View a home as inspector sees it

For Web-savvy home shoppers, a virtual home-inspection tour is only a click or two away. The interactive guide, offered by the American Society of Home Inspectors, is designed to provide home buyers with an idea of what inspectors look for when reviewing a home.

The tour at ashi.org reviews some of the common problems that occur in 10 areas and provides description of symptoms, photographs and what an inspector might include in a report. The trade group represents 6,000 home inspectors.

Home buyers who used the Internet most intensively were also more likely to use the services of a home inspector, according to a 2003 study by the National Assn. of Realtors.