The inspector on my house walked all over the roof, in the attic, etc. He missed a bunch of stuff--roof, furnace, basement, plumbing, electric...I didn't know what to look for, that's why I was paying HIM.

A year later, the real estate agent called and asked if I had any problems stemming from the inspection. I listed off the whole ream. She said he had made many mistakes on other houses, too, and that she was sorry. Sorry big whoop, I'm 5-figures in the hole because of him. I would not have bought the house if I had known that the roof was bad, the furnace was improperly installed and unsafe and unusable, the hot water heater was corroded nearly through, there was no washing machine hookup (I should have caught that one on my own), the electric and the plumbing were not up to code.

Lesson learned. The house before this one had an excellent inspector who caught every little thing, including how many years left on certain appliances and features and estimated repair and replacement costs. I thought they were all like that one! Doh!