Extra Purrks for the New Homeowner

Inspections often go awry within the first few minutes.  Agents sometimes throw a curve, clients frequently do and the house is always unpredictable.

Yesterday I had the pleasure of doing an older Cape Cod that was listed as vacant.  The weather that we have had out here has been challenging (a couple feet of snow still on the ground in a couple of spots where I post-holed through and had to lunge my way out).

My client wasn't attending - he - or rather his wife - was off having a baby, so I was on my own.  I walked into the house and set up my gear, pocketed a few tools and proceeded to do a quick tour of the house.  First stop the basement.

Turned out to be my last stop for a while.  When I clicked the lights on for the basement (it had a combination basement and crawlspace), the cat started yowling.

Cat. Vacant house. No good.  Call Realtor.  Not available.  Wonderful.

Task #1 - Do not let the cat into the house.

Task #2 - Figure out how it got in.

I shut off all the doors to the upstairs and worked on Task #2 and discovered that the crawlspace and the basement were linked.  Meanwhile, the cat yowled.  It couldn't have been here long since it was downright chubby.

I found the interior access for the crawlspace by the stairs and ducked underneath to take a look.  Easy access to the basement right at the floor joists.  And the second cat.  Well fed but quieter.  First cat is still yowling.

How did they get in?  Through the open door under the deck.  I didn't close the door because I didn't want to trap the cats in the house. - the crawlspace already had an odor like a litterbox and I didn't want that getting worse.

So I finish the crawlspace and foundation - might as well, I'm already in there and go upstairs to the kitchen to type up my notes.  Done with that, I start on the ground floor and discover, by the exterior door to the mudroom, a bag of catfood.  Immediately outside the door, two chubby cats last seen in dimmer surroundings and an empty food bowl.

I'm a soft touch.  My wife knows it, my kids know it, even the dog knows it.  I feed the cats.

And I change the report to read:  "Cats observed in the crawlspace during the inspection.  These appear to resident to the home and are being feed on a regular basis here."

In the email to my client, I suggested double checking the disclosures and talking to his agent.  The house was coming with a few additional purrks.