Tacoma Home Inspector

The title says it all!! I've just recently found the world of blogging and am very proud to have found ActiveRain as my first venture.  Thanks for everyone who has read and commented on my posts!  I'll do do my best to keep the helpful info coming!

My client's safety is my number one priority when I'm inspecting a house.  If I come across a smoke/carbon monoxide detector that doesn't work, you guessed it, it goes on the report.  Every room in the house should have an operational smoke/carbon monoxide detector installed.  One very simple reason that they might not work is the battery.  An easy way to remember this task is to change the batteries when you change your clocks every six months.  Some fire departments will actually give you batteries for free!  So, follow this quick and crucial tip before an inspection to avoid another "nit-picky" item on the report.

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Certified Tacoma Home Inspector

Caulk and grout will fail 100% of the time.  With exposure to moisture, expansion/contraction and normal wear and tear, caulk and grout will crack, peel and split.  Just like vegetation in contact with your home, failed caulk and grout are conducive conditions for wood destroying organisms.  Ignoring an issue like this can cause significant and expensive damage to your home.  However, it is very easily repaired.  Take a couple hours caulking around sinks, tubs, toilets, backsplashes and windows (don't forget the caulk around windows, trim and joints on the exterior) and re-grout as needed before the home inspection and you can easliy avoid another "nit-picky" item on the report.  Grab a couple of these and make the job even easier!

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Certified Tacoma Home Inspector

Almost every inspection that I've done, I've come across light fixtures that don't work.  Regardless of the actual problem, I write these fixtures in the report as "inoperable" and that further investigation is required.  Some inspectors have long narrative scripts that could include possible wiring problems and possibly needing to have an electrician come and investigate.  This type of alarming item on an inspection report is very easy to avoid in most cases.  My experience has shown that more often than not, a light bulb needs to be replaced.  Follow this simple, very inexpensive tip of checking light fixtures and replacing bulbs as needed before the inspector shows up.

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Certified Tacoma Home Inspector

Wood destroying organisms like carpenter ants, certain types of beetles and wood rot are very commonly found during home inspections.  Home inspectors will report on the presents of these organisms but we also report on conditions conducive to them.  One of the most common conducive conditions that I find is vegetation in contact with the home.  This contact provides a route for the creepy crawlers and also moisture.  It's usually very easy to maintain an adequate amount of space between vegetation and the home, however, many people don't realize that it's such a serious problem so they don't give it a second thought.  If you're listing a home, keep this very simple tip in mind and avoid an easy to fix problem from ever showing up on an inspection report.

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Certified Tacoma Home Inspector

Home inspectors use different methods for report delivery.  Some use the traditional method of typing, printing and delivering the report on-site.  Some will type and print just a short summary of the major findings and email the rest of the report at a later time.  Now we have enterd the "digital age" and inspectors are uploading reports to their website and emailing a username and password to clients giving them the option to download, print or forward the report at their convenience.

I use the "digital age" method.  I haven't had one complaint about not delivering the report on-site.  I explain that the report usually takes me 1 1/2 hours to write and that I'd rather not take their valuable time and make them wait.  It's very appreciated.  This also gives me the opportunity to do some research if I need to.  I don't claim to know everything about everything, sometimes I get stumped (that's another blog to come).  Actually, I couldn't deliver my PREMIUM report on-site because it includes recall research on the appliances.  The report is available 24/7/365 so clients/agents don't have to search through files or emails to find it later down the road.  Also, if you accidentally hit delete on the email (we've all done it) you don't have to wait for the inspector to send it again, just log in and download/print.

What method does your inspector use and which do you prefer??

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Certified Tacoma Home Inspector

I was just browsing around blogs and noticed that there are 7,160 members online right now.  Wow!  Usually, when my eyes wander up to the top right, I see somewhere around 2,000 to 3,000 online.  What's the most amount of members that you've seen online at once?

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Certified Tacoma Home Inspector

Is your home inspector blind?  If he's not a member of the International Association of Certified Home Inspectors (InterNACHI), he might just be!

Other home inspection associations have no entrance examination.  Blind people, children, psychics (who claim to "sense" if a house is ok) and even pets have joined other associations.  InterNACHI is the only association with an entrance examination.  NACHI turns down more than 1/2 the inspectors who want to join because they can't pass the exam. 

InterNACHI inspectors:

• Have to pass InterNACHI's Online Inspector Examination. (This is a general, not association-specific exam).
• Have to pass InterNACHI's Online Standards of Practice and Code of Ethics Examination (This is a new, separate, open book, InterNACHI-specific exam coming in September 2004 testing only standards and ethics knowledge.).
• Have access to InterNACHI's free library for improving their inspection skills.
• Have access to InterNACHI's message board for exchanging information and tips.
• Have access to InterNACHI's What's New section so they can keep up with the industry.
• Have access to Dear InterNACHI for detailed advice.
• Have access to a time-tested Agreement which keeps them (and you) away from lawsuits.
• Have access to InterNACHI's Report Review/Mentoring service.
• Have access to InterNACHI's free online inspection courses.
• Have to sign an affidavit.
• Have to carry E&O insurance (if their state requires it).
• Have to abide by InterNACHI's Standards of Practice.
• Have to abide by InterNACHI's Code of Ethics.
• Have to fulfill InterNACHI's Continuing Education requirements.

So the next time you need to refer your clients to home inspectors, make sure they are members of InterNACHI.  InterNACHI, America's elite home inspection association.

"Be sure to check out my other blog entries. You can get your 10 daily comments in right here, right now! Simply scroll through the blog entries in the widget just under my picture at the upper right."

Certified Tacoma Home Inspector

I've seen many posts and comments educating and asking about posting videos to websites, blogs and emails.  You can see my method for emails here.  I'll discuss embedding to your website in this post.  I'm a home inspector, not a video professional but I know how it works and I like to help.  Video is catching on quickly and I strongly believe you should use video wherever you can to set yourself apart from many others before it becomes standard.  While posting your videos to YouTube and using the code provided is quick and simple, I've found that the quality isn't great and buffering times can be long (that annoying amount of time when your video pauses while it catches up).  I've found that hosting the video on your website server allows better quality and faster loading.  Here's how to do it:

•1.        I'm assuming that you have your video already recorded.  You can use many devices to capture video with.  Many new cameras can capture video.  You can use any device you want, the only difference will be the format the video is recorded in and quality.  You can also download videos from many websites.

•2.       So you have a video on your device.  Connect it to your computer via USB or Firewire or if your computer has the capability, take the card out of your camera and put it in your computer.  Now, download the video to your desktop.  Refer to your device's manual if you're having any trouble.  It should happen automatically or at least ask you what you want to do when you plug it in.

•3.       Depending on your device, the video that you've downloaded will be in some kind of format (.wmv, .flv).  A very common format is .wmv or windows media video.  It doesn't matter because you can convert the format to whatever you want.  I use Xilisoft Video Converter but you could use one of many video converter programs if you need to convert the format. 

•4.       I'll assume we're working with a .wmv file at this point.  Now, name your video "video.wmv" and put it on the root directory of your server.  If you're not familiar with how to do this you can ask your webmaster.  You can access your root directory using an ftp program or many hosting services, like Yahoo, give you access through their website in the form of a file manager.  Either way, the "root directory" is the main area where all of the files for your site are.  If you're using an ftp program, the "root directory" will be the first area that you see when you connect to your server.

•5.       Next, you will need this code:

<OBJECT ID="MediaPlayer" WIDTH="192" HEIGHT="190" CLASSID="CLSID:22D6F312-B0F6-11D0-94AB-0080C74C7E95"
STANDBY="Loading Windows Media Player components..." TYPE="application/x-oleobject">
<PARAM NAME="FileName" VALUE="videofilename.wmv">
<PARAM name="autostart" VALUE="false">
<PARAM name="ShowControls" VALUE="true">
<param name="ShowStatusBar" value="false">
<PARAM name="ShowDisplay" VALUE="false">
<EMBED TYPE="application/x-mplayer2" SRC="videofilename.wmv" NAME="MediaPlayer"
WIDTH="192" HEIGHT="190" ShowControls="1" ShowStatusBar="0" ShowDisplay="0" autostart="0"> </EMBED>
</OBJECT>

 This is the code for the video player.

•6.       You'll need to edit two parts of this code.  Change "FileName" VALUE="videofilename.wmv"> to say "FileName" VALUE="video.wmv"> and edit SRC="videofilename.wmv" to say SRC="video.wmv".  After you've edited both of these, copy and paste this code to the page that you want your video to display on.  If you want it to display on your home page, the file to paste it to is usually called index.html.  You can also edit parts of the code to change what the player does.  For example, you can change <PARAM name="autostart" VALUE="False"> to say <PARAM name="autostart" VALUE="True"> if you want the video to autostart when someone opens your homepage.  The other options work the same way.  You can also change the size of the video window by changing the width and height numbers at the top and bottom of the code. 

If you have any questions about this detailed description, ask as a comment and I'll respond for everyone to see.

So now you have your video uploaded to your server and you have the embed code pasted to the page you want the video to display on.  That's it!

"Be sure to check out my other blog entries. You can get your 10 daily comments in right here, right now! Simply scroll through the blog entries in the widget just under my picture at the upper right."

Certified Tacoma Home Inspector