Home inspection. More qualified?

You really need to think about what inspectors are hired to do. Most are paid a few hundred dollars, and are expected to produce a report listing home defects. In some states, there are no qualifications to be an inspector, in others you have to get licensed, and in some you have to pass a test. If the inspector is AASHI certified, they are strictly limited in what they inspect, how they do the inspection, and what they report. Typically they look at visually apparent issues, and are presumed to have no specialized knowledge that would allow them to have an opinion on special topics such as electrical faults, plumbing problems, structural or foundation issues, that sort of thing.

So they go through the house with a checklist, and note if the receptables work, if there are leaks in piping, obvious evidence of past floods. And if they do their job correctly, they note the facts, and do NOT offer an opinion as to why the problem occurred, how serious it is, what are the options to repair the issue, and how much will it cost. All issues of critical importance to you.

So if you want to know any of those things, you hire a plumber to look at the plumbing, an electrician to look at the wiring, and a structural engineer to look at the foundation and structure. And if a checklist is good enough, you save some money and hire the home inspector.

Plumber, electrician, decent roofer, and possibly an engineer if you have important retaining walls or seawalls, etc... to deal with. Maybe a mold test if there are moisture issues, etc... A good general will have a basic eye for most of it, may catch other things, and may be easier to coordinate than trying to get multiple people in. He may or may not also be the guy you hire to coordinate any repairs you can't do yourself.

Either way, a few hundred bucks per pro to waive you off a bad investment is worth it.

The formal home inspector in most purchases doesn't really serve much purpose except for truly clueless buyers, because they only keep their job and get recommended by realtors in the future if they don't kill deals.

So they will waive you off a purchase if they see a massive problem like happening to notice a snapped joist in the basement or if they find the basement under water when they arrive, but short of that they will generally go over a fairly cursory checklist, take a picture or two, pick one or two items to complain about that usually don't actually need to be done, and then the seller either does them or knocks a thousand bucks off the price. They *may* notice a small maintenance job and point it out too, and that's useful, but more frequently they just say "replace the old water heater" so that they have something to say.