OT-rant

Re: Uh Oh, Todd's painting!

Todd Hughes


>Ah.... Todd you know me to well!...actually it's not to bad of a color sort of a greenish dark grey. I Just went to home depot and asked if they had any discount paint that they had mixed up and didn't match so I got a gal. of good paint for only $5.

...I have some left over and I'm actually thinking about painting my truck with it too , should give it a nice Post - Apoalyptic semi military look I think ....Todd

Re: Uh Oh, Todd's painting!

Todd O. Cronkhite Maine Native in FL. Exile :~(


>I was envisioning either some real bright "hoocie-momma" colors, or some type of camoflage so that the inspectors would have to hunt "REAL HARD" to find your place again. I fiqure with your artistic background that you could work in the "shadowing" to make it nearly invisible.

T.O.

I do not think that is fair

Ron in Kokomo


>I was a broker manager for 18 years in Indiana. We have a pretty strict code of ethics here. I really think we don't want to start bashing entore occupational categories on this site do we???? Real Estate agents who are any good are well paid. Over time the market has a way of telling what people feel is a valuable service.

I understand frustration I even understand frustration wih a real estate agent. Do a better job of selecting one.

Re: OT-rant *LINK*

Bryan Gibbs


>As a Licensed home inspector in the state of Indiana, some of these posts are troubling to me. It sounds as if some of you may have "got what you paid for" maybe. If you hire and inspector who is not licensed, or is charging consideraby less than the market avg in your area, don;t expect to get the same quality of inspection as you would from those who are licensed or who are charging "fair market value". A quality home inspector is not / should not sell him/her self short. I'm not saying you deserved what you got, not in the least, but home inspections is definately one of those thing that you get what you pay for.

If you are in a state that does not have Licensing laws / reuirements, that is a problem. Indiana did not have said laws and requirements until recently, which meant any avg Joe could charge you a fee to inspect your house with no formal training in the business. That was a problem.

Also, there is a large misconception about what a home inspection is and what an inspector does. The primary purpose is to identify MAJOR strucural and mechanical defects as well as safety and habitability concerns. It is a Limited Visusal inspection, which means the inspector is not going to disassemble the furnace to look at the heat exchanger (which is the only way to thoroughly inspect it), they do not have x-ray vision to look behind the drywall, and most importantly, they can not predict the future, ie thay can not tell you how long your roof, furnace and A/C will last before it fails. They look for existing defects at the time of inspection, estimate ages of the items, and give avg life expectancies for those items. Anything can fail at any given time without warning, including the day AFTER the inspection.

I'm not trying to defend that there aren't any inspectors out there that don't have a clue and do not provide a quality inspection, on the contrary, I know that there are several, but in my experience a lot of people really are not clear on what they are getting when they get an inspection, they assume it is technically exhaustive, which it is not. To get an inspection in such great detail would require a lot more specialized training and equipment for inspectors, they would have to spend more than the normal 2-3 hrs at the property, and have to charge a considerably higher fee for such a service. Instead, think of your inspector as a middle man. The inspectors primary goal is to determine whether or not the system and components are performing their INTENDEND function AT THE TIME of inspection, and recommend further evaluation by a qualified specialist such as a roofer, plumber, HVAC guy, or electrician. If you had to hire an engineer, electrician, plumber etc to individualy come out and insopet ecah component as opposed to hiring an inpsector to tell you which, if any, of these specialist you needed, you would be looking at a lot more than the avg home inspector fee.

In summary, do not expect an inspection to uncover EVERY SINGLE defect. This is an impossible standard that even the best of inspectors could never accomplish. Especially if the house is occupied, you are going to discover things once you move in and the house is empty that the inspector could not possibly see at the time of inspection due to furniture and stored belongings. They can not go around re-arranging furniture etc. to get what they need to see. If the attic or crawl space is not accessible due to obstruction, the inspector should note that on the report and YOU as the buyer should have a re inspection done prior to closing after the current owner makes the areas accessible (most inspectors will offer a reinspection for a conseiderably lesser fee). Make sure you do your re-search prior to hiring an inspector and only hire a licensed inspector, and preferably one that is a member of a professional association such as ASHI, NAHI, or NACHI which sets forth standards and guidelines for practicing home inspectors. Your realtor is usually the best resource for recommending such competent inspectors, but even with that, do your research on who you are hiring, and use common sense to determine whether or not a defect not found by an inspector should have REALLY been found during the inspection and wether or not it is REALLY a MAJOR defect....routine maintenance items and cosmetic issues are not the primary purpose of an inspection. To help define, MAJOR is something that could cost a lot of money to repair, or cause injury or harm to a person.

If an inspector reports something is working as intended (even if it may not be to your satisfaction, it is still perfoming it's INTENDED function) and it's not, or if he fails to report the house has aluminum wiring which later causes a house fire, the roof is shot, or the basement wall is caving in, then yeah, you got a poor inspector and should seek legal action and compensation from that inspector.

Also, a good inspector will acknowledge a mistake, if one was made, and make an effort to right the wrong. But it is your responsibility, and your FIRST course of action, to contact that inspector, make him aware of the discrepancy, and allow him the opportuinity to come back to the property to re inspect the item (free of charge) BEFORE it is repaired or tampered with, to detrmine if it is something he should be liable for. If you fail to do that FIRST, you most likely just relwased the inspector from any liability.

Home Inspections can be of great value to a buyer, and potentially save a lot of money in repairs, or help negotiate a lower price. But you need to be aware of WHO you are hiring and WHAT the scope and limitations of the inspection are.


Be Informed

Re: You are right *LINK*

Bryan Gibbs


>Normally, in most states, if they have a state mandated licensing program, it is unethical and unacceptable for an inspector to recieve or give any sort of compensation to or from realtors for refferals.


http://www.suretteinspect.com

Re: You are right *LINK*

Bryan Gibbs


>In additon, it is also a violation of state laws (In Indidana anyway) for an ispector to recieve compenastation from a contractor they refer to do repair work (such as a roofer) and it is also a vioation for the inspector to use his inspection business to getwork for another business he may own or have an interes in (roofing, plumbing etc.) Beware insoectors who do this, it is unethical


http://www.suretteinspect.com