watseka home inspection: Why Us You May Ask?
- 07/30/23 07:43 AM
Why Us You May Ask?
That's a great question and isn't asked very often. Most of the time the very first words we hear when the phone rings and a potential buyer is on the other end is "How much is a home inspection?" Literally 9 out of 10 times, that's all the caller wants to know. They don't know that it's not really what they want to know, but they don't know what they don't know. What they really want to know is what are you going to tell me that is so valuable and worthwhile and important in … (14 comments)
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watseka home inspection: Maybe a Seinfeld Episode?
- 03/26/23 07:40 AM
Maybe a Seinfeld Episode?
Many years ago when I first started doing inspections, I had the pleasure of inspecting a condo for my daughter and her soon to be husband. The marriage didn't last for a few good reasons but that's not what this story is about. They were buying unit one of a 4 unit condo. The complex was horseshoe shaped with a detached row of garages in the middle of the horseshoe. The seller was home. As I walked around the back by the gas meters, I could smell a strong natural gas smell at the meters. I … (8 comments)
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watseka home inspection: Not a Bozo Bucket For Sure
- 03/23/23 08:21 AM
Not a Bozo Bucket For Sure
About 6-7 years ago, I had an inspection scheulded for a client that was buying his very first flip house. He owned a carpet cleaning business and this property was only $30,000. I remember thinking how many carpets he must have cleaned to save up $30K. Nothing was really out of the ordinary on the roof and exterior. The interior was a different story however. As I was in the basement looking at a section of about five 2x8 floor joists, I saw there were termite tunnels and what looked like squishy wood. There … (16 comments)
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watseka home inspection: If I Could Live Anywhere...
- 02/28/23 08:04 AM
If I could live anywhere, I have to think I may just end up where I am at this very moment. I know there are zillions of other locations around the world and for sure around the country that are more beautiful, have more amazingly intense sunsets, more green cool forests and maybe even a better quality of life. But, and this is a really big but, it's not where I call home. I've been living in the Kankakee, IL area ever since my family moved here from a small town in central Illinois in 1970. At the time … (13 comments)
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watseka home inspection: My Top Blog post Ever ever ever
- 10/23/22 07:36 AM
My top blog post ever ever ever. Several years ago the monthly challenge contest was called the AR Pay it Forward Challenge. This was my entry.
PROJECT RE:CYCLE BLOG POST
I like to enter the challenges every month if I can, and when I saw this one, I knew exactly what I would write about. I've been in Activerain for maybe 10 years now, and really try and read as many blogs as possible. I don't always comment on each and every one that I end up reading, and I'm sure I miss a whole bunch of them … (12 comments)
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watseka home inspection: 21 Questions Challenge Accepted
- 08/28/22 08:24 AM
Questions
1. We all go on vacation to get away from it all and have a great time, but I want to know, what vacation day was your worst? My wife Mary and I got married in October 1981. Went to Mexico with plans to stop in Dallas for a few days to visit her Aunt Erika and Uncle Imants. 2 days after arriving in Dallas my wife got really sick. I was fine until.... I was with Imants at the Kennedy Memorial and that's when it hit me. We spent the next 5 days in bed violently ill and had to … (9 comments)
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watseka home inspection: Bourbonnais Scarecrow Festival is a Howling Hit
- 10/28/21 12:35 PM
The annual Bourbonnais Township Scarecrow festival is always a huge success.
Starting the first week of October, local businesses, charities or individuals can enter the contest for a chance to win prizes and promote their businesses or group.
The contest winners are determined by the appointed judges and also by the coveted peoples choice voters. The transformation from a simple plastic fence on Kennedy Drive into a 2 block display of Halloween fall displays and scarecrows is almost overnight. Lots of hard work and creative designs are displayed that must have taken weeks to work on just … (8 comments)
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watseka home inspection: We have Two Wright Homes in our Town
- 10/28/21 11:54 AM
We have two Frank Lloyd Wright homes in our town. Kankakee, Il.
Frank Lloyd Wright (FLW) is famous the world over and his homes are known for some of the coolest, most innovative and striking design ideas ever built. Kankakee, IL is proud to have two Wright homes. Next door to each other too. One of them is privately owned and there are not a whole lot of people that have visited that home as long as I can remember. But the B. Harley Bradley home is a very different story. It's long history has several inspiring chapters, … (3 comments)
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watseka home inspection: Things I wish I knew
- 09/26/21 09:00 AM
Things I wish I knew- As I have gotten older, I realize there are so many things I just don't know anything about. I wish I did, but either I never took the time or didn't realize I really wanted to know about that skill or idea or information to learn about it. For instance, I have always wanted to play guitar, I even own an acoustic giutar, but have never picked it up to play one note. I would like to know how to play golf, but learning to play is just a reason to be able to hang out … (9 comments)
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watseka home inspection: Perry Farm is a Winning Visit for the Family
- 04/09/21 08:20 AM
Perry Farm is a winning visit for the family.
Bourbonnais Illinois is the home of the Perry Farm. Today it is listed by the National Park Service of the Dept of the Interior in the National Register of Historic Places. But it wasn't always like that.
In 1835, Thomas Durham moved his wife and family of five daughters and four sons to Bourbonnais Grove,IL, about 60 miles south of Chicago on property on the banks of the Kankakee River. He built a farmhouse and a three bay English barn and a horse barn. Legend is the farmhouse cellar was part of … (7 comments)
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watseka home inspection: Another Story Hard to Believe, or is it?
- 03/07/21 06:25 AM
See if you can guess which one of these things are fake. 1. Buyer shows up wearing bright blue, yellow, red, orange and purple fingernail polish. 2. Buyer has on a woman's diamond engagement ring on his ring finger. 3. A friend shows up and proceeds to pull a box of cards and dice and a clear plastic tube with 2 felt placemats out of his coat. The 2 of them play a game of Magic the Gathering on the kitchen island countertop. 4. The sewer line drains just fine and no water starts bubbling up into the basement through the … (7 comments)
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watseka home inspection: Odd, It Was Easy To Be Thankful This Year
- 11/26/20 07:11 AM
Odd, It was easy to be thankful this year.
I know it sounds crazy but there are so many things to be thankful for as this trying, agonizing, maddening, frustrating, sad, painful, distressing year comes to close.
But as for business and the steady background of the corona virus, the business success far outpaced the virus. We are thankful for so many things, but our list would not be complete without these handful of events.
1. The PPP loan. Somehow we were able to take advantage of the PPP loan and get a much needed assist when the virus … (10 comments)
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watseka home inspection: What are we Doing to Stay Safe?
- 03/20/20 05:19 AM
What are we doing to stay safe?
Our priority at this time is the safety of our inspection team, their families, their relatives, their neighbors, their friends, our clients, our realtor partners, and all of their families, friends, neighbors, relatives. Basically, everyone that could possible be infected with the COVID-19 virus. With that in mind, we have instituted these rules for all inspections until we pass through this crisis.
We are requesting that only one person attend for the buyers, and best case is no one attends the inspection. We will call them in the evening after the report is sent to go … (7 comments)
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watseka home inspection: Time Can be Your Best Friend, or NOT
- 02/24/20 08:35 AM
Time can be your best friend, or NOT.
Several years ago I wrote this blog post (https://activerain.com/blogsview/4620028/think-of-all-the-things-i-can-get-done-now-) about time being spent on things that weren't helping my business move forward. There were numerous time wasters that I would catch myself doing from time to time, and even sometimes knowing I had other things to do, would still waste a few minutes here and there going back to the time wasters. I suppose just knowing there is an issue with wasting time is the first step. "Hello, my name is Scott and I'm a time waster." I should have added, … (16 comments)
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watseka home inspection: Water is Not Your Friend, Inside the Home
- 12/29/19 05:34 AM
I've said it before...Water always wins and is not your friend inside your home.
This sump pump discharge jumped out at me the minute I saw it at my Bourbonnais Illinois Home inspection.
Matted down grass. Moss growing on the wall. Large opening where the pipe exits the wall. It took every ounce of willpower to not run inside the house and look at the interior wall, joists and plywood. The house next door had an elbow directing the water down into the drain pipe away from the house.
This house was a bit different. When the pump turned on, the … (5 comments)
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watseka home inspection: Test Burn for the Fire Department??
- 12/02/19 04:42 PM
Test burn for the fire department? One of the first inspections I ever did was about 10 years ago. A woman in a very small town south of my home called to tell me the village wanted to condemn her home she was trying to sell. It was vacant but she had a potential buyer, and he would be there to walk around during the inspection with me. She wanted to prove to the village the home should not be condemned. The first thing I noticed when I pulled up to the house was there were no … (12 comments)
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watseka home inspection: Don't Wait Until the Snow Flies
- 12/01/19 08:59 AM
Did you remember to tuneup your furnace? Winter has been pretty rough in Bourbonnais, Illinois so far this year. There are a few things that are worse than a furnace acting up in the middle of the winter, but for the life of me I can't think of any right now. Your furnace needs an annual checkup and if you put it off until now, you're asking for trouble. Waiting until the snow flies means you waited about 3 months too long. Now if you're depending on something like this old furnace to keep you warm through the winter, then you might want to invest in a … (5 comments)
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watseka home inspection: I Guess 8 Was Enough
- 11/19/19 12:17 PM
I guess 8 was enough. I have always been thankful to have been from a big family. I am the oldest child in our family. I always wondered why my parents had this idea that they wanted to have 8 kids. None of us have ever had the thought about why other families we know only having one or two or a couple more children. We were always the big giant Seaton family. We always had to travel around with a station wagon, or a Volkswagon van. The oddest part of the whole thing is that both of our parents … (8 comments)
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watseka home inspection: In My Past Life I.....
- 10/26/19 05:27 AM
In my past life I learned early on many the rights and wrongs of a home. I learned to have an eye for details. My Dad is an architect, so I was always wanting to be an architect. There was just one problem, I was not really good at math, or algebra. I worked at my dad's office as the copy machine boy for a few years putting spec books together and making blueprints. I remember taking off in the station wagon really early on Sunday mornings with my dad and we would just drive around town looking at … (9 comments)
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watseka home inspection: I Think This Home Inspection Thing Might Work Out
- 02/28/19 08:26 PM
I Think This Home Inspection Thing Might Work Out. I used to have a very steady and enjoyable job before I was a home inspector. I worked for Georgia Pacific Corporation which became Bluelinx. Most people thinks that's a railroad. It's not, it's a building materials distributor. I sold building materials to contractor lumber yards in Illinois and Indiana. Blulinx gave their outside salesmen every tool needed to be successful. In 2001 I was asked to join a group that serviced Home Depot stores. It was a new challenge and one I accepted. Late in 2006 there were rumors that the … (8 comments)
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Why Us You May Ask?
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