Yesterday was a beautiful day in Cambridge. The streets were warm with people walking leisurely through the morning air on the brick walkways that criss-cross throughout the neighborhoods. Harvard Street is equidistant between Harvard Square and Central Square. The streets are tree lined and yesterday the stately Colonials were festooned with American Flags. This is a very sweet neighborhood and we were in town to do an inspection.
An inspection of a home before you go to the P&S is a wonderful time to see and understand the inner workings of the house you are planning to buy. An inspector will be systematic, and I mean that literally. They will check all of the systems in the house, the electric, the plumbing, the heating, the hot water, the A/C-if there is one, the windows, the doors, the trapdoors-if there are any. Yesterday there actually was a trap door in this old colonial reconverted carriage house. Your mind can imagine the trap door is there because it was a way for the slaves to be moved along the Freedom Trail that webs it's way through colonial Cambridge. It could be a simple as they needed a second way to get to the heater. Actually the simplest answer is usually the right reason, but the story is fun.
Inspections always show you the underside of the house. The things that don't work, the things that were or are damaged this is the hard part to get all at once in a short inspection. It is a lot to take in and that is why the written report with pictures is always the best resource to review after you have left the inspection. Personally I prefer to work with inspectors who use a computer program to generate detailed reports and provide images of the items being discussed in the report. This is measurably better than the inspectors who use paper reports with a Satisfactory, Not Satisfactory, Unsatisfactory rating system. I think clients prefer detailed reports that make sense in narrative form rather then ratings form that has no explanation.
Appraisers are another breed. They prove value of the home when everyone else uses the seat of their pants or some arbitrary way using one of the 17-20 ways to value a home. Price per Square Footage, Comparative Values with like properties, neighborhood ratings, educational or financial ratings for the neighborhood or town and on and on. 
Appraisers factor in all of these methods to be able to prove a value in relation to the recent activity and in that time and place. Since Value for a home is only determined by the price some one will pay, the appraisers value has some lee-way, but far less than your agents guess unless they are trained as appraisers.
It was Memorial Day and everyone was excited to be deciding this house would become my clients home. Taking on the responsibility of the upkeep of a home can be so exciting with opportunity and life change. It is a wonderful emotion to watch on a new buyer. I know this to be true whether the buyer is first time or many times, the inspection of the home is a high energy day of opportunity and challenge. As I walked out of that inspection with my buyer client feeling very good, I felt as though an inspection, even on a holiday, is not such a bad way to spend part of the day. The service we provide brings value to the house, the home, the community and most importantly your client.
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