Real estate investors purchase homes to make money, plain and simple. Every house must be thoroughly inspected before a purchase, whether it is for a primary residence or for a real estate investment. A real estate inspection can literally make or break a deal, regardless of which type of buyer you are. For the real estate investor, this can be the difference of making a great, mediocre, or poor profit, or even a loss.

Home inspectors will give you a confidential report on five categories: major repair, minor repair, maintenance, safety concern and investigate further. What the inspector adds into this report will help the real estate investor decide whether the house is worth the asking price, or worth purchasing at all.

Major repairs include things that will cost over about $500.00 to repair. Such repairs that fall into this category are foundation, structure (including the roof), or plumbing issues more that consist of more than just a plugged drain (i.e. broken pipes). For real estate investors, these kinds of issues greatly reduce the amount they can potentially make by either reselling or renting the home.

Minor repairs, or repairs that will run the real estate investor less than $500.00, are not so much of a concern to the real estate investor. They do become a concern when there are many of these items listed. If the home has multiple minor repairs to be done, it can easily end up costing more than one or two major repairs.

Maintenance issues are designated as routine tasks that need to be done to a home to keep the home in livable condition. This includes regular maintenance on the heating and cooling systems, the septic (if the home is not on city sewer), or the water heater. If these items do not have regular maintenance done to them, usually every six months to a year, they are more likely to have major problems down the road and fall into the "major" or "minor" repair categories.

Safety issues are a huge concern for the real estate investor. Obviously a house with inspection issues cannot be sold or rented. These types of repairs will include anything that can potentially harm the new owner or tenant. They can be anything from sewer issues, to insect infestation (termites, ants, roaches, etc.), to ceilings that are ready to buckle. Many safety issues can be very costly and totally reduce any profit a real estate investor might stand to bring in.

Under the 'inspect further' category are going to be the issues that require a specialist to come look at. These kinds of possible problems require more in depth inspection that a professional in the field must do. They are also much more invasive than a top level inspection.

As a real estate investor, it is important to either form a relationship with a home inspector that you can trust or learn how to spot and categorize potential issues within a home yourself. Doing so will save you from investing in a property that is not worth the money you are paying.

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