When hunting for a home inspector, their fee should be your last question. As the weather warms up and open houses attract prospective buyers, hiring a home inspector can provide negotiating leverage for the buyer or warn of potential problems. “No home is perfect, not even new construction,” says Brenda Avilla-Kintz, a Realtor with Legacy…
DetailsI received a testimonial from one of my clients today that is a perfect illustration of what a ‘testimonial’ should tell the reader. Before I get into this particular testimonial, I want to talk about what is wrong about so many Home Inspection Testimonials. The homebuyer will write a glowing letter about the Home Inspector…
DetailsYou are buying a home. You think you can rely on your REALTOR® for sound advice concerning your choice of a Real Estate Inspector. Surprise! The Inspector you ended up hiring is not even licensed. It may be that the Inspector was never licensed, lost his license to disciplinary action, failed to take the required…
DetailsIt is that time of year again. And…there is a new twist; a new contributor to carbon monoxide poisoning that may be showing up in new homes more often than one might think. I recently inspected a brand new home that had the heating and air conditioning system configured so that there is a ‘fresh-air’…
DetailsHome Buyers…Beware the Low Bid In over 20 years of working with home buyers that are building a new home, it is amazing how many of them have fallen for the ‘Low Bid’ shenanigans that many home builders devise. Time after time, I see where a home buyer is lured into thinking that they can…
DetailsYou have decided to purchase a home. Whether a new home or a pre-owned home, you deserve to know the true condition of the home. Knowing as much about the home as is reasonably possible gives you a better opportunity to protect your family. Many defects found in pre-owned homes were there since the day…
DetailsHome buyers Benefit from Home builder and Inspector Information Sharing The Texas Association of Real Estate Inspectors (TAREI) is providing on-site education for Texas Real Estate Inspectors this January 20th & 21st. While continuing to offer classroom instruction on how to protect clients by teaching the Art and Intricacies of Home Inspections, TAREI is now…
DetailsSo, you have decided to sell your house. It can be for any reason. You may have outgrown your current house. You could be downsizing. You may be cost cutting and looking for a way to trim your mortgage payment and related property taxes. It doesn’t matter why you want to sell your house. What…
DetailsIt is really amazing how many pressures honest real estate agents must contend with in this day and age of greed and deception and often the pressures come from those in their own industry. But first, let’s talk about the hard working, honest and confident real estate agent. Confident agents guide their clients to competent…
DetailsThere is a recent move within the Inspector Advisory Committee (IAC) at the Texas Real Estate Commission (TREC) to alter the Rules and the Standards that a Licensed Real Estate Inspector must comply with. This will be a real test to see whether IAC can convince the Commissioners at TREC that an ‘As Built, Performance-Based’…
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