I'm going to buy a house, I could use some help!

[XTRazzer]

Good to hear you have a buddy to help with the inspection.

Here's the catch on home inspectors: when the housing market was booming, a lot of places offered classes for people to become home inspectors. So guess where a bunch of unemployed folks went? Don't get me wrong here, there are good home inspectors worth the cost. But if you're relatively good with repairing houses or in the construction trades then I understand not hiring an inspector.