All Forum Posts by: Mike Hasson

 Sooooo what's the hourly rate of the human and dog who will live in and watch the house 24/7?

Where does one hire such a thing?

@James Wise Starting around $100/hr. Weekly rates available. Plus get 10% off your inspection.

One hires such a thing on Bigger Pockets of course!

And while a home inspector may not be part of the "team" per se (since an inspection is usually a one-off sort of thing) you are trusting them to be your eyes and ears on the ground, and so I recommend to also find an inspector you can trust. 

Many investors skip the inspection or shrug it off and rely on a walkthrough with a contractor who writes up a bid - which is fine and works great for many folks - but a distinct advantage to a thorough inspection, is that the inspector is unbiased and is not incentivized by the size of the work order.

We'll give you the facts and then you can work it out from there, usually with the counsel contractor/realtor/seller/etc on how to proceed.

If you need a recommendation for an inspector in Ohio, or just want to talk real estate, please feel free to reach out

Hi, found this post as I'm looking at some properties up there. From what I can tell these are the only two PMs in town. 

@Adam Daneff @Ryan Linskey Can you share an update on your experiences please? 

I'm open to recommendations and avoiding pitfalls.

Thanks!

One thing to note is that cast iron pipes don't last forever. They should have about 100 year lifespan, but if conditions are unfavorable it can be much less. Depending on when the home/neighborhood was built can give you a rough idea of how old that pipe is. Though if there's cracks in it, it's time to replace. But in the future, if you found cast iron pipes during inspection, this would be something you may want to evaluate further in your due diligence, especially now that you see the results of when they fail. 

Sounds like you were able to get things prioritized and put a plan together. I'm glad we were able to help; that's what we're here for!

I recently did the same thing on a project, and put an open shelf instead of cabinets. Let us know how yours works out!

My experience with home warranties has not been positive. 

Every time I used it, the "contractor" they sent out ended up "finding" way more work that was "required" before they could even address the repair I called in about. In each circumstance I called their BS, and just hired my own contractors to do the work, even though I'd still have to pay their bs service fee to come look at it. And yes, it was worth it.

For example, I was quoted $950 to fix a leak under a crawl space, and the warranty would only cover $150 of that. The other $800 was to apparently move a gas pipe for some reason?! No thanks. I called a real plumber who fixed the leak for $125. 

In the end, the repairs on the house over a year, paying actual (honest) contractors, cost me less combined than what the home warranty cost. The seller paid for the warranty, so I wasn't upset, but if I recall the lender required it.

Never again if I can help it.

Some good questions and I understand the long list of items on an inspection report can seem overwhelming at times but let's try to look at the big picture, and as you mentioned, for you that is the appraisal value.

Adding AC is always nice, but if it doesn't add enough value to recoup, then doesn't make sense, as an investor, to add; do the comps that you look at have central ac? if yes, then to reach that comp you'd probably want it, but if none of the comps do, it might be prudent to skip it. You can apply that principle to pretty much everything to determine your ARV.

Handrails are easy to install and safety concerns are real.

Mismatched cabinets are unlikely to affect appraisal. Broken cabinets might. 

I've never seen an appraiser check for GFCIs, but an inspector 100% will. Check out this short article on the differences between appraisers and inspectors

Speaking of GFCI's yes they are a safety feature and of course you want everything to be safe I commend that... but then you want to drop an extension cord behind a wall?! Perhaps you miss the irony in that that is a fire hazard waiting to happen.  Whether you mean inside the wall cavity, or permanently fixed down the wall, the concern is the same. Please, do not do that.

If you do choose to add a hood, I suggest you do it correctly (via an electrician). Whether or not the hood will add to your ARV is debatable. Also, a ductless hood would serve little purpose as that is a gas line in the picture. Gas combustion creates poisonous carbon monoxide which should be vented to the exterior, so you'd also need HVAC. A ductless vent would be more appropriate for an electric stove.

Anytime there is gas combustion in a home, please  at least make sure there is working carbon monoxide alarms present!

If it were me, I'd look into getting that switched for electric and installing the hood. That would be the safest way to bring it up to a modern standard. And since an electrician is already doing in there, moving the doorbell might not take the pro but a few moments, I wouldn't be concerned about that.

This is an excellent question, but please don't hold it against your inspector for not helping you to prioritize the repairs. At least here in Ohio, as a licensed trade, we are actually not allowed to do so! 

I know that can seem frustrating, but from an inspector's perspective - basically out entire job is liability management - so I can't point something out on a report, but then tell you it's not that important; that would be contradictory! So we have to navigate this carefully. As an inspector, I would simply arm you with as much information as possible and would have to be up to you to determine if that is something that you are willing to take on. On the other hand, I do like to remind folks that almost everything can be fixed! So at the right price, anything can be a good deal.

With that said, I have a few recommendations to help you navigate this very real challenge:

A) Discuss the findings with your realtor. They are the ones who can help you determine if the overall price is a good buy for what the inspection finds, and can help you in negotiating until you achieve something agreeable. I personally prefer to receive credits instead of having the sellers complete repairs, that way I can control the quality of the work, but your realtor knows you and your situation best, and should be able to guide you through the negotiations.

B) Upload your inspection report to RepairPricer.com. It's a third party service that uses AI to analyze your report, and returns itemized price estimates for each item on the report with a surprising level of accuracy. I'm not affiliated with them, but I do recommend the service, and my clients have found immense value in it. Perhaps seeing a dollar amount by each item may help you to prioritize. Though keep in mind it is generally unreasonable to expect a home to have no problems, or for everything to be repaired.

Good luck!

In lieu of experience, you may learn a lot by following as many home inspector's social medias as you can find. 

You'll see all kinds of stuff that will open your eyes to the kinds of things that you might want to be looking for that we run into every day.

some of my personal favorites are:

https://www.instagram.com/cros...

https://www.instagram.com/cyfy...

https://www.instagram.com/home...

https://www.instagram.com/bpin...

You can probably find some local to the area your looking too, That'd also be a good way to find a home inspector you can trust to hire once you get properties under contract.

@Troy Patt I personally don't have target ages for my properties as each Era has its own pros and cons.

My oldest property (1920) was also my most profitable. Also I just inspected a 1907 that was fully rebuilt around 2000 but on the books was still a 1907.