Looking for some insight. My home inspection business has been solid with 20 to 50 inspections per month since I started in 2019. Now for the past two weeks things have slowed to literally almost nothing. 7 Inspections total for the month of September. Nothing but 5 star google reviews. My Business is Taylor Home Inspections LLC in Macon Ga. www.jwtaylorhomeinspections.com.
Same thing here in florida with me
The combination of rising house prices and rising interest rates has put the housing market in a nose dive. Some areas are worse than others. As Nick would say the market will return, the question is when? (Post Biden is when)
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Here in New Jersey we went from 1300 to 1000 home inspectors at the last license renewal.
Things here have gotten slower also.
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Hi Jerry how ya been!
BIG mortgage rates has helped force a BIG slowdown.
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Also seeing a slow down in my area.
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Depends on what you’re inspecting. Total number of inspections I’ve done this year is slightly above average for me, but the types of homes are completely different. I used to do maybe 70% resale homes and 30% new construction. This year I’m doing 10% resale homes and 90% new construction, predrywall, and 11-month warranty inspections. Most of the inspections I’ve done this year are from past client referrals.
high interest rates, low inventory, ridiculous bidding on older homes, etc are forcing people to buy more similarly priced but available new construction that are farther away from larger cities.
Active licensed inspectors in my state have gone down from 2132 to 2024 since last year. I’m expecting this number to go down further next year.
You can also gauge the general health of the inspection industry by the number and frequency of questions being asked on this message board compared to course approvals, happy birthday threads, and other bullshit threads nick creates to artificially inflate the message board activity. Sorry nick, it is what it is.
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To really know how you’re doing you need to understand how your local market is doing, and then see what your percentage of the market is now compared to the same time last year.
For example:
My local market has been down an average of 30% year over year in any given month. My business is down 13% on average
This means my business is actually doing better than it used to be, even though it’s fewer inspections and certainly doesn’t feel like we’re doing better.
Overall, there simply just are not as many houses being sold this year than last year, and nowhere near as many houses being sold in 2021. If there aren’t as many houses being sold then there are fewer inspections needed.
You entered the HI market at just the right time before it exploded in 2020. So you only know the good times when anyone with a ladder could get work as a HI. Now the market is quite different.
But every state is a little different and different areas within any state are subject to differences. So one needs to be in tune with their local statistics.
Back to you, your website looks pretty good. I could nitpick a few things, but nothing major.
You have nearly zero social media presence. That’s a problem.
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Opposite in my neck of the woods, or so it seams, since they bank froze interest rates. past 2 weeks the phone has ringing 3 to 4 times a day. Crickets last month.
May I recommend doing away with travel exercises and credit card fees. People that watch their pennies. Dollars take care of themselves.
It is called Joe Biden!!!
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I have retired from home inspection here in Wilmington,NC for two reasons, my balance isn’t good due to back injury and it has been so slow the overhead is greater than income.
So sad you do not investigate what you say.
So sad you don’t mind your own problems a-hole!!
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Thanks for the insight Ian. What website(s) do you use to determine what your market is doing?
Well, every market is going to be different.
Start with your local Realtor Association and see what data they have available.
Check out…
Which is unfortunately not at all regional.
Here’s what is going on in my area. Pretty much sums up where business is.
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All markets are local, so some markets may be red hot while others are in a severe downturn.
Here in the Cincinnati area the market is still hot, although some slowing is occurring.
Many areas are still having bidding wars while others are finally dropping prices because of no takers. And although this market is still affordable, it’s not as much as it was before covid, not even close.
They were claiming recently that this was the hottest market in the country, which sucks for the home inspection industry because many are still writing contracts bypassing inspections just to get a foot in. So a hot market can be a good thing, or not, for the inspection industry.
And again, as I did last year, I’m hoping that the market will return to “normal” in the spring of 2024. Personally I prefer a buyers market, because in my 20 years in this business, it seems to be best for our line of work.
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