Mitchell's Blog

  It's Sunday afternoon and I dozing off on my couch. The phone rings and it's a Realtor wanting clarification on a roof issue. I can hear screaming in the background.She wanted to know if I wanted both roofs reroofed. One roof (sloped one)was three years old the other was a flat roof 10+. The fl...

 I was doing an inspection on a vacant flip. So my radar is on high. You just never know what you are going to find. There is this smell of burning in the house. BTW the house has no heat and one ac window unit for 1500 sq.'.I figured the smell may dissipate but it doesn't. I take my nose room to...

   Below is pictures of insulation missing on supply ducts for the HVAC system. At first I thought it was roof rats. I did see evidence of rat fecal manner. I ran the AC for three hours to see if condensation would occur in/on the uninsulated sections. It did. And when I looked at it again it jus...

 Most of the home inspection in my area have been as is sales for years. As the market heated up the more I saw as is sales. Not only as is but the sellers were not interested in the home inspection = no negotiations.Now as the market cools the sales are still as is but the seller seems to have a...

 It seem to me that 80-85% of my inspections are for vacant homes. The other 15-20% are divorces and people leaving town. I was wondering what is happening in other parts of the country. And are there any national figures on vacant home sales?In So. Fl. we have an insurance problem and a property...

Many homes in So.Fl. have service contracts. Most 55 plus condo have service contracts. When I do an inspection on a dwelling with service contract, I take a time out and explain what is a service contract  and what does it cover.Not all service contract cover the same thing. There are different ...

 The reinspection, for non professionals, that is the reinspection of the same property after all repairs are made to insure repairs were done properly.Problem number one; a lot of home inspectors will not do reinspections. Why, I guess liability.Problem number two; the inspector only sees the fi...

I'm am somewhat of an early adapter. That is defined as somebody who likes to buy new technology. I take it a little further by liking to buy good bargains. I spend a good deal of time on the internet researching about building components. On the internet you can wind up looking for ladders and e...

Animal week continues.I was doing this inspection on a vacant home, I had the code to get in and was not expecting anybody to show up. I usually start by just walking around the house to get a general feel. Now I know the home is vacant but as I get to the back yard I rattle the gate so if there ...

 It looks like animal week for me. As I was going to an inspection the car in front of me made a motion to make a right turn. I move over to the left lane and as I was passing him I saw a duck crossing the road. I realized the guy in front was not trying to make a right turn rather was trying to ...