Thee most valuable home inspection in Orlando-Central Florida.

All full home inspections include an interior and electrical panel infrared scan by a Certified Thermographer, a free mold assessment, a free safety recall check and a free Threshold Inspection for Chinese drywall.

Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Mold, Orlando, Fl Home Inspection, leak, leaks, water intrustion

 The Most Valuable Home Inspection in Central Florida. No one does what we do, we include in our inspections a free mold assessment, free safety recall checks on all major appliances, and a customized report right on site. 

 

Why would you waste money on a home inspection?

For the same reason you do a title search.  For the same reason you hire a professional realtor or attorney or the same reason you purchase insurance.  Duhhhh.

Those words and thoughts deserved their own paragraph.  A written explanation should not be necessary amongst this audience.  Not considering the on-line and paper research you do (I’ll leave that to those smarter and more experienced than I) how much time do you spend analyzing a potential investment property from the sticks and bricks location itself?  There are always exceptions, so applying the probable and most common set of circumstances, would you say half and hour?  An hour maybe?  An hour and a half?  That’s a lot of time wondering around counting how many toilets you’ll need to procure, how much carpet you’re going to need or deciding on what kind of landscaping will project a comfortable and happy sub-conscious image.  Pretty fair guess though isn’t it?  After all this you pretty much know what you’re going to do and how much this rehab is going to cost.  The more experience you have, the closer to the “right” number you’re presumably going to be.  Those of us with less experience might get pretty close but hey, you’ve thrown in a few hundred or couple thousand bucks for TIFs (things I forgot).  Now you’re set.  You do the rehab and you’re all fired up.  One of four likely scenarios…1 You do everything right, your buyer/tenant/insurance company loves the house and the deal goes down like Tebow from the three.   Scenario 2, During the rehab you discover that your insurance company was only kidding and they will not cover a series of known defective products in your house and the ultimatum is to get rid of it, rewire it, replumb it, reroof it, rewhatever it or they’ll get rid of you.  This whole investment thing is a little more risky than you thought.   Scenario 3, You find stuff you didn’t discover during your walk through and estimating escapades.  So, you adjust and pay a little or lot more than you originally bargained for in your estimate.  You replace, rewire, replumb, reroof, rewhatever.  Scenario 4 You complete the rehab and your buyer brings in some schmoe like me that has been doing professional home inspections since 1998 and who spends 5 hours fine toothing your DaVinci work of art.  I do my job and inform my client (your buyer) of all the skeletons in the attic, the snakes in the electrical panels, the disgusting schtuff on the evaporator coils and other liability land mines.  Bonus scenario 5, You engaged the services of a professional home inspector when you bought the house, drastically reduced your liability and managed your risk like a pro.  You’ve budgeted for a new fridge with a failed condenser fan, repaired the over fused circuits, upgraded some pool and electrical liabilities.  You’re ready to roll.  Your buyer/renter has little to negotiate a lower offer with you because you were prepared.  Did I mention that on the front end, you revealed these things to the bank/seller/BPO agent and negotiated a better deal before you ever closed?  Now, you da man or wo-man!  Just imagine that you made a deal with your spouse that with the money you saved or made that you were going out to dinner and a movie or going on a vacation or buying that “get a man” dress!  Yes, you are, da man or wo-man! 

I would also throw in the obligatory Michael Gerber/Ray Kroc make it a system you “sexy in that dress” entrepreneur!   Everything your business does should be a system.  If you are a home pro, how will the business survive and thrive without YOU in it?  Your staff/contractors/wife/husband/kids should be able to do most of what you do without you, otherwise all you have is another job.  Your job should be the entrepreneur duties only.  Do you think Lou Brown, Ron LeGrand or Donald Trump do their own inspections?  Do you think Lou Brown, Ron LeGrand or Donald Trump use liability issues and professional inspections to their advantage?  So shouldn’t farming out the bricks and mortar recon be part of your system?

 

 
If a professional inspection is part of your business, should you attend?  Our company recommends that you attend the inspection for several reasons.  One is that you get educated in the process thus becoming more valuable to your business and better prepared to evaluate similar situations in the future.  The inspector is human and can overlook things, so the more eyes the better!  If the home inspector and termite inspector are two different people, the client now has two trained people in the attic and/or crawl space.  If you’re an advanced investor, attendance may not be necessary.  You should be spending your time on creating more business.  Send your assistant if you can though for all the reasons mentioned above.  
 
One incredible way to kick start this business is to attend the CFRI bus trip.  The Junkers to Jewels is an amazing weekend that is worth far more than you’ll spend and it’s coming up soon!
 

Thanks for your questions and commentaries!  Jon can be reached at 407.678.HOME or at jon@inspectagator.com with other ideas.  If we all stick together, nobody gets burned!

 



OrlandoFl Home Inspection Orlando Home Inspector Orlando Mold

 
 Before you choose a home inspector, here’s some questions to ask and a convenient rate card.

Since home inspection is a relatively small cost start up business, there tends to be a lot of "HGTV Cowboys" so it is critical that you find a professional or it’s a waste of your time and money.  You will find persons on many different levels of competence, with varying experience, different price ranges and dissimilar tool boxes. 

1. What is his/her background and experience?  Were they cleaning carpets or fitting you for shoes last week?

2.  What certifications do they hold?  One trade association requires a 20 question test and a fee of $35.00 to become “Certified”.  Another large association has questions like “Circle the correct spelling of the word receptacle” with 4 choices on their test.  The American Society of Home Inspectors (ASHI) is the oldest and most respected association with highest technical standard in the industry nation wide.  The Florida Association of Building Inspectors (FABI) is similar but state based.  A Standards of Practice, Code of Ethics, Continuing Education requirements and candidate/member list can be found at www.ashi.org or www.fabi.org.   

3. Do they have any state or code authority certifications? Previous contractor experience is a real plus if they are inspecting new construction.  The International Code Council (ICC) issues certifications like Building/Electrical/Mechanical/Plumbing Inspector, etc.


4. How long have they been performing home inspections in Florida?  Issues in Florida can be unique. A home inspector with experience up north may know boilers and ice damming, but may not know about synthetic stucco (EIFS), heat pumps or mold.

5. How many inspections have they performed?  This is a trick question.  Someone who has done 4000 inspections but has only been in business for 4 years means they are doing 4 inspections per day.  In other words, you are getting a one hour inspection. 

6. What kind of tools do they have?  A good inspector will have a lot of tools that help form an educated and reliable opinion not just a guess. It also shows commitment to the profession.

7. What type of report format do they use?  If you are from out of the area and the inspector uses multi-part carbonless forms that can’t be emailed, there may be an issue.  There are multiple report programs that anyone can click and check.  How custom is your report going to be?  Will you receive a digital copy for future reference?

8. When will you receive the report?  If your closing is quick, you may not be able to wait a day or two or three or... 

 9. Do they have a written service agreement outlining their scope of work? Never enter into an agreement to have something as expensive as a house inspected without having a written contract specifying who's responsible for what.

10. Do they perform repair work on houses they inspect? This would be an obvious conflict of interests. Other conflicts include paying or accepting commissions for inspection work, collusion with third parties, etc.

11. Are they familiar with historically defective building products and building practices?  Do they know about FPE, Zinsco, LP,GP, Masonite, polybutelene, EIFS, aluminum wiring, lead based paint, Chinese drywall, etc?  Often, inspectors dependent upon check lists fail to include or mention these.

12.  Are they familiar with building science?  In Florida, a good working knowledge of building science is critical.  Problems can often be detected before they become problems if the inspector understands building science.

13. Does their price reflect the complexity of the inspection? You will no doubt discover a wide difference in price between home inspection companies. Why is this? Two reasons - complexity of the inspection and qualifications of the inspector. Old, large houses with crawlspaces, pools and problems, cost more than small new homes on slab foundations. Also, when talking quality, you get what you pay for. A brain surgeon with 20 years of experience charges more than an intern. A Mercedes costs more than a Ford. Look at the experience, credentials, time spent at the inspection, individual attention received, the inspection format, and then consider the value of the investment, and the risk. Somewhere there will be a balance. No home inspector will catch 100% of the problems, but some will shed far more light on them than others.

14.  Does the company have business systems in place?  A company with staff, with office administration software, inspection software, contact, distribution and training systems will be in business long after those who schedule their inspections from the attic

 

 

 www.inspectagator.com

 

 



Winter Springs Home Inspection Single Family Homes First Time Buyer

 The Most Valuable Home Inspection in Central Florida. No one does what we do, we include in our inspections a free mold assessment, free safety recall checks on all major appliances, and a customized report right on site. 

 

Why would you waste money on a home inspection?

For the same reason you do a title search.  For the same reason you hire a professional realtor or attorney or the same reason you purchase insurance.  Duhhhh.

Those words and thoughts deserved their own paragraph.  A written explanation should not be necessary amongst this audience.  Not considering the on-line and paper research you do (I’ll leave that to those smarter and more experienced than I) how much time do you spend analyzing a potential investment property from the sticks and bricks location itself?  There are always exceptions, so applying the probable and most common set of circumstances, would you say half and hour?  An hour maybe?  An hour and a half?  That’s a lot of time wondering around counting how many toilets you’ll need to procure, how much carpet you’re going to need or deciding on what kind of landscaping will project a comfortable and happy sub-conscious image.  Pretty fair guess though isn’t it?  After all this you pretty much know what you’re going to do and how much this rehab is going to cost.  The more experience you have, the closer to the “right” number you’re presumably going to be.  Those of us with less experience might get pretty close but hey, you’ve thrown in a few hundred or couple thousand bucks for TIFs (things I forgot).  Now you’re set.  You do the rehab and you’re all fired up.  One of four likely scenarios…1 You do everything right, your buyer/tenant/insurance company loves the house and the deal goes down like Tebow from the three.   Scenario 2, During the rehab you discover that your insurance company was only kidding and they will not cover a series of known defective products in your house and the ultimatum is to get rid of it, rewire it, replumb it, reroof it, rewhatever it or they’ll get rid of you.  This whole investment thing is a little more risky than you thought.   Scenario 3, You find stuff you didn’t discover during your walk through and estimating escapades.  So, you adjust and pay a little or lot more than you originally bargained for in your estimate.  You replace, rewire, replumb, reroof, rewhatever.  Scenario 4 You complete the rehab and your buyer brings in some schmoe like me that has been doing professional home inspections since 1998 and who spends 5 hours fine toothing your DaVinci work of art.  I do my job and inform my client (your buyer) of all the skeletons in the attic, the snakes in the electrical panels, the disgusting schtuff on the evaporator coils and other liability land mines.  Bonus scenario 5, You engaged the services of a professional home inspector when you bought the house, drastically reduced your liability and managed your risk like a pro.  You’ve budgeted for a new fridge with a failed condenser fan, repaired the over fused circuits, upgraded some pool and electrical liabilities.  You’re ready to roll.  Your buyer/renter has little to negotiate a lower offer with you because you were prepared.  Did I mention that on the front end, you revealed these things to the bank/seller/BPO agent and negotiated a better deal before you ever closed?  Now, you da man or wo-man!  Just imagine that you made a deal with your spouse that with the money you saved or made that you were going out to dinner and a movie or going on a vacation or buying that “get a man” dress!  Yes, you are, da man or wo-man! 

I would also throw in the obligatory Michael Gerber/Ray Kroc make it a system you “sexy in that dress” entrepreneur!   Everything your business does should be a system.  If you are a home pro, how will the business survive and thrive without YOU in it?  Your staff/contractors/wife/husband/kids should be able to do most of what you do without you, otherwise all you have is another job.  Your job should be the entrepreneur duties only.  Do you think Lou Brown, Ron LeGrand or Donald Trump do their own inspections?  Do you think Lou Brown, Ron LeGrand or Donald Trump use liability issues and professional inspections to their advantage?  So shouldn’t farming out the bricks and mortar recon be part of your system?

 

 
If a professional inspection is part of your business, should you attend?  Our company recommends that you attend the inspection for several reasons.  One is that you get educated in the process thus becoming more valuable to your business and better prepared to evaluate similar situations in the future.  The inspector is human and can overlook things, so the more eyes the better!  If the home inspector and termite inspector are two different people, the client now has two trained people in the attic and/or crawl space.  If you’re an advanced investor, attendance may not be necessary.  You should be spending your time on creating more business.  Send your assistant if you can though for all the reasons mentioned above.  
 
One incredible way to kick start this business is to attend the CFRI bus trip.  The Junkers to Jewels is an amazing weekend that is worth far more than you’ll spend and it’s coming up soon!
 

Thanks for your questions and commentaries!  Jon can be reached at 407.678.HOME or at jon@inspectagator.com with other ideas.  If we all stick together, nobody gets burned!

 



Longwood Fl Home Inspection Single Family Homes First Time Buyer

 The Most Valuable Home Inspection in Central Florida. No one does what we do, we include in our inspections a free mold assessment, free safety recall checks on all major appliances, and a customized report right on site. 

 

Why would you waste money on a home inspection?

For the same reason you do a title search.  For the same reason you hire a professional realtor or attorney or the same reason you purchase insurance.  Duhhhh.

Those words and thoughts deserved their own paragraph.  A written explanation should not be necessary amongst this audience.  Not considering the on-line and paper research you do (I’ll leave that to those smarter and more experienced than I) how much time do you spend analyzing a potential investment property from the sticks and bricks location itself?  There are always exceptions, so applying the probable and most common set of circumstances, would you say half and hour?  An hour maybe?  An hour and a half?  That’s a lot of time wondering around counting how many toilets you’ll need to procure, how much carpet you’re going to need or deciding on what kind of landscaping will project a comfortable and happy sub-conscious image.  Pretty fair guess though isn’t it?  After all this you pretty much know what you’re going to do and how much this rehab is going to cost.  The more experience you have, the closer to the “right” number you’re presumably going to be.  Those of us with less experience might get pretty close but hey, you’ve thrown in a few hundred or couple thousand bucks for TIFs (things I forgot).  Now you’re set.  You do the rehab and you’re all fired up.  One of four likely scenarios…1 You do everything right, your buyer/tenant/insurance company loves the house and the deal goes down like Tebow from the three.   Scenario 2, During the rehab you discover that your insurance company was only kidding and they will not cover a series of known defective products in your house and the ultimatum is to get rid of it, rewire it, replumb it, reroof it, rewhatever it or they’ll get rid of you.  This whole investment thing is a little more risky than you thought.   Scenario 3, You find stuff you didn’t discover during your walk through and estimating escapades.  So, you adjust and pay a little or lot more than you originally bargained for in your estimate.  You replace, rewire, replumb, reroof, rewhatever.  Scenario 4 You complete the rehab and your buyer brings in some schmoe like me that has been doing professional home inspections since 1998 and who spends 5 hours fine toothing your DaVinci work of art.  I do my job and inform my client (your buyer) of all the skeletons in the attic, the snakes in the electrical panels, the disgusting schtuff on the evaporator coils and other liability land mines.  Bonus scenario 5, You engaged the services of a professional home inspector when you bought the house, drastically reduced your liability and managed your risk like a pro.  You’ve budgeted for a new fridge with a failed condenser fan, repaired the over fused circuits, upgraded some pool and electrical liabilities.  You’re ready to roll.  Your buyer/renter has little to negotiate a lower offer with you because you were prepared.  Did I mention that on the front end, you revealed these things to the bank/seller/BPO agent and negotiated a better deal before you ever closed?  Now, you da man or wo-man!  Just imagine that you made a deal with your spouse that with the money you saved or made that you were going out to dinner and a movie or going on a vacation or buying that “get a man” dress!  Yes, you are, da man or wo-man! 

I would also throw in the obligatory Michael Gerber/Ray Kroc make it a system you “sexy in that dress” entrepreneur!   Everything your business does should be a system.  If you are a home pro, how will the business survive and thrive without YOU in it?  Your staff/contractors/wife/husband/kids should be able to do most of what you do without you, otherwise all you have is another job.  Your job should be the entrepreneur duties only.  Do you think Lou Brown, Ron LeGrand or Donald Trump do their own inspections?  Do you think Lou Brown, Ron LeGrand or Donald Trump use liability issues and professional inspections to their advantage?  So shouldn’t farming out the bricks and mortar recon be part of your system?

 

 
If a professional inspection is part of your business, should you attend?  Our company recommends that you attend the inspection for several reasons.  One is that you get educated in the process thus becoming more valuable to your business and better prepared to evaluate similar situations in the future.  The inspector is human and can overlook things, so the more eyes the better!  If the home inspector and termite inspector are two different people, the client now has two trained people in the attic and/or crawl space.  If you’re an advanced investor, attendance may not be necessary.  You should be spending your time on creating more business.  Send your assistant if you can though for all the reasons mentioned above.  
 
One incredible way to kick start this business is to attend the CFRI bus trip.  The Junkers to Jewels is an amazing weekend that is worth far more than you’ll spend and it’s coming up soon!
 

Thanks for your questions and commentaries!  Jon can be reached at 407.678.HOME or at jon@inspectagator.com with other ideas.  If we all stick together, nobody gets burned!

 



Friday, August 27, 2010

Orlando Fl Home Inspection Single Family Homes First Time Buyer

 The Most Valuable Home Inspection in Central Florida. No one does what we do, we include in our inspections a free mold assessment, free safety recall checks on all major appliances, and a customized report right on site. 

 

Why would you waste money on a home inspection?

For the same reason you do a title search.  For the same reason you hire a professional realtor or attorney or the same reason you purchase insurance.  Duhhhh.

Those words and thoughts deserved their own paragraph.  A written explanation should not be necessary amongst this audience.  Not considering the on-line and paper research you do (I’ll leave that to those smarter and more experienced than I) how much time do you spend analyzing a potential investment property from the sticks and bricks location itself?  There are always exceptions, so applying the probable and most common set of circumstances, would you say half and hour?  An hour maybe?  An hour and a half?  That’s a lot of time wondering around counting how many toilets you’ll need to procure, how much carpet you’re going to need or deciding on what kind of landscaping will project a comfortable and happy sub-conscious image.  Pretty fair guess though isn’t it?  After all this you pretty much know what you’re going to do and how much this rehab is going to cost.  The more experience you have, the closer to the “right” number you’re presumably going to be.  Those of us with less experience might get pretty close but hey, you’ve thrown in a few hundred or couple thousand bucks for TIFs (things I forgot).  Now you’re set.  You do the rehab and you’re all fired up.  One of four likely scenarios…1 You do everything right, your buyer/tenant/insurance company loves the house and the deal goes down like Tebow from the three.   Scenario 2, During the rehab you discover that your insurance company was only kidding and they will not cover a series of known defective products in your house and the ultimatum is to get rid of it, rewire it, replumb it, reroof it, rewhatever it or they’ll get rid of you.  This whole investment thing is a little more risky than you thought.   Scenario 3, You find stuff you didn’t discover during your walk through and estimating escapades.  So, you adjust and pay a little or lot more than you originally bargained for in your estimate.  You replace, rewire, replumb, reroof, rewhatever.  Scenario 4 You complete the rehab and your buyer brings in some schmoe like me that has been doing professional home inspections since 1998 and who spends 5 hours fine toothing your DaVinci work of art.  I do my job and inform my client (your buyer) of all the skeletons in the attic, the snakes in the electrical panels, the disgusting schtuff on the evaporator coils and other liability land mines.  Bonus scenario 5, You engaged the services of a professional home inspector when you bought the house, drastically reduced your liability and managed your risk like a pro.  You’ve budgeted for a new fridge with a failed condenser fan, repaired the over fused circuits, upgraded some pool and electrical liabilities.  You’re ready to roll.  Your buyer/renter has little to negotiate a lower offer with you because you were prepared.  Did I mention that on the front end, you revealed these things to the bank/seller/BPO agent and negotiated a better deal before you ever closed?  Now, you da man or wo-man!  Just imagine that you made a deal with your spouse that with the money you saved or made that you were going out to dinner and a movie or going on a vacation or buying that “get a man” dress!  Yes, you are, da man or wo-man! 

I would also throw in the obligatory Michael Gerber/Ray Kroc make it a system you “sexy in that dress” entrepreneur!   Everything your business does should be a system.  If you are a home pro, how will the business survive and thrive without YOU in it?  Your staff/contractors/wife/husband/kids should be able to do most of what you do without you, otherwise all you have is another job.  Your job should be the entrepreneur duties only.  Do you think Lou Brown, Ron LeGrand or Donald Trump do their own inspections?  Do you think Lou Brown, Ron LeGrand or Donald Trump use liability issues and professional inspections to their advantage?  So shouldn’t farming out the bricks and mortar recon be part of your system?

 

 
If a professional inspection is part of your business, should you attend?  Our company recommends that you attend the inspection for several reasons.  One is that you get educated in the process thus becoming more valuable to your business and better prepared to evaluate similar situations in the future.  The inspector is human and can overlook things, so the more eyes the better!  If the home inspector and termite inspector are two different people, the client now has two trained people in the attic and/or crawl space.  If you’re an advanced investor, attendance may not be necessary.  You should be spending your time on creating more business.  Send your assistant if you can though for all the reasons mentioned above.  
 
One incredible way to kick start this business is to attend the CFRI bus trip.  The Junkers to Jewels is an amazing weekend that is worth far more than you’ll spend and it’s coming up soon!
 

Thanks for your questions and commentaries!  Jon can be reached at 407.678.HOME or at jon@inspectagator.com with other ideas.  If we all stick together, nobody gets burned!

 



Monday, August 9, 2010

California Funny Frightening Real Estate Stories

 Read and be amazed at the stories from all across the country about the most crazy or the most frustrating Real Estate stories. 

This is the First Edition of the most Funny & Frightening stories from the Real Estate Industry.

Send us your story and pictures that relate. When you register you will receive the information on where to send your story.

 

 

  • This book will feature hysterical pictures that will crack you up!.
  • You won't believe the crazy and frustrating stories we found.
  • Are you a Realtor, Investor or Inspector?? Well then we want to hear from you and you just might be in the book.
  • And much more!

Visit us at www.funnyandfrighteningrealestatestories.com or call 206-600-0915 if you don't feel like typing.

 



Thursday, August 5, 2010

Orlando Funny Frightening Real Estate Stories

 Read and be amazed at the stories from all across the country about the most crazy or the most frustrating Real Estate stories. 

This is the First Edition of the most Funny & Frightening stories from the Real Estate Industry.

Send us your story and pictures that relate. When you register you will receive the information on where to send your story.

 

  • This book will feature hysterical pictures that will crack you up!.
  • You won't believe the crazy and frustrating stories we found.
  • Are you a Realtor, Investor or Inspector?? Well then we want to hear from you and you just might be in the book.
  • And much more!

Visit us at www.funnyandfrighteningrealestatestories.com or call 206-600-0915 if you don't feel like typing.