buyers inspections: Getting Rid of Cigarette Smoke odors - 07/08/07 04:37 AM
   If it Smells........
I was inspecting a home that also had a rental cottage. I was informed the rental unit had a long-term tenant, a kindly old gentleman. When I entered the cottage and met the tenant I noticed the walls were harvest gold at the top but light beige at the bottom. All the windows were open but as I worked my way toward the rear of the cottage I was picking up the odors of a smoker.  I was chatting with the gentleman who said that he had lived in the cottage for over 15 years but was finally … (13 comments)

buyers inspections: If it Smells, it won't sell - 05/13/07 05:44 AM
Buyers judge a house by many attributes but generally if it smells, it won't sell. Odors that a lot of longtime homeowners have gotten used to can torpedo a sale. It’s been proven in scientific studies that our olfactory senses or smells help us remember a particular time and place. Realtors can use that to their advantage when staging a home. However in some cases a few air fresheners or baking cookies isn’t going to cover a larger problem. I sense real problems in homes when I see everyroom having an air freshner in it and savvy buyers will sense a … (3 comments)

buyers inspections: Using CLUE when buying a home - 03/18/07 03:36 PM
 
I recently discovered the CLUE database after I identified several mysterious issues for a savvy client. Home inspectors are limited to doing visual inspections. At the time of inspection rarely does our client own the property, so we are in the property as a guest of the seller. This means that we cannot do anything that may damage or destroy the property. In many situations this may mean that we leave the inspection with more questions than we started. We can see mystery stains on walls, we may see water damaged sheetrock thats been repainted, we may see repairs where … (0 comments)

buyers inspections: How long do home inspections take - 03/10/07 03:12 AM
How long do inspections take?   Our cannned answer is 2-3 hours. However the reality is "it depends". Yesterday, I found myself apologizing to a realtor for getting done in 90 minutes on a 2300 sq ft. home with a crawl space. There were a number of factors that allowed me to move quickly through the inspection without missing anything:   It was 3 years old. Old enough to have gone through the new home issues but not old enough for things to start breaking.   Only two professionals lived in the home. The home was gently used   Minimal contents … (4 comments)