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SHOW NOTES FOR EPISODE 357: CRITICAL DUE DILIGENCE: CONDUCTING EFFECTIVE PROPERTY INSPECTIONS
You’ve found your dream property, negotiated a great price and found the perfect mortgage loan! Now you need to complete one of your most critical due diligence steps – the property inspection! In today’s podcast episode, expert home inspector Scott Spaulding takes us into the crawl spaces of your new property purchase as he shares insider secrets to insure you made the right purchase decision and that you know every key detail about your new investment acquisition.
What You Will Learn
About Our Guest
Scott Spaulding
Scott Spaulding is the founder and president of Blue Ribbon Home Inspections, LLC. He was in the high tech field for about 25 years and needed a change so, about 5 years ago, Scott started Blue Ribbon Home Inspections and hasn’t looked back. He specializes in multifamily, Floating homes and condos in the Portland/southwest Washington state area. Along with anything else that comes his way. He offers a one-call shop for Inspection services.
More About Scott
- Grew up in the Pacific Northwest – Portland/Eastern Washington area
- In high school, he wanted to be an industrial graphic designer/illustrator
- Went to college and studied architectural/industrial design
- Realized after taking a number of classes that that was not what he wanted to do
- Tech was really taking off at this time, so moved into computer science
- For the next 25 years, he was in the computer industry
- Was IT Director for two giant corporations – one was a weight loss company, the other a uniform company
- 2008 happened and changed professions to become a field tech, always putting out fires
- Had two clients that were real estate brokers/agents with multiple agents in their companies
- Through his real estate contacts, he met a home inspector and started shadowing him and learned the business
- He really liked it
- Starting taking courses to learn more, worked with other inspectors
- Passed the exam and became a full-time inspector
- He kind of equates being a home inspector with being a doctor that checks out your property top-to-bottom and, if they find a problem, call in a specialist (plumber, electrician, etc.)
Inspections
- Optional for property buyers
- Inspection can cost only a couple hundred dollars but they can find a problem that could cost $10,000
- His approach is to go from top (roof) to bottom (foundation)
- It’s like buying a car — you want to make sure their are no hidden problems that can cost you a lot
- Trying to get a 30,000 foot view of the property and all the components
- Look carefully at those things that have questionable defects
Big Money Items Every Buyer Should Check Out
- HVAC
- Roof
- Foundation
- Plumbing
- Age of the house
- Are appliances older than 10 years?
- Water heater
Some Other Key Areas to Check
- Foundations
- Cement deteriorating – an occur through scaling, disintegration, erosion, corrosion of reinforcement, delamination, spalling, alkali-aggregate reactions, and cracking of concrete.
- Water intrusion
- Vapor barrier
- Are all ducts insulated?
- Water lines – if galvanized, only good for 50 years, then you start to lose water pressure
- Outside siding (dry rot)
- Does bathroom venting just go into the attic or bypass to outside via ridge vents
- Rooflines – Look at the gutters. Is the roof buckling or curling? When the roofers installed the roofs and put down the flashing, did the put in kick-out or step flashing?
- You look at those areas where it is normally harder for contractors to install or build something right
- For example, if you can’t see the cricket behind the fireplace, was it put in correctly
- Walking the roof or using a remote camera can help you find these items
Roofs
- When he inspects roofs, he divides them in thirds
- First half – the new (first 5 years) – good condition
- Middle half – Half part of its life but..
- Has it had not enough ventilation
- Black plume around outside of it indicating high heat affect
- Last of life –
- He looks in the attic, at the joists:
- For shething – Did thet use OSB board or plywood?
- Plywood – usually has a date stamp coming from the lumber yard denoting when it was used – gives a guy idea of the age of the roof
- Are there granules in the gutters?
- Is the roof curling?
- Flashing
- Between the joists to see if there are water leaks
- For shething – Did thet use OSB board or plywood?
Other Things He Looks for
- Other areas where water might be getting in
- Looks for effervescence (white, salty type layer you can see on concrete that shows water is leaking up from the foundation)
- No pooling of water around the foundation
- That your siding is above a certain height so the water doesn’t intrude
- Any places where there can be water penetration now or in the future
Red Flags at First Glance
- When he approaches a property for the first time, he looks at the general appearance
- Has the lawn been mowed?
- Are there weeds?
- Is it a vacant home?
- General construction:
- Door frames
- Window frames
- When you see neglect, it’s a sign that there are probably other maintenance issues inside
Finding a Good Inspector
- Do your due diligence:
- Look up local inspectors online
- Contact: InterNACHI: Int’l Association of Certified Home Inspectors
- You can look for inspectors that have specialties
- They have CHECKLISTS
- You can loop up a local inspectors license to see if it has ever been suspended
- Talk to the inspectors by phone
- Are they clear and good at explaining things?
- Are they knowledgeable?
- How much experience do they have?
- Check reviews:
- Google reviews
- Yelp
Questions to ask your inspector
- Cost
- You must tell inspector square footage of property
- Number of square feet determines how long inspection will take
- Scott figures 2,500 square foot house will take 3 hours
- Number of square feet determines how long inspection will take
- What do you need:
- Radon test
- Sewer scope
- Underground “tank locate”
- You must tell inspector square footage of property
- How soon they can start
- How quickly report will be presented
- Usually, can get simple report in 24 hours
- Some can give report before they leave property
Floating Homes
- The Pacific Northwest has the Columbia River and other waterways
- There are houses built on water floating platforms
- Scott does all the inspection above the waterline
- A scuba diver certified inspector is used for “below the waterline” inspection
- It’s a unique specialty
- Looking for water intrusion, not enough insulation
- Very similar to regular house inspection except for things like:
- Water pumps, electrical grounding
Sellers Hire Inspectors Too
- To prevent surprises when preparing to sell
- Pre-inspections
- Walk and talks
- 11th month – Home Warranties
- Some new homes can have as many defects as older homes
Mold
- When the inspector is in a crawl space, they are looking for proper ventilation
- Attic humidity areas
- There is always a fix:
- Mold remediation
- Other things
How to Reach Scott
- Phone: ( 503) 765-8100
- Email: scott@brhi.biz
- Website: Blue Ribbon Home Inspections
More Info on Inspections
- 322: How to Save Thousands with Inspections Before You Buy – June 28, 2019
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