richmond home inspector: A Great Battle Took Place Here
- 09/27/13 11:00 AM
Call me crazy, but I absolutely love my job. I get to observe the craziest, funniest, scariest and most peculiar things that can be in a persons home. I was under a house the other day, in a crawlspace, and I ran into a fairly common situation. There were areas of the insulation that had been damaged by mice. Whenever I see this, I start pulling down some of the insulation to see how the bad the infestation is. The mice love to make humble little abodes on top of the insulation paper. It keeps them warm and comfy, but at … (22 comments)
richmond home inspector: The "Real" Dirty Secret in the Home Inspection Industry
- 09/17/13 09:34 PM
The internet is proliferated with articles outlining the dirty secrets of the home inspection industry. Most of these articles contain faux secrets, claiming that other inspectors are inexperienced, unqualified, or may be writing soft reports to curry favor with real estate agents. These inspectors are few and far between and deserve little attention from the world wide web, but their exisitence is hyperbolized to scare home buyers into chosing the author of said articles. I have yet to read in any of these articles, the real dirty secret in the home inspection industry. There is a practice that a gross majority … (53 comments)
richmond home inspector: The Places You Don't Go
- 09/17/13 12:51 AM
Well, you got your offer approved, had a home inspection, and bought a house. Congratulations, now you are a homeowner. Gone are the days of relying on the landlord to fix that broken AC, or unclog the the toilet. The worriless splender of knowing that "its not your house" are a distant memory. The bliss of ignoring the things that you can not see is over. You are a homeowner and its time to act like it. However, in my experience, some homeowners do not act like homeowners at all. They still want to ignore the areas of their home that … (6 comments)
richmond home inspector: Friday the 13th Bats
- 09/13/13 12:36 AM
The photo and videos were taken a few days ago, but today is a good day to talk about bats. Here are some bats that I found the other day.
At first it might seem as though its not a major concern because the bats are trapped by the screen. However, bat infestations should not be taken lightly. The inhalation of the fungal spores off of bat dropps is a health hazard to humans. Inhaling the fungal spores can cause Histoplasmosis which is a respiratory disease that cause flu-like symptoms. It is generally not fatal unless a person has … (2 comments)
richmond home inspector: Log Home Checks
- 09/12/13 05:37 AM
Log Home Checks There is a lot that is involved with building, maintaining and inspecting of log homes. We inspect quite a few log homes in Richmond. One common problem we find is checks in the logs. Here are some photos of checks.
Explanation: Checks occur as the moisture dries out of the log. As the moisture dries, the circumfrence of the log shrinks. The circumfrence of the rings shrink faster than the diameter causing the checks. The checks occur randomly. Some log builders will kerf a log or saw a small slot down the length of the log. This … (2 comments)
richmond home inspector: Buyer Estrangement
- 09/10/13 11:30 PM
We all know the term buyer’s remorse or regret. Its a term too often used, and an experience too often felt in the real estate industry. My experience in watching transactions unfold in Richmond has led me to ambitiously attempt to coin a new term: Buyer Estrangement From my point of view, as it pertains to real estate, buyer estrangement is the gross estrangement a buyer experiences between the desires and needs in the home they are searching for, and the amount of money they are hoping to pay for it. In other words buyer estrangement is the sizable gap between … (3 comments)
richmond home inspector: FSBO's Suck
- 09/10/13 12:57 AM
I think I get stuck with every FSBO inspection in Richmond, VA. Sometimes, I will have multiple inspections a week for FSBO's. Generally, if the home is FSBO, the buyer also has no representation. From my inspector perspective, both parties are lost in the sauce and it sucks. It's always a nightmare and I am considering charging more for home inspections on FSBO's. When I inspect for a buyer who is purchasing a FSBO, the buyer always at least a million questions that I don't have an answer to. They ask basic questions like "will the seller fix this?" or "its … (43 comments)
Call me crazy, but I absolutely love my job. I get to observe the craziest, funniest, scariest and most peculiar things that can be in a persons home.
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