I asked the same question yesterday too. And I was a realtor for 9 yrs!...the inspectors we are used to are certified or as a realtor you are often asked to do a BPO ( brokers price opinion) and CMA's ( Certified market analysis) both of which requires certain certification and licensing. A BPO also requires access to MLS or other format for recent sold homes.
There are also incidence's where all they want is to check up on their investment with and eyewitness account of general condition, whether its occupied and maybe a picture of the home/building and the neighbor hood. That they would ask this of a notary indicates the latter. Certified inspectors are pretty busy inspecting homes being sold. I doubt those that are notaries are closing loans as well.
When a house is in foreclosure and vacant they often have a local contractor ( usually a plumber and locksmith)" winterize it" and later have another person go by and see if the work has been done. If there is no access to the property there is supposed to be a sign posted that the building is winterized. They also want to know if there is any vandalism or the need for a "trashout" or clean up and haul stuff out. Sometimes they ask for names of contrators to do this work .
So don't fret. Not everyone is familiar with these different levels of inspections.
This site is full of good information and people don't give up on it |
