I have long been in support of a law which would govern home inspectors in the State. While there are a number of home inspectors who have complained that my support of a law was a selfish desire to cut out some of my competition, this was never the reason why I wanted a law: I wanted a law to p
...
10/18/2009
The new law governing home inspectors was part of a long process that culminated in an effective date of June 12, 2008 and the first phase of implementation went into effect on September 1, 2009. The progress of this law can be found here: http://apps.leg.wa.gov/billinfo/summary.aspx?bill=6606&y
...
10/18/2009
... I turn around and see the Ocean. Luckily, the fact that we own properties on the Coast enable us to see this every week! :) This home, on the Washington Coast, was literally on the water... about 20 feet from the deck. Often these inspections are really tough because I will find a lot of wo
...
10/18/2009
BREAKING NEWS: WATER DOESN'T FLOW UP HILL! A couple of the most common things I find during home inspections: 1) Negative flow on gutters, and 2) Negative flow on drain lines. The drain line shown in the picture was coming off a kitchen, then draging on the ground for about 20 feet, before even
...
10/18/2009
Many know that Washington State finally passed a law to govern home inspectors and the first phase of this law went into affect on September 1, 2009. You can check who has a license and who doesn't by looking on the Washington State License Query System. A list of Clark County licensed home insp
...
10/18/2009
First-time homeowner tax credit may get 1-year extension By ERIC ADAMS, KGW.com Staff Rep. Kurt Schrader has introduced a bill in Congress to extend the First-Time Home Buyer Tax Credit. Schrader's bill would extend the $8,000 tax credit for a year, through September 2010. It was set to expire No
...
10/18/2009
At a home inspection a couple months back I came upon some obvious moisture in the basement. It was concentrated in one area, was found in the carpet, in the baseboard along the bottom of the wall, and in the wall itself. Remember: a couple of months ago was August--not exactly the wettest tim
...
10/18/2009
Description: This home, in the Forest Grove, OR area, has been inspected three times in the last 2 years by our Company. When this happens, we usually get a call from a client simply asking that we do a "pest and dry rot" inspection, often required by the lender, because we "already inspected
...
10/17/2009
Description: At a recent inspection I got on the ladder to check out the roof, and came down 20 seconds later. "Aren't you going to inspect the roof?" "Yes, I already did. It needs to be replaced." "Really? You can tell that quickly?" "Sometimes... yes... yes you can." This roof was also
...
10/17/2009
New York Times, October 9, 2009 "WASHINGTON - Democratic Congressional leaders are working with the White House to extend an expiring $8,000 tax credit for first-time home buyers, and aides said Wednesday that they were considering making it available to current homeowners who purchase a new resi
...
10/10/2009