Hard-working Oklahoma inspector is fiercely independent

Bettye and Luther Hunt

Luther Hunt has done thousands of inspections since he began his career inspecting homes in 1992, serving the Lawton, Oklahoma area and beyond. 

He’ll go wherever needed as long as he can get home at night, once driving to the north end of Lake Eufala in Eastern Oklahoma to do an inspection for a customer who personally liked his work from another inspection involvement in Lawton.  “It was in February so I left in the dark and returned home in the dark, driving nearly 500 miles,”  said Luther. 

It was “by accident” that he became involved in home inspection work after a 35-year career as a masonry contractor, when one day he assisted an acquaintance who was doing home inspections.  “I knew more than he did,” said Luther, finding that he had accumulated relevant knowledge through the years and enjoyed the work.  In about 1994, he joined the Oklahoma Residential and Commercial Inspectors Association.

Luther says he does not align himself with any real estate broker or agency, though his referrals come from brokers as well as past customers.  “I’m fiercely independent.  I work for the people that hire me.  I’m there for their benefit and nobody elses,” he said. 

When asked what he attributes to his success in the home inspection business, he replied, “It’s my experience and I try to be honest.  A lot of people like me because of my age."

Luther indicated he values AHW’s warranty product and consistently provides it for his customers.  “I would not let anyone inspect my home who did not give me some type of warranty.  A warranty lets them [customers] know that he [inspector] knows what he’s doing,” he said.  

But he gently chided AHW for the company’s record of paying some claims that may be in a grey area.  “I have never known another company that pays claims that don’t need to be paid.  You people are most unusual,” said Luther.    

Originally from Harlington in South Texas, Luther said he got into masonry work, early in his life, with his father.  In 1961 he came to Oklahoma from Wichita Falls, TX (across the Red River from Oklahoma) where he was working on a construction job at Sheppard Air Force Base. 

“I was in charge of all the masonry work on the job of what was the world’s largest military mental hospital at Sheppard Air Force Base,” said Luther.

It was there that he met his wife Bettye, who at the time was working at the base as the hospital commander’s secretary.  Bettye was from Walters, OK (just south of Lawton), where the couple settled and currently reside.

Much of his work comes from Fort Sill, the military base in Lawton, said Luther, indicating the base dates from the mid-1800s and has the world’s largest military artillery school.   Also he said that two new Indian casinos in the rural Lawton area along the Red River have necessitated the need for 300 to 500 new homes, many of which he will be inspecting.  There is a possibility of a third casino.