The particular one we hired just came recommended by our real estate agent.

That, I learned in retrospect, in not a good idea.

The real estate agent and home inspector can be quite cozy. It is in the interest of the agent for the inspector to give a house a clean bill of health. We hired our inspector independently. When we showed up and it appeared he was friends with the agent I was a little skeptical. I'm only one paycheck for him, one job. That agent is key to many jobs for him, so he is not going to be motivated to find issues with a house she/he is selling. Anyway, that's what I think.

When we sold our house (the one we moved from in order to buy our current house), it needed work, but there were no hidden issues. No pipes, heating system, electrical, roof or foundation. The man who bought it wasn't interested in the cosmetics. He said he was going to get a contractor in as soon as we left. Turns out, that was his business.

Here's the house in '23 before we sold it.

And here's the house with workmen crawling all over it after we sold it

We were lucky he wanted to live in that neighborhood and that he could do the work himself (his company, anyway). If not for that we probably wouldn't have gotten the asking price and probably wouldn't have been able to afford the house we have now.

One of the hardest things I've done in my life, selling that house :))