The New “New Home”

This has become a very sensitive subject and my intention is to alert the general public, not to point fingers at or affend anyone.  The issue stems from the financial and foreclosure trends we have seen over the past couple of years.  There are a lot of builders that have gone out of business and left new homes standing that are now on the banks books and need to be sold. 

Let’s start with the obvious, banks are in the business of lending money, not building homes.  With that said, there is a certain course of action for a new home to be built and ultimately become marketable or safe for occupancy.  There are phase inspections on the construction that are to be conducted by the local municipality to ultimately earn the home what is called a Certificate of Occupancy, or a C.O.  This certifies that all minimum building code requirements have been met and all inspections have been completed.  More and more our Atlanta Home Inspection  company is inding this not to be the case.  Homes are getting their C.O. but a lot of minimum requirements are not being met.  Here are a few:

Missing Outlet Cover

Above is a photo of a missing outlet cover over a receptacle in a cabinet.  While, in theory, this is a minor issue there could be significant ramifications as a result.  Imagine shoving a metal handle pot up into this kitchen cabinet.  Yikes!

Window installed over a tub.

 These windows are required to be tempered safety glass and are not.  This is a very simply deficiency to point out that should have been addressed prior to issuing a C.O.  The issue is that the tub surface can be a slip hazard and if your hand or body part were to break the glass, it would break into large shards as opposed to small pieces if it were tempered as required. 

 

 

 

 

 

Now let’s address some of the more significant items we have seen recently. 

Missing draft stop around water heater flue pipe.

The photo on the left is an example that the draft stop was never completed on this home.  This is a big issue as the intention is to slow down the spread of fire from floor to floor in an effort to give the occupants more time to get out of the property.

No clearance for servicing furnace

There was no room to service this air handler that was installed in the attic.  There was probably 8 inches to the left side of this appliance and that was not even enough room to fit a body in front of it for servicing let alone room enough to work on the appliance in the event repairs were needed. 

The list goes on and on for this particular property but it is not alone.  There have been many properties over the last several months that our Atlanta Home Inspectors have performed evaluations on that have us really scratching our head.  We understand that things can get missed during the construction process or even some minor things fly under the radar during the permitting process but there are some very substantial issues we have uncovered on new construction homes.  The concern is that these homes are getting their C.O. and should not be. 

This also presents a new problem for our Atlanta Home Inspectors.  We are only doing a visual inspection!  That means we know there are going to be items in this home that were not done correctly and there is no way that, during a routine visual home inspection, they will be uncovered.  We make this very clear to the buyer at the time of our inspection.  How would you feel if you were a buyer and your inspector told you “Here are the deficiencies that I found.  Based on these findings it is evident that the proper procedures were not followed throughout the course of construction and there WILL be defects that come up down the road that we were not able to discover today”?   

How Many Home Inspectors Does It Take To Change A Light Bulb?

During a home inspection it is more the norm than the exception to find blown bulbs in a property.  I would say that about 50% of the homes we inspect have either lights that don’t work or blown light bulbs.  It has long been a practice for us to note this in the report as a deficiency that the lights are not working.  This may be the result of blown bulbs but we don’t know and recommend the purchaser ensure they are functional prior to closing.  We do not change light bulbs during the course of a routine home inspection. 

Sometimes this upsets folks as they see we have ladders with us and the obvious technical ability to perform such an easy task, right?  Not really the case and there are several reasons for this.  Our inspectors are sometimes doing 3 inspections per day and that comes out to about 500 per year.   Now imagine changing bulbs in 50% of those inspections, and more often than not, multiple bulbs in a house.  It really adds up.  Another issue is the repair factor.  We really aren’t supposed to be dismantling, disassembling or repairing during an inspection.  How many times have you seen a bulb break off in a fixture?  This is simply a liability that we cannot take on.  While I understand that it may be frustrating to some that we just point out that a light bulb is probably blown, we cannot take the responsibility of changing bulbs or taking light fixtures apart to make sure the lights are functioning.  I’d be interested in hearing other opinions or suggestions that might work to alleviate such concerns.

Georgia Home Inspectors Doing Reinspections

As home inspectors in Atlanta often we are asked to come back out to a house that we had previously inspected to check the repairs that have been done.  This is a situation where some issues were discovered during our initial home inspection and buyer has asked the seller to complete certain repairs.  Upon completion of repairs they want us to come back out and review only those items which have been repaired.  Pretty straight forward right?  Wrong.

This is kind of an albatross in our industry for several reasons.  The first caveat is what do we charge?  Clients often expect this service to come for free as part of our initial inspection.  This is still a scheduled appointment and even though the inspection may be limited our time is still occupied and we aren’t able to be out doing other work to generate income.  The second issue and, in my opinion the biggest, is the liability perspective.  Here’s a great example:  our initial inspection uncovers a leaking drain line in a bathroom sink.  The purchasers ask the sellers to repair and then they have their inspector back to review the work.  The drain line looks fine, but the drain line in the other bathroom is gone now because they used it to repair the leaking one……..True Story.  During a reinspection, we don’t go back through the whole house and that puts us at a disadvantage as inspectors. 

The Third problem which is pretty much a given on every home reinspection, is the issue that we are at the house on Thursday at 6 p.m. to do the reinspection prior to the closing scheduled for Friday at 8 a.m.  The repairs are incomplete and/or done incorrectly.  At this point, we have the selling agent, the buyer, and the seller upset with US  for pointing out that the repairs were not done correctly or not done at all.  Not fun for any of us. 

In order for us to do a reinspection on a home, we require the following information.  Receipts from a LICENSED contractor for the work being done; an itemized list of what repairs we are there to specifically inspect; a document that outlines what the warranty period will be for the work being performed.   It is my opinion, that if all of these items have been secured then the buyer’s money may be better spent elsewhere.

Continuing Education for Georgia Realtors

We had a fantastic continuing education class yesterday!  Northwest Exterminating was generous enough to come out with us and do an awesome cookout.  We had dogs and burgers with all the fixin’s.  The folks at Northwest have been great to work with and are huge supporters of the real estate community.  Henry Zuver from Keller Williams Decatur opened up a nice listing of his to let us go through the house and teach agents about the inspection process.  He also got quite a bit of traffic and hopefully will have an agent that can bring an interested buyer. 

The purpose of the class was to give agents an opportunity to see what we, as inspectors, look for during the inspection process.  We had three of our inspectors at the house and pointed out what some of the common issues we come across might be as well as why they are important.  We also went though the ASHI Standards of Practice to give the agents an idea of what our requirements are.     

There has recently been some confusion as to whether or not this could violate the RESPA guidelines.  In my opinion, offering a continuing education course is not a cost we are absorbing that would otherwise be incurred by a real estate agent.  To offer a course costs us nothing.  The objective is to demonstrate how knowledgeable we area and in hopes, a real estate agent might feel comfortable passing our name along to those in need of home inspection services.

Can Home Inspections Include Cost Estimates?

More and more we are inspecting homes that are in foreclosure and consistently in disrepair.  There are issues with appliances and equipment in the home missing from vandalism or theft.  There are often significant repairs that are going to be required.  Our job, as inspectors, is to point out these deficiencies and offer a potential solution for the problem.  Often you may see a statement such as this on our inspection report “AC condensing unit has been damaged from vandalism and a qualified HVAC contractor will need to be consulted to estimate cost of repairs”. 

We have learned that such a statement leaves the purchaser as well as the real estate professional involved scrambling for estimates to determine if they would like to go through with the transaction.  Although it is in our scope of work to only point out deficiencies, this seems like we are doing the client a disservice and giving them more work than they had when they hired us. 

We are committed to provide excellent service with every home inspection, every time.  After extensive training and research our inspectors are now going to provide cost estimates with every inspection.  We will include this service at no additional cost to our loyal customers.   The objective is to give a home buyer an idea of what they may be looking at in terms of repair costs and help decipher between a major and minor item.   

We believe this addition to our service will be an incredible value to all of our customers.  Even in the traditional resale, we hope to give buyers an idea of what repair costs will be.  We also think this is an excellent tool to use for budgeting purposes.  For example, the water heater in the home may be functional but existing beyond its average life span.  We let the buyer know they should budget for repair and give them a general idea of what they should expect in terms of cost.

Some will argue that we are opening ourselves up for additional liablility.  While I do not disagree, I believe that the biggest way to limit our liability is to provide the best possible service we can.  We will continue to put our customers first and take excellent care of our referral sources.

Sharing in the inspection industry

Do you have a mastermind group?  A mastermind group or roundtable might be a valuable resource you are missing out on.  These groups are typically used for sharing information.  Sometimes they can be support groups or even a social group to vent about your industry.  I am part of a mastermind group.  This is a group of business owners from all over North America.  The purpose of the group is sharing.  We talk about how the home inspection business is in Atlanta versus other parts of the country as well as areas north of the border.   Given the current condition of the Georgia real estate market it is interesting to see how other parts of the country are faring.  More importantly, we get to learn what other folks are doing in their markets to overcome troubling times.

The Nature of People

One of our Georgia Home inspectors performed a home inspection recently on a property in Atlanta, Georgia.  The seller obviously did not agree with our findings and decided to get a second opinion regarding from what appeared to be another Georgia home inspector.  While I do not disagree with the seller’s decision, I was shocked at the response that was given to the home owner by the inspector they chose.  I have posted some statements from the letter and won’t bore you with the entire document.  Please feel free to comment, share your thoughts, agree, disagree.  I don’t know all of the background but with the current climate of the Atlanta Georgia real estate market I was very surprised at the tone of this person.  Furthermore, it was disheartening for me to see someone not only suggesting but almost demanding that our Georgia Home Inspection Company not recommended for future services.  As hard as we are all trying these days to keep our schedules full, this was very inappropriate in my opinion. 

The fact is this is an old house.  It is not the best looking and never will be.  It will always be less than perfect.  Any buyers need to understand that if they want a new house, they should buy one!!  I really don’t understand this mentality.  Should we make it a criteria that no one over the age of 65 be able to visit a doctor? 

The whole house appears to have rewired.  The dead outlet was excluded from this process probably because it is in a location where an outlet is not likely to be needed.   There was a receptacle in the home that was not working and this was the insepctor’s response.    

 

 

 

I would suggest to the buyer’s agent that he/she will lose many deals over time using an inspector that cannot discern symptoms from problems and always suggests the most expensive possible repair.  Looking out for your buyer and looking out for your own derriere is not the same thing. 

 

 

 

In a less than perfect home, to ask for perfect solutions is to kill your own deal.     

 

These are excerpts from his closing para. 

 

I typically pride myself on being pretty thick skinned and very rational in most instances.  I suppose you would have to read the whole letter to understand the animosity but above is a good example.  What do you think?  Am I too sensitive? 

 

Home Energy Audits

Have you ever opened your electric bill and felt a shock?  With today’s economy and prices everyone is looking to save money any where they can.  Many people want to lower their utility bills but just don’t know where to start.  The best course of action is to get a home energy audit from an unbiased company.  A home energy audit from Home Probe, Inc. will examine the house and it’s systems to identify areas of inefficiency and possible fixes.  You will be provided with a report detailing what could be done to improve the energy efficiency of your home along with ballpark prices.  The pricing makes it easy to determine which fixes would pay for themselves in the shortest amount of time.   As an added bonus you would be doing something great for the environment!  Check out this video for more details.

Take a Kid Fishing

The current climate of today’s real estate market has us all working twice as hard for half the money we are accustomed to even in our Georgia Home Inspection business. This is not necessarily a bad thing as a lot of us are learning a very valuable lesson. This is also cleaning up the industry as a whole. Most of us have been working non stop over the past 12 months or so, myself included, just to make sure we scratch up every bit of business we can. Our Atlanta home inspectors are doing everything they can to stay busy.

Well, yesterday I decided to take some time off to spend with my son. I mean real time off as in no email access and no cell phone. We went fishing for a few hours and that few hours will probably last a lifetime for both of us. For those of you feeling the pinch of today’s market, whether it be a Georgia Home Inspector or a Georgia Realtor or anyone involved in Georgia Real Estate, please take some time off. It is my personal opinion that we should all take at least a little time to reflect on what is important to us.

For more information on public you can visit the Department of Natural Resources at www.georgiawildlife.dnr.state.ga.us

Foreclosures In Atlanta

Our inspectors have been seeing more and more vacant foreclosures pop up in their schedules lately. You would be surprised to see the condition of many of these neglected properties! Due to vandalism and theft these homes are being stripped of all their plumbing, wiring, and other mechanical parts.

In addition, many of them are being lived in by homeless people who are setting up camp.

The inspectors often see evidence of drug use and other shady activities.