What to Expect with Home Inspections?

[00:00:00] Speaker A: So we always say this. He who has the money makes the rules. So pretty much the mortgage companies and the insurance companies, if we can't get by their guidelines, then we're not going to be able to close on that house. [00:00:17] Speaker B: Hey everybody, and welcome back to another edition of Trust this, the podcast for real estate investors and small business owners and entrepreneurs all over the country, but specifically in Florida. I'm Joe Siegel, your real estate asset protection attorney in Orlando, Florida. And I'm here today with Andrew Braun with ARB Home Inspections. Andrew is in central Florida, of course, partnering with Realtors, first time buyers, investors and insurance agents to deliver thorough home four point and wind mitigation inspections. And we're going to get into what each of those means. He is guided by an always reaching beyond ethos. His team spotlights issues before they become costly surprises and delivers clear, high quality reports within 24 hours of doing the inspection. So today we want to go over what inspectors are really looking for, how that inspection can be used by real estate investors to sort of sweeten their deal, make it a little bit better. I know I've done that myself. When I bought my home in Florida, I was really lucky. The home inspection uncovered asbestos in the house. And a lot of people won't say lucky with asbestos, but I was because it was a short sale. And I used that asbestos sort of as a leverage to get the lender to say, okay, yeah, we'll take even less money than we were wanting out of this deal. So I think it saved me about 25 or $50,000 off the sale price of the house. And then it, the removal of the asbestos, I think cost me a whopping $1800 to get it done because it was all contained. It wasn't that hard to do. But let's hop into it. First of all, Your website is arb home inspections.com we're going to put the link to that down in our show notes so everybody knows. And I just want to welcome Andrew. Welcome to the show. How are you doing today? [00:02:04] Speaker A: Amazing, my friend. Very good, very good, good, good, good. [00:02:07] Speaker B: How'd you come to Central Florida? How'd you end up here? Have you always been here? [00:02:10] Speaker A: I'm a native Floridian, born and raised, originally from South Florida, Fort Lauderdale if you want to be more Pacific. Miramar. And now we've been in the Kissimmee area for the last 11 years. Funny to say, my wife and I, there's no place like home. So it's a great opportunity. God opened some doors and we just Took the leap. [00:02:30] Speaker B: So, being from Florida, you know, the big issues that Florida homes see, I mean, everybody says real estate's very local, of course, and part of that local is the weather, the bugs, the. The different problems you're going to see with a block home, stucco, efis, frame homes, wood frame homes in Florida, which I. I know people build them and I know people have them, but they're out there. So. So you're really used to that. When you walk into a property, how do your findings influence the deal strategy? What. What are you looking for? Do you have a checklist? How are you doing that? Home inspection. [00:03:09] Speaker A: So we try to approach every single house systematically. We want to start from the outside to kind of work our way in, because sometimes the outside is telling us a story of what's going on. We look at the major components from the roof, attic, the AC systems, make sure they're functional, the electrical stuff, because that's always a huge thing, especially when it comes to fire hazards, of course. Plumbing. Depending on the type of plumbing that you have, whether it's polybutylene or even just some old copper, sometimes there could be leaks going on behind the walls or in the slab, and that could lead to some big issues as well. So we tried our best just to kind of put everybody in the best position so that they can win, or at least they know what they're getting themselves into. [00:03:47] Speaker B: Yeah, I had that PB pipe in my first house I bought in Florida when I moved to Florida, and didn't have a clue what it was, but the fact that one of the pipes had blown up coming into the house before closing ever happened, and I didn't even think about it. They just got it fixed and repaired. I didn't think about it, but it was a problem for me for the rest of the ownership of that house for the next 10 years. I had it. [00:04:11] Speaker A: Insurance, too. [00:04:12] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah. And ours had the copper fitting between the PB pipe. And we thought when we did our research, we're like, okay, well, if you're going to do it, it's the plastic to plastic and then the copper around it. We thought, okay, that's great. But then we still had problems for the entire time we had that house. So PB pipe, folks, if you see it, definitely note it and be very careful because it's bad. It's bad stuff. [00:04:36] Speaker A: I agree, definitely. [00:04:38] Speaker B: Now, you do several types of home inspection. I mean, there's several different levels of home inspection. There's your home inspection, there's wind mitigation, there's the four point inspection. What are the differences, the different types of reports there? [00:04:50] Speaker A: Okay, so a lot of times we say that a full home inspection is consisting of pretty much everything that's visible and accessible in the house, from the windows, doors, ceilings, floors, roof, ac, electrical, plumbing, all those different things, more or less structural. So we're checking everything to put you in the best position. A lot of times the inspection alone will take about maybe two and a half, three hours on for an average house, depending on size and everything else that's going on with it. Like a four point inspection, it's just looking at the four major components, which is just the roof, the ac, the electrical and the plumbing. It's used for insurance purposes. The insurance companies have their own specific form that they ask us to fill out and we try to answer the questions that they're looking for. They're not as concerned about all the details, but they want to know that the big stuff is not going to come and bite them later on. And then the wind mitigation verifies how strong the house is against the wind based on the features that are holding down the roof. So we go into the attic, we look at the type of nails that they use to connect the roof decking to the trust, we look at the roof to wall connection type. The better features you have, the more discounts you get off the homeowner's insurance. So wind mitigation inspections is about saving money, getting discounts. And the four point is more of a qualifier for the insurance, making sure everything is up to snuff so you don't have any issues down the line. [00:06:05] Speaker B: Are most people getting all, all of the above whenever they order it just so they can try to save some money on their insurance now? [00:06:12] Speaker A: Yes, very common, typically speaking, Yep. You do the full home inspection just so you kind of know what you're getting yourself into. And it puts you in the best position for negotiations because it kind of covers everything. And then they use the four point and the windmill because you gotta be able to get insurance, especially over houses that are over 20 to 30 years old. 4 points usually required on that one. And for the wind mitigation, if you have a newer roof done anytime after 2004, it just makes sense to do, because it's good for five years, it's gonna give you those discounts. [00:06:40] Speaker B: How'd you get into home inspections? What did you have to do to get into it? [00:06:44] Speaker A: So funny to say, I actually used to work for an insurance company. I have my 2020 license. You know, selling insurance and everything else. In the process of us getting ready to move up here, they didn't have any other offices in this area, in the Kissimmee area. And so they were like, well, we can't really put you anywhere else on that side, but we do need people to go out and check the houses for us. And I was one of the first people that the company actually paid for to get their license. So they helped me get my license. And once I got a taste of that word, I was like, oh, this is a lot more fun. So I kept on rolling with it. [00:07:16] Speaker B: It's not sitting behind a desk all day just staring at a screen. It's actually getting out and seeing people. [00:07:20] Speaker A: And I totally agree. I totally agree. A little sense of freedom, in a way. I say so. Yep, I totally agree with that. [00:07:27] Speaker B: What are the three issues that you're seeing most often? Derail a sale or. Or that become a big ticket item. Surprise after closing. Things like foundation movement, Roofs near the end of their lives. [00:07:40] Speaker A: Hidden huge thing, automatically that stands out to me is of course, the roof. Right now, most insurance companies, so we always say this, he who has the money makes the rules. So pretty much the mortgage companies and the insurance companies, if we can't get by their guidelines, then we're not gonna be able to close on that house. So roof is a huge thing, especially for insurance companies nowadays. There are some insurance companies that don't even want to insure a roof that's over 10 years. So they're checking to make sure that it's not past its life expectancy. They're trying to make sure there's no active links missing shingles. If the roof even looks semi questionable, definitely be prepared to either replace it or be prepared to make some updates so you can put yourself in the best position to win. You mentioned earlier, when it comes down to like frame houses, of course, the termites definitely a big thing that stands out to us a lot. A lot of times. And it's crazy because with termite damage, you don't really see it unless you know what you're looking for. Like, sometimes a piece of wood could be looking perfect, but then you go and touch it and your finger goes right through it. But, you know, you don't know that unless you're paying that much attention. Of course, we're in Florida, so we get mold molds. Another thing that kind of makes people scary because just a remediation of mold a lot of times can be a huge cost, you know, to go along with things. So, I mean, things like that always kind of be on the eye for. And then, of course, just safety overall. And I like to say, you know, like you said, even with the polybutylene, the plumbing types, the electrical panel brands, there's some that are known for being an increased fire hazard, like the Federal Pacific or Zinsco, different ones like that. So, yeah, there's. There's definitely a few different things that kind of stand out to me that make it a little bit more complicated to either get the insurance or. Or it gets a more mortgage approved on a house. [00:09:21] Speaker B: Yeah, I once was talking to somebody giving a speech somewhere, and I remember saying that, you know, if the Florida legislature came down and said that your route, you. You have to replace your roof every 10 years, there would be an up, you know, an outcry. There would be an uprising, pitchforks and torches in Tallahassee. But if the insurance company says you got to replace your roof every 10 years, everybody's just like, oh, well, that's just the way it goes. So, yeah, a lot of things do seem to just take care of themselves without having to pass a law. It's just the market forces, the insurance companies, like, nope, we're not paying for that. Are you seeing metal roofs, solar panels on roofs? Are those being problematic for anybody? [00:10:04] Speaker A: They can definitely be problematic in different ways. So for one, like, we actually did an inspection, so we got called out by a client a while, a little while ago, and. And they had solar panels added onto the roof. And I guess when they installed the solar panels, they didn't do the best job of installing the solar panels. Turned out there ended up being a leak, not only in the roof, but then it got into the kitchen, behind the walls, underneath the cabinets. And then eventually it caused mold for the client. Coolest thing. We were able to actually find the mold, you know, diagnose it for them and everything else. They were able to get that taken care of. But that was one big headache the lady was going through for a long time. Another thing is just being able to sell it with solar panels because a lot of times you have this loan from it, and the loan has to be paid off, so that now becomes an additional expense to it in that case. So, I mean, that's just a big problematic thing when it comes to being able to close on a house because it changes your debt to income ratio. And now you're dealing with a whole different animal or can of worms there in that case, too. It's one of those things, like I said, if you can afford to pay it off. It's not the worst thing in the world, but you have to get a loan or whatever else. It may not even pay for itself in some cases. So, like I said, just little pointers that I've seen thus far. [00:11:14] Speaker B: Yeah, we. When I did title, we had to worry about the PACE loans. We would see those all the time for solar panels, water heaters, new windows and doors, things like that. People take out these PACE loans, which were special loans for energy efficiency upgrades to your house. And a lot of people didn't realize that that serves as another. Like another mortgage on your house. Correct. That has to be paid off at closing. They're like. And some of them are pretty hefty. I mean, we had One that was $25,000 had to be paid off on a $250,000 house. And the people were happy about it. [00:11:48] Speaker A: Not at all. [00:11:49] Speaker B: And then it's too late. It's not like you can go, okay, well, fine, take the. Take the panels off and I'll give it back. Because they've already sold that loan. That's. That loan sold to somebody else. They've. They've already paid the money for the panels. It's done. [00:11:59] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:11:59] Speaker B: So that's not coming back. [00:12:01] Speaker A: Agreed. Agreed. [00:12:02] Speaker B: How do you separate serious from cosmetic issues that you really need to deal with? How do you know the difference? [00:12:08] Speaker A: So a lot of times I talk to a lot of clients and I explain to them that 90% of the home inspection report, for a full home inspection, it's going to be general maintenance. Things that can be kind of done over time. You know, little minor hairline cracks in some of the stucco. You know, typical things, maybe lack of paint in certain areas, lack of sealant in certain areas. You know, those things can be done over time. The bigger things that we try to focus on, like I say, is either when it comes down to safety, heavy expense, or when it comes to getting insurance. So if it's going to stop you from getting insurance, we're going to note tilt those things in red because we want to make sure you can qualify to get the house. If it's a safety issue, whether it might be something dealing with a pool, sometimes the pools could be, you know, not properly fenced in, um, like you said, molds. It could be asbestos, things of that nature, things that cost major money to remedy. Those are things that we kind of want to notate. And then, of course, it's the big dollars. Like, you know, we had to resurface a whole entire pool that could Be costly. We had to redo the entire roof. That could be costly. We have to update all the aluminum wiring in the house. That could be costly. So there's different things that we kind of focus on that, whether it's safety insurance or big cost, those are the highlights that we look for. [00:13:20] Speaker B: Yeah, we had a pool that the deck was energized one time. Every time you'd walk, you'd step on it, and everybody said, I feel this tingle. What's this tingle? That was a major experience. It was an underground one of the pool lights. The wires had become frayed, and it was energized in the entire big section of the pool deck there. [00:13:38] Speaker A: And yeah, no, that makes a lot of sense because you're supposed to have the whole pool bonded. So all the pool pumps to the screen enclosure, to the lights, everything should all be interconnected to avoid any type of shocks that way. And if it's not done properly, it could be a big thing. And once again, you can't see when it's underneath the ground or it's in the concrete in the pool. So, yeah, definitely, things do come up with that. I do agree. Pool inspections are very important. [00:14:00] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. Pool. I always tell people I represent buyers sometimes when they're buying the house, when they're coming in from out of state, they're just used to having a lawyer. We always recommend home inspection, survey, termite inspection, pool inspection, septic. Well, all these other inspections, we're like, have all this stuff checked if you're coming from out of state. In North Carolina, when I practice up there, we. We always said, be sure, you know, if it's. If it's just a lot and you're going to build on it, make sure you got access. We're going to have to make sure you got access to folk road, but we're also going to have to make sure that ground perks for a septic tank because it may not, you know, and you can't have a septic tank there. [00:14:36] Speaker A: And septic tank is a big thing here, too, because a lot of times they change the rules and regulations. So you might have an older septic tank that was able to be low within the ground. And now I've heard of where you have to bring out like a whole truck full of sand to raise up the septic tank. Of course, accept the tank by itself can be quite expensive, let alone now having to add more dirt and everything else to it too. So that could be a huge thing as well. I do agree. [00:14:58] Speaker B: Yeah. Speaking of me Representing buyers, and you're doing home inspections. Do you ever deal? And I've had this come up where realtors and others involved in the transaction are like, no, no, no, no, no, you don't. They don't like lawyers involved. They don't want a home inspector who's going to find problems, because they always see us as well. You killed the deal. You killed the deal. How do you deal with that? Objection from people. [00:15:22] Speaker A: A lot of times, the way I kind of look at it, it's not really what we find, but it's how we express how we find it. There's really no such thing as a bad deal because it all depends on the person. I've seen some people that the house was on fire, and they have no problem tackling that. It's like, okay, let's go to town. I've seen some people that are scared that the paint color is wrong. So, like, it all depends on the individual. And our biggest job is just to kind of point out what's there and help them to understand either the importance or significance of it or if it's just something that they're even comfortable with dealing with in that case. So we kind of almost want to customize it to the person we're dealing with. I like to look at myself as, like, a primary care doctor. I can give you a little bit of information about a lot of different things, and then you can kind of decide what the best approach is when it comes to buying that house. [00:16:07] Speaker B: I agree with you. I've seen people freak out because, you know, there's. The gfi outlets aren't in the bathroom, or, you know, the gfi outlets aren't in the circuit panel like they're supposed to be. And they're like, well, I just can't buy this house. This is hard. And I'm like, dude, this is. [00:16:20] Speaker A: It's not that. Yeah, it's not the end of the world. I agree. [00:16:22] Speaker B: Those are easily replaced. And. And sometimes it's the seller, like, I'm not doing that. I'm not doing that. I already gave them $10,000 off the price. I'm not doing another thing to it. I'm like, dude, it's replacing some electrical outlets. It's nothing. [00:16:34] Speaker A: Exactly. [00:16:34] Speaker B: Yeah. Get it done. Get it. [00:16:37] Speaker A: I agree. [00:16:38] Speaker B: How do your priorities change, you know, with. If somebody. Or do they change if somebody is buying a property to live in it versus they're buying it to flip it versus they're buying it to hold it and rent it out, or if it's an older house versus a newer house. Do you change the way you do things, the way you look at things, the way you explain things on the different way the deal is being done and the different type of age of the house or anything like that? [00:17:03] Speaker A: That's actually a great question. So I would say that the system of how we approach the house does not change because we kind of, we're going to go through and we're still going to check everything thoroughly. We want them to know exactly what they're getting themselves into one way or another. Now, the conversation might be totally different because it depends on who I'm dealing with in that sense. For instance, if you're looking at maybe flipping a house when you want to, you're going to put a lot more money into a flip than you would a rental. Not because you don't want to take care of the rental, but you know, when you're trying to get a flip, you're trying to upgrade the countertops, you're trying to make the house look extremely pretty. So the higher you get a higher value for your money's worth in that case. Whereas a rental, you want it to be safe, you want it to be comfortable, but you may not necessarily need to update the countertops. The countertops might be older, but they might be fine. There may be no damage on them. They might be in good condition in that sense. So sometimes when it comes to your approach, it changes the whole method. And of course, a first time home buyer, it really all depends on what they're comfortable with. Once again, if they're comfortable with simple things like they might be like we don't want carpet in the house and that might be a deal breaker for them. So you have this conversation to say it's just a cosmetic thing versus it's a major thing that you need to be concerned about in that case. But you know, it all depends on who we're dealing with really. And I think that's the beauty of getting to know your clients. So you have an idea of what's important to them. [00:18:18] Speaker B: Do you find that you work with a lot of the same people over and over, the same buyers over and over? [00:18:22] Speaker A: Oh, investors all the time. Yeah, I have some investors that got me on speed dial and that's, that's all we do. We run out, we take care of whatever they need, take care of, and they already know everything that they need to know. I got some, our realtors that work with us, a lot of times they be first time home buyers. They don't buy as often as like investors do or other things like that. But yeah, we, I. Most of my business is referral based. So a lot of it is people coming back to us because they just enjoy the service and they just enjoy working with us. So that's the beauty of having, you know, we're a part of your team. I like to say you're part of the Arb family in that sense. [00:18:56] Speaker B: Well, what's the most effective way that you've seen people use your reports as leverage? Maybe they're buying and is it credits? Is it actually getting the repairs done, lowering the price? What, what are you seeing being most effective today? [00:19:12] Speaker A: I would honestly say almost a little bit of everything. What really kind of comes down to is that I notice a lot of sellers sometimes don't really realize the condition of their house because they've been living there so long. They get used to all the certain defects, they find workarounds and they're just, you know, it's just general things that they don't even think about. Whereas when we do the inspection and we have all these photos and we have all these labels explaining what's going on there, it's. It almost brings a level of awareness for them to realize, okay, we need to do certain things to make sure this house is up to snuff. And it also gives the person, the buyer, an opportunity to maybe renegotiate whether that's getting credits back. Because sometimes you don't want to reduce the home value maybe especially as it's somebody that's going to be buying the house to live in for themselves and they want to sell it later on. You don't want to reverse the home value too much. Maybe for an investor now they want to reduce the value as much as possible, maybe get some money back as they can because they don't want to have to put as much out of pocket. So it all depends on what the end goals are. But yeah, I think the report itself, it really brings light to what's going on that sometimes you wouldn't be able to see unless you took a few hours looking at the house. Because, you know, some people put what we call what pick on a lipstick. I'm sorry, lipstick on a pig. Nice little flip there. In that case where it's, it's an ugly house where they think if they paint it real good and they just kind of fix up some general stuff real quick that they can hide a lot of issues that's really going on. And when you bring a home inspector in there to do A, you know, thorough inspection, we get to disclose and show a lot of those things that need to be worked on. [00:20:42] Speaker B: So do you ever have sellers call you before they even, or when they just list the property and say, come on in, do an inspection, tell me what I'm going to need to fix and let me get this all done before anybody even buys the house? [00:20:54] Speaker A: Yeah, a pre listing inspection. I think it makes so much sense because you don't want to go through all that trouble when it comes to marketing and having people going through the house working just to even come up with the contract and the deal and everything else to find something huge that now kills the whole deal before you even get it started. So just having the pre listing inspection alone will save people a lot of headache and kind of put them in the best position to win. I have actually had some agents that will do inspection beforehand. They will give the inspection report to the end buyer that's looking to buy it before they even decide to get it under contract. So they already know, okay, you know what? This is what we're willing to offer for this house based on what we've seen in the report and everything else. So now there's no headache, there's no back and forth. Let's just go to closing and get it done. [00:21:37] Speaker B: Well, and I learned a little practice tip for realtors long ago from their E and O carriers. The E and O carriers for realtors said, look, if you require a home inspection on every deal, and then if your buyer refuses to get it, you pay for it. Just get it done. And then if you do a home warranty on every closing after you sell the property, your E and O insurance will be much lower. And also, if you do get a claim, a lot of times they waive the deductible. They go, hey, you did everything you should have done. You got a, you, you required a home inspection. You, you documented everything. You, you had the home warranty afterward. So those nine times out of 10, that's a reason that the realtor gets sued for malpractice is because of a disgruntled buyer or a disgruntled seller. And so it's like, yeah, do that pre listing really encourage your seller to go ahead and say, let's go ahead and get a pre listing inspection done. We'll clear these things up. And, and it's taken care of so that we're not having to negotiate this in the midst of a price war. You know, exactly. It makes, and this is a buyer's market now. It Is a buyer. [00:22:46] Speaker A: It is. [00:22:47] Speaker B: It really is a pre listing. You know, inspection is going to make that home a lot more enticing to a buyer to go, hey, you know, I can go ahead and close on this quickly. They've already done the inspection. I can just take their inspection report, look at it, see everything's been done. I don't really need to worry about doing well. [00:23:02] Speaker A: And even like, sometimes us just doing the inspection for the realtor points out things that the realtor may not have thought about. Because, like, I was doing a inspection. Actually, one of my realtors called me to a house, we did another inspection for them, and then they had a house up the street that they were getting ready to list. So she asked me to come out and just take a quick little glance at it. And, like, there was some, like, cracks in the patio slab. And from a technical standpoint, they weren't too terrible, but they were terrible enough to. Whereas if a normal buyer would have come and see that, they probably would have freaked out a little bit. And they were thinking of just kind of letting it go and not really, you know, doing anything about it. And I'm like, no, I think it would be better that you put yourself in a position to where we already take care of this. We already looked into this. This is what's going to be. This was going to cost. So even if you choose not to fix it, you already know what they're going to be thinking, and now you have an answer to their objection. So to make it easier for the realtors to be able to close on a deal and not have to deal with so many objections, I think it just saves you a world of time. [00:24:02] Speaker B: Yeah, I hear that a lot in deals where people are like, oh, we're buying this house. We know that this is a problem, but they've already gotten estimates and it's going to cost us much to fix. We're okay with that. A lot of times it's the unknown kill deals. Correct. Transparency and just knowing this, even if it's a lot, yeah, this is going to cost $10,000, but I know how much it's going to cost. I know what the problem is. I may not deal with it as soon as I buy the house. And they've already factored it into the price, so I will deal with that at some point in the future if I want. [00:24:34] Speaker A: Exactly. It sets everybody up for the win. [00:24:37] Speaker B: You were talking about finding that leak from the roof all the way down behind the walls, under the cabinets. How do you find moisture? What do you do to find that and mold and everything? [00:24:48] Speaker A: So, like I said, I usually like to start from the outside in because it's going to tell me a story about the house. So, for instance, if I see a missing shingle, or even sometimes one house I went to, we saw an exposed nail head on the roof. And you would think that's not really a big deal. But over time, the nail heads, you, you know, nails, they expand and contract with the heat, which makes a little opening around them a little bit bigger, enough for water to stop, to seep in, and then eventually it hits to the attic, and it might even go down further than that. So just kind of looking from the outside in for cracks, missing shingles, things where water can get into. That's usually the first thing that I would do. Then from there on, I'm going to go inside. I'm going to look around, like the window trims. I'm going to look around, of course, the plumbing fixtures, because that's just a now normal area. I'll look around even baseboards. Sometimes you might have cracks around the lower foundation, which might lead to capillary action. Which a lot of ways to say that is if you ever stuck a piece of towel or like a napkin into a cup of water in it, and then the water soaks up into the towel. Kind of the same thing happens with the foundation of a house. If there's a large enough crack, water can soak up into the house and now all of a sudden go into the walls, the baseboards, things of that nature. So I'm going to look for our common areas. But then I also have the infrared camera, which we use on our full home inspections a lot of times. And that might help to give me a diagnosis if there could be possibly a leak somewhere, because the infrared is only measuring temperature differential. So if we see like a cool area, a spot in a warmer area, then we're going to bring out our moisture meter and we're going to plug it in and we're going to see if we can find anything with that. So a lot of times, you know, it's kind of one. One of the cool things about being a home inspector is you're kind of like Batman. You get all these cool tools that you get to bring out, and hopefully it can save the day for somebody, save somebody some money and put them in the best place to win. So, yeah, tools are definitely helpful in our line. [00:26:33] Speaker B: Caulking on windows, around windows, that's a big one. I've always heard come up A lot of people, it's sort of like, you know, you're talking about people just live in their houses and they tolerate changes. They're the frog in the boiling water. It's getting hotter and hotter, and they don't think about it. How big a deal is caulking around the windows, making sure those are sealed up. [00:26:57] Speaker A: It could be a huge deal, actually. It's funny to say. So we were doing a house. It was. I'll never forget it. It was a two story brick frame house. And so we were doing, you know, doing our normal inspection and everything else. And there was like, literally like huge little separations there around the window trims. And water was literally getting behind the walls. And you could. Like me having experience, I could smell. I'm like, there's. There's mold here. I can't see it, I can't find it, but I know it's here. And when I was actually, I could smell it near one of the openings along the window. Like, you can literally smell it coming out from the window. Like there was a breeze that came by and I'm like, oh, my goodness. And the blessing of the Lord that day is that it rained that day. So I was, you know, we were inspecting the garage and you can kind of see, like little. Seemed like we had stains coming along the wall. But it was a sunny day initially, thank goodness. We spent a few hours there in that case. And as it rained later on that you can actually see where the water was still coming in. So you could tell it was getting all behind the walls. If they would have bought that house, that would have been thousands of thousands of dollars in renovations. Actually, we heard back from the realtor that was doing the house that had us inspecting it. They had a mold remediation company come out. They literally had to gut the whole thing because there was so much. It was behind the wall. It was everywhere. You could not. There was so much water intrusion getting in. Water is probably one of the most dangerous things in a house. If it's not properly controlled, if it's not in the plumbing and it's not where it's supposed to be, if it gets in the wrong spot, it can do all kind of damage. In that case. [00:28:31] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. There's an old joke. If you're the buyer, you want the inspection done during a rainstorm, and if you're the seller, you want it to be the sunniest day possible. [00:28:39] Speaker A: That's so true. Yep. Got that. [00:28:42] Speaker B: If a. If a new owner, maybe a real estate investor, it's A it's a rental home that they. That they're holding. If they've got maybe three to $5,000 a year that they allocate to preventive maintenance, where do you think would be some good places for them to spend that money each year, that three to $5,000 a year to make sure that they maintain the value of that property with little things like that? [00:29:09] Speaker A: Good call. Good call. I would definitely say paint. Exterior paint is definitely a good area to kind of put things to, kind of make sure water from the outside isn't going in. I would definitely say keep up with the roof maintenance, make sure that there's no missing shingles, make sure there's no damage there. Servicing the ac. We know everybody's running the thing as hard as possible, especially here in Florida. So doing a regular maintenance on the AC system, kind of staying up to par with that. Yeah, little things like that, I think will go a long way, which is the perseverance of the house overall, and then even having regular inspections of the house, whether it's a yearly one or every six months. Because sometimes, like, tenants don't like to change filters. That's just a common thing they don't want to do, especially if it's in the awkward place they can't get to. And just having your filter in there clogged and dirty alone can literally cause the life expectancy of your AC to go out way sooner than what it's supposed to. Being able to check for leaks underneath the sinks and stuff like that. So, yeah, sealing up the cracks around even showers, tubs, things like that, because water gets behind the walls. And then all of a sudden, now tiles start falling off, and you don't know why, but it's just that little hairline crack that wasn't taken care of that causes bigger issues down the line. So little things like that, I would definitely take care of it. Don't have carpet in the house, if you can. If you start off with carpet, I would recommend eventually swapping it out for either, like a vinyl planking or something that's more water. Durable stain D not going to be damaged as quickly because you're going to be changing that out all the time anyway. So the less things that can get damaged over time, the better off you are. [00:30:42] Speaker B: Yeah, most. I know most judges, whenever people would go in and ask for, they'd fight over their security deposit, and the landlord be saying, well, you destroyed the carpet. The first question the judge always says, when was the carpet replaced? If it was over five years ago, the Judge would say, no, you don't get to keep their deposit for that. [00:30:59] Speaker A: Yep. [00:31:00] Speaker B: Because in a rental, five years is about the lifespan of carpet. [00:31:04] Speaker A: Agreed. [00:31:04] Speaker B: You're. [00:31:05] Speaker A: You're lucky to get that. [00:31:06] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. No, I mean, I've had people who have brought their motorcycles in and done an entire engine replacement on the carpet, and the judge still said the carpet's over five years old. You know, it's going to happen. It's going to need to be replaced anyway. So just replace the carpet. And you're not keeping their security deposit to do that. [00:31:23] Speaker A: Crazy. [00:31:23] Speaker B: Another one is that landlords, you know, you were talking about the filters on the air conditioners. A lot of my landlords that I've talked to over the years, the smart ones who have got a lot of experience, they have it in their leases that they can. That they will change. They will change the filters in the air, in the air handlers at least four times a year. They will go in four times a year, every quarter, and they change those air filters. And I'm like, oh, my God, isn't that a big hassle for you? And they're like, no, because I get into the house, I get to see what's going on. I get to see how many dogs and cats they've moved into the house. [00:31:58] Speaker A: Exactly. [00:31:59] Speaker B: I get to see, you know, how they're things that are going on. And I, you know, I'm. And I'm making sure that the air filters are replaced in the air conditioning. So those are some tips. I've heard some from some really good landlords over the years, that it is extra work for the landlord. And I know everybody's like, oh, it's passive income. I'm just supposed to own the house and get rent. No, that's not how it works. And also, yeah, doing that annual inspection before your renewals, even if the tenant's just renewing, saying, okay, well, let me come in and take pictures of the house. I want to, you know, we'll schedule this day, this time that's convenient for you. [00:32:37] Speaker A: Yep. [00:32:38] Speaker B: So you're telling the tenant up front, let's, you know, schedule it for you. You know, I'm coming and I'm going to be taking pictures of wear and tear just to see where we are and then do it. You got to stay on top of it. It's not a just sit back and collect rents and renew and keep on going. You got to take pictures on that. [00:32:55] Speaker A: That's right. Yep. I totally agree. Even. Even, like you said, hiring a good property manager is Worth its weight and goals. So you can't actually consider it to be an investment versus another job, because if you have enough rentals, that could be a whole lot of work if you're having to do everything by yourself in that sense. [00:33:09] Speaker B: Exactly. Most. Most big property management companies that I represent definitely do the pictures and the reporting and checking everything. Every year at the renewal, they have their own maintenance crews that take care of doing the air conditioner filter replacements. They have, you know, all that in place. Yes. And then they have relationships with carpet people and flooring people and tile people and plumbers and electricians. They have relationships with them. It's like they can just call them and they'll just take care of it. [00:33:37] Speaker A: Yeah, it makes so much. Like, I work with, actually a couple of property managers where they send us out to do their. Their inspections for them. And that case, we do the same thing. We document everything. And it really does put them in a way position to where the owners know what's going on because they'll get a copy of the report so they. They're aware of it. And. And like you said, we catch things. Like, I've seen houses that, you know, plumbing was leaking for years. Like, you could tell it's been leaking for a long time. Black inside the cabinets. And like, it's. It's terrible. And nobody says anything, you know, like. And they'll put pots and buckets underneath just to kind of conserve it. But yeah, like, if you're not careful, you'll. Your house will go to ruins and you won't even know what happened. [00:34:13] Speaker B: No, we. I have a couple of commercial office building rentals, and I'll go into one of them, and you'll just see the ceiling tiles are brown and sagging. And I'm like, yep, how long has that leak been here? And they look up and they're like, I don't know. Yeah, they work under. It's right above their desk. And they're like, oh, yeah, that's been there a few months. Why did you not call us and let us know? Not my job. [00:34:35] Speaker A: Nothing bad happened. [00:34:37] Speaker B: It didn't collapse on my desk, and if it had, I'd clean it up. And I keep on working, I guess. [00:34:41] Speaker A: But yeah. [00:34:42] Speaker B: Yeah, just as the owner of the property, you're like, just let me know things. I'll fix it. [00:34:46] Speaker A: I'll get it fixed yet. One little call can stop a lot. Yeah, yeah, yeah. [00:34:50] Speaker B: The only time you ever hear from is the air conditioner is not working. Yeah. Because the. The filters are clogged. Up. [00:34:56] Speaker A: You're not exactly the drain lines clogged up and it leaks everywhere. [00:34:59] Speaker B: Yeah, all the time. Wander, it's been great talking to you today. Before we go, I always ask my guests one question because our mission is to help people aspire to a better life. So I always ask my guests, who is one person or a group of people who have helped you aspire to a better life? [00:35:16] Speaker A: Good question. Very good question. So I would definitely have to say my wife and I have been tag teaming through this whole process of trying to grow a business, run a nonprofit, do all those different things. We had a couple of people, mentors like even Augie by a lot. He was very inspirational to our investing career and everything else and even my transition from leaving the job to going out on my own and everything else in that case. So yeah, there's definitely a few people in my life that have been supportive of helping us become this just even group, CFRI and other organizations. Just meeting a lot of people there. So yeah, it takes a village to become a better person. So I definitely will. [00:35:54] Speaker B: Now you said nonprofit. What's your nonprofit? What do you do? [00:35:57] Speaker A: Oh yeah, we have a food pantry. It's called AVOs anointed Victorious Outreach Services. We've been doing it since 2019. Last year alone we fed close to 30,000 people in that case. And we got four school pantries which we're about to get rolling on now in that case. And yeah, it's something that we've been doing. It's a heart passion for us. ARB stands for Always Reaching beyond in service. The way we take care of our people, the way we take care of our clients and the way we take care of the community. And we do that through AVOs. So that's a big part of our thing. [00:36:31] Speaker B: Wonderful. Well, that's great work. I'm glad to hear you're doing that. Glad to meet you today. Wonderful getting some tips and tricks from you today. I want to thank you for coming on. I want thank you for being here. I want to thank you for sharing your expertise with us today. I'm sure that our listeners and viewers got a really good background here on home inspections and what they should be looking for and how they can use them to their advantage. If you ever need anything, you give us a call. And until later, everybody just trust this. Thanks for listening to this edition of Trust this. If you got something out of it, please press like and subscribe and give us a five star review to help us reach others who can benefit from this series. Until next time. Keep aspiring to a better life.