As Felice pointed out, a home inspection on pre-owned homes is fairly routine and often required by lendors. Over the years, when purchasing a home, I have always been present and walked through with the Inspector. That is always a good idea.
Be very careful of any inpector hired by the real estate agent. Remember, the agent does not work for you. There have been tales in the past (not in TV that I know of but other areas) where real estate agents hired inspectors who would do a less the thorough inspection so as no to endanger the sale.
What I have always done in the past is look for professional organizations for home inspectors (this is a very unregulated industry) and found an inspector who belonged to the organization and hired them for the inspection.
The way it is supposed to work, they inspect and give you a report. Using that report, you can (before closing on the house) require that repairs be made to items the need repair and/or negotiate a price reduction if you decide to make the repairs yourself and take responsibility to get the repairs done at your own cost. The results of these negotiations are part of your closing agreement. I am presuming you purchase agreement is contingent of passing a home inspection (this is the norm).
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