All Forum Posts by: Justin Larpenteur

I'm also looking for an inspector for the Atlanta area.

The company I work for is  looking for home inspectors in the North Atlanta Georgia area. We need 4-5 to help with our volume here.

If anyone has any recommendations they would be greatly appreciated!

Mindy Jensen Yeah the older materials were terrible at letting water escape and you would tend to have a lot of moisture issues. Stucco is primarily used now and has a much better track record.

Mindy Jensen what happened?

Yesterday we talked a little about GFCIs but today we are going to talk about foundations. First question... What is the absolute WORST house you have seen in regards to its foundation? What do I look at when I look at the foundation? Great question! Basically any inspector looks for the "signs and symptoms" of a failing foundation. These can be cracks in the walls/ceilings, exposed openings under the slab, Windows and doors sticking, etc. but overall, we look at the signs and form an OPINION of what we think the foundation is doing at the time. I personally use a method that takes a lot of the guess work out but I'll get to that later. One of the EASIEST signs of a failing foundation is the separation of the frieze boards on the corners of the home. These boards are usually the first board that touches the actual exterior wall of the home. When you look at these you want to see if you can find any separation at all from them to the wall/brick/etc. you could have a house that has absolutely no cracks and still have foundation issues just because of those frieze board separations. On the other hand you could have a crack every 4 feet and see no separation and the foundation is perfectly fine. So what does PERFECT mean? It's hard to say. In my line of work I speak with many foundation repair companies and structural engineers to learn as much as possible. Some foundation companies won't do the work on some houses because it's not always cost effective but there is a general rule of thumb that most professionals use. If a foundation changes in height by 2 inches or more within 12 feet. There is a significant issue. Most companies use a Zip level to figure this out and so do I. It can confirm or deny your suspicions and I highly recommend you get one. One last thing before I go. On 95% of homes, old or new, you will see a phenomenon called a "corner pop". These can be as small as hairline diagonal cracks within 1 to .5 feet of a corner and usually have a corresponding crack on the other side, or as big as a whole chunk of your slab falling off. They look terrible but fortunately they are just cosmetic and don't effect your foundation as a whole in any way. A new buyer who doesn't know will often think that your house will need a complete overhaul of its foundation so make sure you seal the little cracks and patch up the missing chunks. It's relatively inexpensive and it's usually not worth the trouble for a foundation company to fix so that's why you see a lot of them. I really hope this has helped at least someone today! Maybe tomorrow I'll talk a little bit about water. Fun fun

I rarely see a chimney that needs a full replacement. It would have to be falling over significantly, mortar missing, flashing damaged, missing components, and some more just to say it needs a full replacement. I would love to get into the stories I've heard about deal killers lol but it wouldn't do me any favors.

So I started my investing career as just a guy trying to get more money to pay off bills. I was tired of living check to check like everyone else. I'm not going to go into that story because it's the same for most people. ANYWAY I decided to get into the industry as a professional and learn my way into things and get paid for it. I chose inspection because it's just what made sense to me and my goals. My greatest shortcoming is estimating rehab costs so by the end of the year I hope to be much more of an expert than I am now. This is the first of my "Tales from an inspection" series. I inspect about 40-50 homes a month so I see a lot. Hopefully I can give you guys some insights as well. Today I had a 30 year old home that was surprisingly updated. Granted, every home will have issues but this one had hardly enough to make a financial difference on the investor who was buying it. One of the issues however, was the lack of GFCI protection in the home. In Texas AT LEAST you need to have GFCI outlets on all kitchen counter surfaces, outside, garage, bathrooms etc. this home had the outside ones since the pool was relatively new and the outlets were put in when the pool was put in. For any of you selling homes. Make sure these are put in. There isn't a limit to how many but they are a great way to further protect your appliances and most importantly, your loved ones who just HAVE to curl their hair while taking a shower and listening to Metalica all at once. Also get the "Code Check" book from Home Depot lol. Even before I was an inspector I lived by this book. It can really make an inspection on your home go smoothly. As far as estimating the cost of replacing the normal outlets, I can only assume they cost between 5 to $10 a piece but that just takes a run to the hardware store. The harder part is determining how much to pay the electrician to do it. Sure you could but then in yourself but that takes work and you have other things to do like find better deals. What are your thoughts? I wanted to keep the first one simple. As I see more I'll post more interesting topics like foundation repairs :p. How do you guys handle Home inspectors?

Benjamin Blackburn I'm a home inspector now and I absolutely love it! I rarely deal with realtors and most of my work is with investors so it's a perfect environment for me. Sorry for taking so long! How are you?

I wonder if you guys are still active on BP!! I just got back and I'm ready to mingle! ;) jk not like that From starting this thread to now I've been doing some things. First of all I made a few more mistakes that included investing and I decided to change my strategy from just going in blind and looking online for good deals. I changed industries almost! My reason? I needed more knowledge. I became a home inspector in Texas at the start of this year and tried to start my own business. My plan was to grow naturally and use as little debt as possible and if I didn't meet my "mark" of success I was going to get with another company and get paid to learn from them. That's exactly what happened and the experience I'm gaining is like trying to drink from a pressure washer! I started off doing about 1-2 inspections a month and now I'm doing 1-3 a DAY! I'm seeing a lot of stuff, houses, big and small issues and I'm in a newer company that values their employees and compensates me very well for going above and beyond. I just wanted to give you guys an update if you are all still on and if new people see this. I look forward to discussing things with you. If you're in the DFW area I REALLY want to speak with you!

I'm from East Texas and I have a partner who has lots for me to rent from and he rents trailers to people who can't afford a regular apartment in a very small town. He has been doing it for a very long time and makes roughly $500 profit after monthly expenses a month per $1000-5000 trailer.

If I can't find any trailers to buy he will sell me a few of his. But I'm looking for camping trailers in the range of $3000 or less and I'll fix it up as well so quality does matter but I'll buy it either way.

If you have a camping trailer just let me know and I'll check it out! I don't want something that's from across the U.S. unless you are willing to bring it to me.

Email me pictures and price at [email protected]

(910) 922-5005