home inspection: Climbing Trees and Bad Toupees - 03/12/08 12:25 PM
When I was a kid about 10 years old, I loved to climb trees, much to the worriment of my mom. I even built a tree house for some friends and me in the back yard...but that's a story for another time.
Recently I have begun to call on those old … (7 comments)
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home inspection: The Peek-A-Boo Gable! - 11/08/07 12:07 PM
I almost missed it!
Lots of people had missed it. The owner, who had the house built 20 years ago and had lived in it all these years. The builder. The county inspectors. The roofer. The second roofer who installed a new roof one year ago.
Yet there it was. In … (10 comments)
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home inspection: But Will the House Dance? - 11/06/07 06:54 AM
Selling an older home today can be alot like getting back in the dating game after many years of married life. Lots of updating to do. In today's real estate market, update you must, or more than likely, the house sits, and sits, and sits....like a wall flower at the dance.
This … (9 comments)
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home inspection: Buyer Be Wary! - 11/05/07 03:05 PM
If you like television series CSI, you'll enjoy this.
This inspection was of an 11 year old single family house that showed well...no, better than that, it was spectacular! Tremendous upgrades, granite, ceramic tile, hardwood floors, the works. It was also almost vacant, but tastefully staged, when I saw it. It … (8 comments)
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home inspection: The Green Monster - 11/01/07 07:51 AM
A recent inspection of a vacant foreclosure house confirmed my childhood fears that there is Green Monster lurking in the basement. (Sorry Red Sox fans, this isn't about the fabled Fenway wall).
It was late September and with the outside temperatures still in the 80's the air conditioner was running full blast. Unfortunately, the … (7 comments)
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home inspection: What's Different About Foreclosures? - 10/29/07 06:19 AM
The rising tide of forclosures has left some lasting impressions with me. Inspections of foreclosed properties have gone from about 3% of my business last year to about 25% this year. The trend seems to be accellerating.
Obviously foreclosed properties are different. Like the woman who is magical with make up … (9 comments)
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home inspection: The Ceiling Fan Farm! - 10/24/07 08:46 AM
My initial impression of the second floor bedrooms in this foreclosure house was that if you turned on all the ceiling fans full speed, there was one in every room, the roof might blast off!
Just as in houses where there are air fresheners in every electrical receptacle, ceiling fans in … (9 comments)
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home inspection: Radon Myths - revised - 10/21/07 08:03 AM
Some clients and agents do not have correct knowledge about Radon:
Myth 1 - Slab foundations. "We don't need to test Radon, this house has a slab foundation." The agent said this to me as though it was an absolute fact. I told him I wished that were true, but Radon … (10 comments)
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home inspection: Shut up and Bail! - 10/18/07 08:17 AM
My client was very excited about owning her first home. So much so that when I started doing my inspection, she started cleaning and doing repairs! Never mind that she didn't own the house yet! She wanted to get a head start and she had come prepared to get some serious … (12 comments)
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home inspection: Nature vs. Nurture - 10/15/07 08:08 AM
Foreword, there may be people that think I should not mention the Virginia Tech tragedy in context of a home inspection blog or news letter. I do so here with the utmost respect for the victums, their families and everyone involved with this incident. At the time, our hearts were heavy … (1 comments)
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home inspection: The Fixer Upper! - 10/14/07 03:57 PM
"Does this house qualify for one of your email letters? My agent friend asked me with a devilish grin. "Probably about three" I said, and I began to think of the lessons this house could teach.
This was a 29 year old split level on a beautiful mountain lot which showed … (4 comments)
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home inspection: On Discipline When Business is Slow - 10/13/07 03:14 PM
I was opening an old electrical panel and my electric drill didn't have the power to turn the screws, so I reached in my bag for my manual screw driver. It wasn't there. I had to improvise, basically using my electric drill as a manual screw driver. No big deal right?
Well I … (31 comments)
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home inspection: The Bottomless Hose Bib! - 10/12/07 07:04 AM
For all the agents who are custodians of empty listed houses, it's that time of year again. Freezing temperatures in many parts of the country are right around the corner. Cases like the one below are rare, but if you find an outside faucet that does not shut off properly, get … (4 comments)
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home inspection: Unwritten Rules #103 & 104 - 10/11/07 07:24 AM
A friend of mine who happens to be a real estate agent related a horror story to me several months ago that I felt should be passed along to others. The second story below happened to me on an inspection. Both teach rules to live by in Real Estate which are probably … (9 comments)
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home inspection: Old Worn-out Electrical Outlets - 10/10/07 07:57 AM
I ran across the term "Handymanliness" on an excellent DIY website called HammerZone.com. I like the term, but for different reasons than all my female friends think who are tapping their foot and saying "You're kidding, right?"
The concept is that when properly illustrated and guided, homeowners can tackle basic tasks, … (3 comments)
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home inspection: Hazard Marking - 10/09/07 06:18 PM
Normally when installing an attic fan, you install the fan first, then hook up the electric wire to it, then hook up the wire at a junction box to the power source. However, I recently encountered a case where the homeowner hooked the electric wire to power first and then forgot … (1 comments)
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home inspection: Unwritten Rules #101 & 102 - 10/09/07 07:03 AM
These rules may be covered in real estate training, but they never came up in my home inspection classes. I believe they apply equally to both agents and home inspectors.
"Pretty nice place" I said as I began reviewing the home inspection report with my client. This had become a standard … (5 comments)
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home inspection: Aunt Sallie's Glorious Bowl - 10/07/07 07:26 AM
"That ugly old thing, I completely forgot about that." My client said.
I was just finishing up on my report for a Home Wellness Inspection and had mentioned a large ornate bowl I had run across in his attic. It appeared to have been there a long time and had multiple … (12 comments)
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home inspection: What's an Arc? - 10/06/07 07:50 AM
What's an Arc!
I'm smiling.
The title "What's an Arc?" reminds me of Bill Cosby's "Noah!" Sorry, this isn't about the biblical boat or the famous comedian.
Arcs are defined as the luminous discharge of electricity across an insulating medium. They are different from ground faults which pass through a conductor (hopefully not … (10 comments)
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home inspection: Shut up Murphy! - 10/04/07 01:57 PM
Murphy rides on my shoulder and tells me what fun he's having. Most of the time he doesn't bother me...just when he can cause some mischief.
Like last week when I was studying an electrical panel and noticed a breaker labeled Sump Pump. That's funny I thought. I've been all over this … (1 comments)
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