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home inspections: How Sellers can prepare for a Buyer's home inspection - 02/10/12 02:25 PM
How Sellers can prepare for a Buyer's home inspection
Today's post is a guest post by Russel Ray, a home inspector in San Diego, California.
The perfect home simply doesn't exist.
In a brand new home, the contractor often is not aware of everything his subcontractors do, and government building and code inspectors do not have the time or the budget to inspect everything in every home, so they usually just do a spot-check of newly constructed homes.
An existing home that has been lived in usually has damage that occurred from simply living in it, or additions or remodeling that … (10 comments)

home inspections: Taking unnecessary liability on someone else's property - 01/08/11 10:57 PM

Taking unnecessary liability on someone else's property
Before I passed the state real estate exam in May 2005, I worked as a home inspector for Russel Ray, giving up that profession completely in August 2005 when I hung my sheepskin with Century 21 Award Mission Valley. I was part of a team, and I always got the good stuff, like kitchen appliances, lights and outlets, doors and windows, etc. I never went up under a house, or up in an attic, or up on the rooftop (I didn't want to play Santa Claus).
However, we used to give a verbal … (8 comments)

home inspections: Homes don't pass or fail home inspections - 06/30/10 04:56 PM
I worked as a home inspector from October 2001 to August 2005.
One of the questions that we often were asked, both by our Clients and by their real estate agents, is whether the home passed or failed.
Homes don't pass or fail home inspections. If you are a real estate agent, please delete "pass" and "fail" from your home inspections vocabulary, and gently correct your sellers and buyers that homes don't pass or fail home inspections.
The condition of a home is just that, the condition of a home. Some people can accept things that others wouldn't, so there is … (31 comments)

home inspections: I don't have enough experience yet to understand Realtorspeak - 09/23/09 03:56 PM
I had a listing agent call me regarding my Clients and the purchase offer they made on her listing. She was audibly upset because we were requesting a home inspection and a short 5-day home inspection contingency period. We made it short since I live with the world's best home inspector.
Nonetheless, she almost screamed into the phone, "Why do you need a home inspection? It's being sold as is!"
Now I've only been a Realtor since May 2005, so I know there is still a lot for me to learn, but one thing I have learned is that it doesn't … (17 comments)

home inspections: What is the purpose of a pre-listing inspection? - 08/16/09 10:51 PM

I logged in to do my final three blogs for the week when I saw Robert Snowden's Featured Blog titled "Is there any value in a home inspection?"
The answer, of course, is a resounding yes.
I might be slightly prejudiced, though, because I worked as a home inspector from October 2001 to August 2005.
One of the comments to Robert's post was made by Russ Ravary of Detroit. Russ was one of the first people to comment on my early blog posts back in August 2008, and I continue to visit his blog on a regular basis, and he, … (4 comments)

home inspections: Another reason to get a home inspection - 02/26/09 10:24 AM
My mom and I email each other often, and she usually sends me all sorts of humorous stuff about real estate, home inspections, and pets. Some of it is off the wall and can't be republished at a family site like ActiveRain.
Today I got an email about the skeleton of a man found inside a chimney of a home up in San Bernardino County where she lives. The home had been vacant for three years after the previous owner died (probably probate problems at a minimum), and the skeleton was found during renovations by the new owner. Investigators say there … (10 comments)

home inspections: Lies, misstatements, lack of memory, just don't know.... things like that - 10/31/08 02:02 AM
 
Even though the Seller's Transfer Disclosure Statement rarely has anything of value on it, there are those times when the cracked slab or the roof leak actually are disclosed. Consequently, I'm not sure I will ever fully understand why banks and landlords who have never lived in the property are exempt from providing them.
I understand the theory behind the exemption, but it seems to me that a very easy way around this problem would be to have the banks and landlords get a pre-listing inspection. That would provide them with a great disclosure document and make things go … (6 comments)