home inspector with Midwest Inspect, I've seen what happens when a great cookout turns into an expensive insurance claim. So before you light the grill, spark up the smoker, or declare yourself Captain of the Backyard BBQ Brigade, here are a few tips to help keep your celebration safe—and stress-free.

As a home inspector with Midwest Inspect, summer is one of my favorite seasons. Homeowners are finally outside again, tackling projects that have been on the "I'll get to it next weekend" list since April. It's also the season when small maintenance issues can become expensive repairs if they're ignored. And for realtors and homeowners alike, this is the season where proactive maintenance can make or break a deal—or protect thousands of dollars in equity.