Washingtonians Come Together! Washington Peeps

[CarolynF]

FM. Disclaimer. Not an inspector. I have just witnessed over the years problems inspectors have missed.

Obtain an inspection no matter if you buying a 5 year old or a 100 year old home.
This is the step most people either don't do when buying a home or they get just anyone to inspect it because down deep in their heart all they can see is the house and all the plans for it.

It is so important to get a REAL INSPECTOR!

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Then, based on the inspection report, if you still want the house, you just got new cards to bring to the sales price negotiation table in your favor to either get problems fixed now, or compensated to repair later.

This step is sooooooooooooooooooooo important yet soooooooooooooooooooooooooo many people don't take the time to do it right because all they have is the lust for the home in their eyes.

We all been there.
Just like buying a used car not taking it to a mechanic big mistake.

Oh the stories I can tell about home inspections. I was married to one of the FIRST inspectors in Washington state. He started before anyone even knew what an inspector was or did!

Inspection businesses have become a dime a dozen. They fill out a form with lots of check marks and very little information. They inspect an entire property and complete all the paper work in an hour or two. [The crawlspace alone should take an hour!] They schmooz real estate agents/companies to have clients referred to them. They do inspections that will please the AGNETS and lead to sales and more inspections. They forget that the person paying for their service is the BUYER. But hey... they need to keep those referrals coming in, right?!?! And believe me, if the agents are inconvenienced because the buyers begin to question the property, or if the inspector takes too long to do an inspection, they will NOT refer that inspector to other buyers! Translation... if the inspector is blunt and thorough the realtors don't like it and will actually tell the buyers to avoid that inspector. I have been witness to this process more than once.

The lessons here are
1) The inspector works for you and the report belongs to YOU and ONLY YOU. It should NOT be given to the agent, no matter how much you like that agent!
2) The inspector does not approve or disapprove the property. The report should be an inventory of the attributes and issues of the property whether good or bad. After all, just like beauty is in the eye of the beholder, so is good & bad.
3) Anything the inspector finds is potentially a bargaining point. (that's what agents hate)
4) Remember the agent does NOT work for you!!! The ONLY person the agent works for is THEMSELF!!! (My father was a broker, btw) Their priority is to make a sale, period.
5) The agent will probably give you a list of "approved" inspectors. Ignore it, these are the ones that have given them the best Christmas, Birthday, and Groundhog Day gifts! Seriously! And the ones that smooth over the ugly truth better than their competitors. (Real Example: my office mgr was buying a house and made an appt. with the inspector with the highest recommendation of their trusted agent. He was the WORST inspector in the state with several lawsuits brought against him for the equiv. of malpractice.) Find your own inspector by talking to other people and calling around. Look for a report that is more than a check list. Look for one that includes photos and explanations unique to the property.

Now.... not ALL inspectors are the same, and not ALL real estate agents are the same. So everything I've just ranted about doesn't cover everyone. Thank goodness!!! Find and hire the good ones, and try to take emotion out of the equation and you'll be a happier buyer. Good luck with your quest.

 

[Sweetlilbaby]

Well i hope I can get my husband on board. But rice is something he wont eat very often. His doctor wants him to go low carb. He's over weight as well. my doctor isn't working on my weight. She said most likely if we get my PCOS under control my weight will come off naturally without having to work on it.

Here is something poultry related... My duck had a swim lesson today.

 

[FirewifeJess]

Quote:
I KNOW! That was the point of my post. It's so ignorant of them to say untrue things to kids. I was mad. John said "Mom, why don't we give the chickens lots of corm? Maybe we'd get more eggs." And I said "No baby, what they just said isn't actually true. Unfortunately the person who wrote that show and put in on the TV doesn't know anything about chickens, they just said what they felt like saying even though it's a lie." I hate TV.

 

[TacomaFarms]

I got screwed over in my home purchase, because the inspection revealed many things that needed to be done. I requested them in writing. The seller showed a bid for the work. GUESS WHAT!??! THEY NEVER &@#($*% DID IT!!!!! Rat b*******!!! So ya... I have a LOT of work to do.... Did I mention they found a dog bowl, a chain, collar, and dog feces in the crawl space! WHO DOES THAT!?!?

So my advice would be, inspection, then RE-inspection and make them walk through everything that was supposed to be done. I'm looking at about $2000 worth of repairs that I now have to do, that were supposed to be done at the time of purchase.


FM: Your NEW digs look awesome! Can't wait for you to host that dinner you mentioned with all your home grown crops!


P.S. You all always talk about food when I haven't eaten... OMG WHAT WAS THAT!?!?

Oh dear lord... so sorry... the dog farted a silent nuclear bomb in the living room.. Retreat!!!

Have a great Monday off everyone!

 

[RainMom]

I KNOW! That was the point of my post. It's so ignorant of them to say untrue things to kids. I was mad. John said "Mom, why don't we give the chickens lots of corm? Maybe we'd get more eggs." And I said "No baby, what they just said isn't actually true. Unfortunately the person who wrote that show and put in on the TV doesn't know anything about chickens, they just said what they felt like saying even though it's a lie." I hate TV.

PBS also tells kids to get flu shots and tells them how safe they are. They had "Sid" get a flu shot and take one for the giffer. That is seriously wrong pharma propaganda. I used to love PBS, but the advertising and commercialization of the children's programming is out of control these days.

GMO corn, soy, wheat- doesn't matter, it will cause slow egg prodoction, massive inflammation and all sorts of other issues.

 

[FirewifeJess]

Have a great Monday off everyone!

I'm a mom of 3. There's NO such thing as a day off. Or sleeping in. We'll have a full day of school first thing tomorrow!

 

[Chicken Rustler]

Quote: well of course ! ! ! What do we spect from a guy who thinks WHITE eggs are OK to eat

 

[CarolynF]

Oh, I whole-heartedly agree. We got screwed over on the inspection on our house- the insectors passed off so many things it's nto funny. We found mold in the laundry room, found water leaks under the house, had electrical problems, plumbing problems, etc, etc- and one of our 3 toilets doesn't flush. There's nothing like "saving" $50K on your 30 year mortgage, and getting so excited you got a bargain------- only to have to find that money out of your paycheck- when it's a 9-1-1 emergency because somethign broke. DH just replumbed 100 foot of drain line here- in 25 degree weather! We still love our house and we truly did buy way lower than this place would have been sold for normally, but we could have got the price down another $20K had we had a GOOD inspection team. The lazy jerks that inspected this place never crawled under the house- and this is a 50+ year old house. We should have spent the extra $450 and got a GOOD inspector. Ask a realtor for a referral to a man-eatin' inspector!

They will NEVER give you that information, it goes against what they are trying to accomplish -- the sale. Sorry.

 

[beausonge]

Wow is all I have to say. Just reading a lot of the dietary restrictions so many of you have makes me hungry for some McDonalds or Ding Dongs. I mean, I would like to get to the point where we are growing a lot of our own food in crops and animals for health and real taste. But I am not anywhere near as good as ya'll, I can barely cook stuff out of a box let alone make anything from scratch. When the day comes that I am at the point to harvest food and make something from it, you all will be the first to know cause I will invite everyone over to so me how and what to cook. I commend you all on your healthy eating but I can never cut out junk food, I will just add healthier stuff to our diet.

Today we went and looked at a house! Not just a house but what I hope to be our house, granted it needs a bit of work....ok I lie, it needs a lot of work. It is what I call a messed up jigsaw house. The main/original part of the house was built in 1902! I do not know when the rest was added on but DH says that the original house was about 900sqft, when they added onto the house, it then became and now is...Over 3,000sqft. There are enough bedrooms that all five kids will have their own rooms still but with out us adding onto the place like we would have to with all the other places we have looked. Three entrances into the house (or exits, depends on how you wanna look at it LOL) A posibilety for a kids living room and a parents living room. But not only do the kids have flat screen t.v.s in their rooms (well the ones that have earned one) but I do not want to separate the kids from us just because we are watching t.v. Upstairs is beautiful, you can tell that this is apart of the original home. The kitchen is the most unique that I have ever seen.
Ya'll just let me know if ya wanna see pictures.

I would love to see pictures. Does it have acreage so can have critters? I love where I live. The lots are a minimum of five acres, the road in is very poor in places, and there only a few wealthy people in the area. I love waking up in the summer and hearing all the roosters in the area. They all have their own "songs". I would rather have a small house with acreage than ever live in town again.

 

[Imp]

Quote: Great to know. Thank You.