Success 8 min read November 11, 2026

How to Become a Home Inspector in Mississippi (2026)

Mississippi home inspector license, step by step: 60 hours, the NHIE, $250,000 each of GL and E&O, a $500 fee and 20 CE hours, now under the Appraisal Board.

Binsr Team

How to Become a Home Inspector in Mississippi (2026)

Short answer: Mississippi requires a home inspector license, issued since July 1, 2024 by the Mississippi Real Estate Appraisal Board, which the revived Home Inspector Regulatory Board advises. You must be 21 with a high school diploma, complete 60 hours of pre-licensing education, pass the National Home Inspector Examination within three years of applying, carry $250,000 each of general liability and E&O, pass a fingerprint background check and pay $500.

Mississippi's rules are short and clear, and they recently changed hands. Until mid-2024 the Mississippi Real Estate Commission ran the program. Senate Bill 2788, signed April 17, 2024, revived the Home Inspector Regulatory Board as an adjunct board to the Appraisal Board and moved the program there on July 1, 2024. Guides written before July 2024 name the Real Estate Commission, which is now out of date. Everything below is as of November 2026 and comes from the Mississippi Home Inspector Division's site, its application forms and the license law it publishes (Miss. Code Ann. 73-60-1 et seq.).

Mississippi home inspector requirements at a glance

Requirement	Mississippi, as of November 2026
License required?	Yes. Mississippi home inspector license (Miss. Code Ann. 73-60-11)
Regulator	Mississippi Home Inspector Division, Mississippi Real Estate Appraisal Board
Law	Miss. Code Ann. 73-60-1 to 73-60-47, as amended by SB 2788 (2024)
Basic eligibility	At least 21, high school diploma or equivalent
Pre-license education	An approved course of at least 60 hours, which may include field work
Field training	No separate requirement beyond any field work in the course
Exam	National Home Inspector Examination, passed within three years before you apply
Fees	$175 application and exam fee plus $325 license fee, $500 total
Insurance	General liability and E&O, each at least $250,000 per occurrence, listed separately, in your own name
Background check	Fingerprint-based state and FBI check (73-60-47, since July 1, 2021)
Renewal	License expires two years after issue
Continuing education	20 hours every two years
Reciprocity	The application has a "reciprocal" option, but the Division does not publish the criteria. Ask the Division

How to get licensed in Mississippi, step by step

Complete 60 hours of pre-licensing education. The Division accepts a course if any state home inspector board accepts it, if an inspector society, institute, council or association certifies it as pre-licensing education, or if the U.S. Department of Education approves it. That leaves a wide choice of providers.
Pass the NHIE. The Division does not schedule the exam; you register with EBPHI. Your pass must be less than three years old when you apply. See our NHIE guide.
Buy two policies. General liability and errors and omissions, each at least $250,000 per occurrence. The certificate must list them as separate coverages and name you, not only your company. The insurer must give the Board ten days' notice before cancelling.
Apply by mail. Print the application from the Division's forms page. Attach proof of the 60 hours, your NHIE pass, the insurance certificate, a diploma or transcript and a $500 check or money order ($175 application plus $325 license).
Complete the fingerprint background check. Every applicant and every renewing inspector goes through a state and FBI records check.
Wait for the license. The statute gives the Division up to 30 days, and it says most licenses are issued within five working days of a complete application.

What it costs to get started in Mississippi

Item	Cost	Source
Application and exam fee	$175	Division and 73-60-29
License fee	$325	Division and 73-60-29
60-hour pre-licensing course	Set by each provider	Not published by the Division
NHIE	$225	EBPHI
Fingerprint check	Not published on the Division's pages	Ask the Division
GL and E&O, $250,000 each	Insureon says its home inspector customers pay a median of $989 a year for E&O and $545 for GL	Insureon, May 2026. Broker figures at their own limits, not Mississippi's
Tools and vehicle	Varies	No official figure
Report software	Binsr Standard is $75 per inspector per month	Binsr pricing

How long it takes

Mississippi's 60 hours are half of Florida's 120-hour course, and there is no supervised-inspection quota like Alabama's. The main variables are how fast you finish the course, when you can book and pass the NHIE (EBPHI requires 30 days between retakes) and how quickly your insurer issues a certificate that meets the Board's format. Once the Division has a complete application, it says most licenses issue within five working days.

What inspectors earn in Mississippi

BLS does not publish a home-inspector-only figure. Home inspectors fall under SOC 47-4011, construction and building inspectors, which also includes public-sector code inspectors. BLS OEWS figures for Mississippi, May 2025:

Measure (Mississippi, SOC 47-4011)	May 2025
Employment	800
Median annual wage	$50,250
Mean annual wage	$55,760
10th percentile	$35,600
90th percentile	$76,400

The national median for the group was $74,690. OEWS does not include the self-employed, so an inspector who owns the business earns what fees and volume allow. Our home inspector salary guide covers that math.

Keeping your Mississippi license

Two-year license. Under 73-60-21 a license expires two years after it is issued. Renewal needs a completed application, the renewal fee and your CE.
CE. 20 hours every two years from Board-approved providers (73-60-23). You certify compliance on the renewal. The Division asks licensees to send CE and E&O documents to its office by email, as its site notes.
Fees. The statute caps the renewal license fee at $325 and sets the late penalty at 100% of the renewal fee. Check the current amount with the Division.
Insurance. Letting either policy lapse is a ground for discipline (73-60-31).
Background check. Renewals go through the fingerprint check too.

What else is specific to Mississippi

The ASHI Standard of Practice is the state standard. The Board lists the ASHI Standard of Practice and Code of Ethics as its adopted standards, and its site links ASHI's approved Standard of Practice changes, which it lists with an effective date of January 1, 2027. Your reports must meet it (73-60-17).

New construction needs the "NH" designation. Since October 1, 2001, a licensee may not inspect new construction for a fee without a residential home builder's license from the Mississippi Board of Contractors and a code certification (73-60-27). The Board's March 2026 explainer calls this the New Home designation, and the Division's how-to guide lists the code certifications it accepts, such as One and Two-Family Dwelling Inspector or Housing Rehabilitation Inspector.

Credentials you advertise must be current. Board guidance from July 25, 2025 says any third-party designation you use, such as InterNACHI's CPI or ASHI's ACI, must be "valid, current, and verifiable". Advertising a lapsed one may breach 73-60-31. The Board also wants inspectors to say such credentials are in addition to, not a substitute for, the state license.

No repairs, and no termite reports. You may not repair a building as part of or as a result of your inspection (73-60-27). The Mississippi wood-destroying insect report (WDIR) is done by a licensed pest control professional, as the Board's own March 2026 article explains. A home inspector reports visible damage and conducive conditions and refers the WDIR out. See our WDO vs WDI guide.

Unlicensed work is costly. Acting as a home inspector without a license carries administrative fines of up to $1,000 for a first offense and $5,000 after that.

Binsr is useful here in a small way: if you refer WDIR work to a pest company, its partner management matches partners by coverage area and follows up automatically, so the referral does not fall through.

Frequently asked questions

The Mississippi Real Estate Appraisal Board, through its Mississippi Home Inspector Division, advised by the Home Inspector Regulatory Board. The Real Estate Commission handed the program over on July 1, 2024, under SB 2788.

At least 60 hours of approved pre-licensing coursework, which may include field work, as of November 2026.

Yes. The Division says you must pass the NHIE, and the pass must be within three years of your application.

General liability and errors and omissions, each at least $250,000 per occurrence, shown separately on a certificate in your own name. See our home inspector insurance guide.

$500 to start: a $175 application and exam fee and a $325 license fee, as of November 2026. The NHIE and your course are paid separately.

Only with a residential home builder's license from the Mississippi Board of Contractors and a qualifying code certification, the basis of the NH designation.

Sources and verification

Keep reading

New to inspecting? Your first 20 inspections on Binsr are free. Newly licensed inspectors get 20 free inspections on Binsr Pro, with the AI features included. See how to claim them.