Top 10 List Of Home Inspectors Serving Kansas City, Johnson County KS, Leawood And The Surrounding Area

Checking The Pulse Of The Kansas City Real Estate Market

If you’re buying a home in Kansas City, Johnson County Kansas, Leawood or in the surrounding metro area, getting a home inspection is one of the most important steps in the home buying process. From checking the foundation to the roof, there’s a lot of things to consider that home buyers and real estate agents aren’t able to properly assess prior to going under contract on a home. So even a seasoned real estate agent like myself, with an extensive construction background, will hire a home inspector to closely look things over.


There’s a lot of home inspectors to choose from in the Kansas City area and you’ll definitely want to choose one with a good reputation and who will be diligent in the job they do. Gordon and Associates is one home inspector who has earned my trust over the years and I define “trust” as making my clients happy. This includes both at the home inspections and with the fact they do a great job of uncovering important issues that could lead to problems/costs in the near future.

I put together a top 10 list of Kansas City home inspection companies that I’m comfortable recommending and I then polled several agents in my office. If even one agent had an issue with any of the companies, I removed them from the list. I found these top four to be excellent choices if you’re looking to hire a home inspector…

Gordon & Associates

Sweet Home Inspections

Five Star Home Inspections 

All Around Home Inspections

There are many other great home inspection companies in Kansas City and here’s the rest of the top 10 list…

Browning Home Inspections

Bulldog Inspections

The Home Team

Star Home Inspections

Every Square Inch

First Choice Property Evaluations


Posted by Jason Brown

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Kansas Home Inspection Process Is In For Big Changes in 2010

Checking The Pulse Of The Kansas City Real Estate Market

It was just a matter of time before Kansas started requiring home inspectors to get licensed to continue performing home inspections. There are many great home inspectors out there but the truth is that the main thing Kansas City home buyers had to rely on when choosing a home inspector was a good reference. Other than that, you could check to see if the inspector was a member of  trade group like the American Society of Home Inspectors (ASSHI). But that would be similar to me saying I’m a qualified real estate agent because I’m a member of the National Association of Realtors (NAR).  There are minimum requirement to be a member of ASSHI though. For instance, you had to have 250+ home inspections under your belt and that’s certainly worth something. But there were no actual Kansas, Missouri or federal laws regulating home inspectors or the home inspection process. So for many Kansas City home buyers, the best they could hope for was a good referral to keep the process from turning into a wing and a prayer.


This month the home inspection process is in for big changes — on the Kansas side of the state line, at least. The  Kansas legislature Bill HB 2260 went into effect on 1-1-10 and the new law requires home inspectors to register with a newly created state board — the Kansas Home Inspectors Registration Board (KHIRB). The KHIRB’s purpose will be to regulate the Kansas home inspection industry. It prevents home inspectors from continuing to state a limit  of liability to less than $2,000 (on a particular home inspection).  The other meat and potatoes of the new law calls for all Kansas home inspectors to register with the state, complete 80 hours of classroom education, pass a licensing examination, complete 16 hours of yearly continuing education and follow professional standards when conducting home inspections — all in the name of protecting home buyers in Kansas. Some of the other requirements include home inspectors being at least 18 years of age, having a high school diploma, and maintaining $100,000 in general liability insurance. Home inspectors who can show an extensive inspection history could get grandfathered in without having to take the initial licensing exam.

Some other important aspects of the bill include capping a  home inspector’s liability at $10,000 on an inspection. This seems reasonable as in my experience, home inspectors do a thorough job. I’ve never had a situation where a Buyer sued at all, much less for a situation where there were $10,000+ in damages. Thinking back, I’ve had just a couple situations where I thought the home inspection could possibly lead to some type of litigation. But of those, one involved a Buyer with unreasonable expectations and another was a situation completely brought on by the Buyer himself after closing (burying the gutter downspouts without day-lighting them anywhere — brilliant!). To help buyers understand the purpose of a home inspection, the KHIRB indicates a “home inspection is to identify material defects that are visible and in readily accessible areas of the home… An inspection will not necessarily expose all defects or eliminate all risk associated with purchasing a home… a home inspector is a generalist and is not conducting a technically exhaustive inspection… When appropriate, your inspector may recommend further evaluation or review by others”. If you’re interested, you can review the entire Home Inspection Standards of Practice.

Home inspectors will be issued registration cards showing their license number. For example,  home inspector Drew Gordon has a new license number of KS #0110-0055. So look for a number like that to ensure you’re getting a Home Inspector that is licensed in Kansas. It’s now the law and there’s no gray area in this regards. You can view a complete list of licensed Kansas home inspectors and always be sure to get a recommendation from a real estate agent or home buyer who has experience working with the home inspector you’re considering.

Posted by Jason A. Brown

Inspection Negotiations Are Just As Critical As The Original Contract Negotiations

Hands On The Heartland
Checking The Pulse Of The Kansas City Real Estate Market

Getting a Kansas City home buyer and home seller to come to terms on a Resolution to the home inspection process can be a daunting task at times. Usually the home inspections I’m involved with – whether representing the buyer or  representing the seller – go just fine. But there’s that 1 out of 10 that seems to get off track. Either the home inspector is an alarmist or would rather cover his butt by calling for three additional inspections by “licensed professionals”, or a buyer or seller have an unrealistic outlook. I ALWAYS take the time to explain to my sellers up front that they’re going to have to open their wallet if a buyer’s inspector finds major structural or mechanical issues with the home — oh, and if a radon test comes in above a 4.0, it’s going to cost the seller upwards of $1,000 to mitigate the radon to below a 4.0 reading. Simply explaining this up front allows a seller to somewhat factor in the possibilities during the original contract negotiations. When representing a buyer, I tell them that they can absolutely ask for every item on the report to be repaired, but the seller has the right to tell them to stick it… well, you know.

Kansas City Home Inspections

Kansas City Home Inspections

Nothing can make an inspection negotiation go haywire like a buyer asking a seller to replace something trivial — like a $1 broken door stop. Yes, I’ve seen that happen. Or how about tightening up a loose towel bar.  I nearly had a deal fall apart over just that. You can’t predict such things and just have to roll with the punches when it happens. To prepare both buyers and sellers, I advise up front that a buyer can ask a seller to correct all, some or none of the items on an inspection report. The seller can of course respond by agreeing to fix all, some or none of the items requested. It’s a complete renegotiation.

I’m also a firm believer that a buyer should never ask for something to be corrected that was blatantly obvious PRIOR to the home going under contract. If the driveway is cracked that should have been factored into the original contract negotiations! Another good example is a mini-retaining wall on a split level home I recently sold. The wall was leaning out  slightly and certainly wasn’t in perfect condition. But anyone with any kind of decent eyesight could see this wall was leaning because it was right in front of you as you walk up to the stairs leading to the front door. Well the inspector properly noted it on his report, as he should have. The problem was when the buyer decided  the seller should pony up to rebuild the wall. Without giving you too much details, I’ll just say the neither myself nor the seller were having any part of that scenario and the buyer quickly backed off.

Posted by Jason A. Brown
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