home inspection

That’s One Hot House!

We just survived our first super-hot summer weekend in Northern Virginia and it is only mid-June! With temperatures in the 90°’s and humidity running at 70%+, this is the time of year that home owners start to see their central AC units crash.

I always recommend to my clients after they buy a home to look into service contracts with local Heating and Cooling contractors because problems always happen when temperatures are extreme. For example, a client living in Vienna once called me when it was 12° and her furnace had quit, and another called when it was 95° to say that there was a block of ice on her AC unit and her house was boiling!

Luckily I had provided them with one-year Home Buyer Warranties when they bought their homes so they had someone to call. From personal and professional real estate agent experience, I know that clients will typically call me when there isn’t heat or AC, so providing a little extra “peace of mind” for them at closing with an action plan is like putting money in the bank!

A Home Buyer Warranty plan only lasts one year… but it’s good to have.

Here are some ideas for keeping your home cool:

• keep shades drawn on extra hot days or when you are at work
• adjust plantation shutters so the slats are deflecting the sunlight
• install ceiling fans
• keep your AC set at a manageable temperature during the day
• make sure your windows are locked tight
• turn off recessed lights
• consider getting a professional “energy audit” of your home
• Switch the thermostat fan to “on” from “auto” to circulate inside air

If your AC fails on a weekend, here are a few ideas:

• check your thermostat to make sure it is on AC (move the darn switches)
• make sure the service shut-off switch (looks like a light switch) on the air handler hasn’t been accidentally switched off.
• check your circuit breaker box and make sure it hasn’t tripped the switch
• if there is a block of ice outside, let it melt and call an AC guy
• check the overflow drain pan for water

I always have home buyer clients get home inspections but problems with any HVAC system are impossible to predict. Your inspector probably gave you a report that describes your HVAC system so go back and take a look because it will refresh you memory.

If you can’t get your AC purring, then it is time to call a professional to tune up and repair the system. If it is old then be prepared to buy a new one since most older systems can not be repaired any more… read more.

Okay, I’m open to learn about your worst AC or furnace problem, anyone?

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home inspection

Home Inspection Reports Really Matter

Having a home inspection contingency is essential when you are buying a home. But in Northern Virginia, I have seen a wide gap in the quality of the written inspection reports that home buyers are given by their inspectors. Specifically, it is the detailed description of the inspector’s concerns that he may have discovered and reported per the sales contract. Selected concerns are put on an Addendum and submitted to the Seller along with the Home Inspection Report.

Home Schooled in three hours!

I am a firm believer that my home buyer clients will learn more about their home in three hours with an inspector than over the next three years living there. And when a writer from SmartMoney Magazine called me in 1994 to ask me if I thought home inspections were a consumer rip-off and then asked a half hour worth of slanted negative questions at me, I knew there was an issue. And after that interview, I understood that she totally misunderstood the purpose of a home inspection. A good home inspection will give insight into the quality of the home’s systems from the foundation to the top of the chimney.

In fact, Smart Money’s recent article still maintains the position that home inspections are rip-offs, but gives home buyers no other options to help understand the house they are about to buy at a reasonable cost. For example, in my experience, a roof can be inspected from the attic where the sub-roof or underlayment can be inspected for water stains and rot which will have left their marks… folks, your inspector won’t see this if he climbs a ladder onto the roof like SM recommends. My point is that there are levels of experience and communication, and your inspector should have a sample report on his web site for you to examine ahead of time.

The quality of the written report became apparent recently when I was the listing agent, and the buyer’s agent brought in a home inspector. They did a good inspection, but delivered an inspection report circa 1998 using a form checklist that was unclear and literally created issues because the inspector had to abbreviate his comments. Although the other agent is an experienced agent (really), she was completely unable to explain any of the issues.  Maybe that is what the SmartMoney writer was driving at?

You can see that this first report has a lengthy checklist and a small area where the inspector can write a detailed description. But it takes a lot of words to describe a “hand rail on the right side of the front porch that is not secured properly because the non-structural column is not secured” in the comment section is only ten lines long. It simply leaves too much room for interpretation by the home buyer or home seller who can easily get an unclear picture of the issue.

Here’s a much better Home Inspection Report

Now, the Northern Virginia home inspectors that I recommend to my buyer clients use digital pictures to document items that are of concern and need to be addressed. Combined with a customized report with photos and easy to understand explanations including an organized checklist, there is little room for misunderstanding that a valve is leaking or there is a missing piece of roofing.

Getting your head under your kitchen sink isn’t what most people ever do, but a home inspector will be checking for evidence of leaks, drain hose connections or improper wiring. And a few digital pictures with a clear, written description of the problem makes the home inspection report just that much more powerful when negotiating to get something fixed or when asking for a  dollar credit for a future repair.

My clients understand that I look at our business relationship as a team effort and having a thorough home inspection and well written report is 1/10th of the process. If the house is sinking then let’s get the heck out of the contract, but if there is a leaking water valve then let’s get a licensed plumber in there to fix the problem. In almost twenty years as an agent, I know that no house is 100% perfect!

Bringing together the best people for my Northern Virginia home buyer clients to work with is one of my goals. Confident home inspectors, mortgage lenders, repair men, settlement agents and many others service providers help my real estate clients achieve their real estate goals.

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home inspection

Home buyers need a plan, and be ready to pull the plug…

It has taken a couple of months, but you are now walking up the stairs and into your new home. It’s actually a little bigger than you thought and you can’t wait to paint the kitchen, replace the carpet, get the FiOS set up, and turn in the keys at the old place. Maybe even take a dip in the pool!

Nice story, but this is the type of mental image that I want my home buyer clients to have in their minds before we start looking for houses. Setting a goal is important and visualizing the ideal or “perfect scenario” makes it  seem a little less intimidating.

Home buying is a rough sport at any level:

• first-timers
• move-up
• retirement (move-out).

The primary complaint that I hear from today’s home buyers is… there is nothing to buy! Well, there are homes to buy depending on the region of the country you are in, and many of those homes may be short-sales (where the seller is asking the bank to forgive his loan for less than he owes) or foreclosed homes (a bank is the owner and seller). In either case, these homes may have issues like needing a lot of updating or fixing up, being sold strictly “as-is”, or the sale is a long-shot to ever get to settlement.

Even with the $8,000 first time home buyer credit, a home that needs all new appliances or carpeting isn’t that attractive. And a first time home buyer may understand why some homes went into foreclosure, like homes overlooking the Beltway or backing to an industrial area. And many people feel uneasy about buying anything for $400,000+ strictly “as-is” – yes, they ain’t fixin’ nuthin’.

Okay, these scenarios may have scared some of you away but for the person looking for a good home at a discount (from even 1 year ago) and a mortgage rate around 5% then this is the perfect opportunity. Yes, the affordability index is off the charts.

I tell clients to not get emotionally attached to any home until we have completed the home inspection. This is always a contingency included in my client’s offers because our contract specifically states that “the Purchaser may void the contract” after the inspection. It is make or break time… we have a contract, is it still worth it? If not, then we submit the notice to the Seller declaring the contract void and the home buyer is back looking for better options.

By having a clear picture of what you want the end to look like, making the decision to move on to another home will be much easier.

home inspection

In real estate, get it in writing.

“Let’s get it in writing so there isn’t any confusion later,” is advice that I give my clients all the time. And you would assume that all real estate agents give their clients the same line when a potential sticky situation presents itself.

Did I say “assume”?

Prior to a home inspection on one of my listings, I mentioned to the buyer’s agent that the glass in the foyer light fixture would be replaced as it cracked when my client tried to replace the bulbs. Unfortunitely this item was not mentioned specifically in the home inspection report or repair addendum (but it should have been). So, my client thought that the buyers were okay with it and must plan to replace it with their own fixture.

You guessed it, when the agent did the final walk-through inspection, she said it was an issue for the buyer that the glass was broken.

Especially in real estate transactions, it is the smallest issues that can get everyone’s blood pressure up to dangerous levels. Buying a home is stressful and issues like this one push people over the edge or ignite a short fuse.

It is clear in the state real estate regulations that all real estate agreements must be in writing to be enforceable. Paper, we love paper! The courthouse loves paper too, so that is why they want an old fashion paper trial trail.

So with everyone’s reputation on the line, I stopped by Home Depot to pick up a similar fixture that I could cannibalize for that precious glass, drove to the house and climbed my trusty Werner step ladder to screw it in place… and then took a couple digital photos to show the buyers at the closing table. Case closed.