Home Inspectors are not all the same – Pick Wisely!

Buyers should have their new home inspected prior to the actual purchase. Quite often it is a condition I insist on as part of the contract. It is not because I do not believe the Sellers’ disclosure or the integrity of the other agent working with the Seller. I just cannot rely on their ability to know the problems and then disclose them in a meaningful manner.

The home inspection protects the buyer and gives some peace of mind, along with a Home Warranty, as the family moves into their “new” home. It does not eliminate all the questions and concerns, but does eliminate many of them if the inspection is does by someone who has the buyers’ best interest at the heart of their service.

The current problem in Florida is that most any one who wishes to pay the fee requested by the state to be a “licensed” home inspector will get the license – thus being known as a “professional home inspector” to anyone looking on the MyFlorida.com website.

This is NOT acceptable to me or any of my clients. I only work with true professionals. These are the home inspectors who have something substantial behind the license issued by the state. However, not everyone looks for the same background credentials.

A great example of this is reflected in the following response to an e-mail questioning the qualifications of one of my approved home inspectors (this is reprinted with permission of the home inspector):

Uniform Wind Verification Inspection Reply
This is a true story - the names have been changed to protect their identities


To all it may concern,
On July 15th, 2008 I was asked to perform a wind verification inspection for the Smith's.(not their real name)

Yesterday I learned that my qualifications were put in question as to be able to perform the inspection for my client.

I see by the e-mails forwarded to me that even though I have attained more than the required education needed to perform these inspections and even though I am a leader in my industry with over 13 years experience in performing home inspections and even though I serve on the legislative committees for both the National Association of Home Inspectors and The Florida Association of Building Inspectors and even though I helped pass the successful Home Inspector Licensing Legislation scheduled to take effect on October 2010 and even though I've been asked to serve again this year (legislative session 2009) on the amendment of either Senate Bill 2860 (Uniform home Grading System/Hurricane Mitigation) or HB 2234 Regulation of Building Inspection Professionals since the two bills accidentally contradict each other I find out that I am not thought to be qualified to perform an inspection that encompasses about 5% of what my typical home inspection involves.

I see by the e-mails sent to me that I am considered to be not qualified because my name does not appear on the DBPR website. That's correct - it does not. Home Inspectors are not regulated by DBPR, not yet. Not until the successful implementation of the licensing bill I helped pass takes effect. DBPR has in the past and continues to resist regulating the home inspection industry mostly because we are not large enough in number to make regulation of our industry fiscally worthwhile for them or the State of Florida. Secondly, on our own, home inspectors have developed a significant self imposed continuing education requirements that truthfully exceeds what will be required under the new home inspector licensing law by about 100%. It was very difficult to get support from many seasoned home inspectors for the bill because it is generally thought to be too soft.

Next I see that because I am not listed on the My Safe Florida Home website I am not qualified. If you visit the My Safe Florida Home Website you will see that in order to be listed on that website you have to:

Step 3: YOU must OBTAIN employment with a WCE as a direct employee or sub-contractor in order to BE LISTED AS AN APPROVED INSPECTOR ON THE MY SAFE FLORIDA HOME WEB SITE AND receive inspection assignments. (please be aware the capitalization and underlinings are not my embellishments, that's the way they appear on the website).

I have exceeded the education requirements but chose not to get involved in the My Safe Florida Home Wind Mitigation Inspection Program.

I already have developed enough of a core inspection business built up by my own word of mouth referrals. (you won't find me listed in the Yellow Pages either) I did not want to risk my reputation by involving myself in that program which would take away from my core business. You could say I chose to stay with the lady that brought me to the dance. Aside from that, Orlando had only a small percentage of the limited number of My Safe Florida Home inspections done under the now defunct program since it is not located in a high wind zone area of the state.

If website listings are what Homeowners Insurance company (not the real name) feels would qualify me to perform these inspections let me list some.

You can find me listed on the National Association of Home Inspectors website www.nahi.org

You can find me on the Florida Association of Building Inspectors website www.fabi.org

You are welcome to check out my own personal web page at www.JimNolan.name

You can also "Google" me and find articles I've been asked to write and other information. Click on the link below. I'm listed in numerous places right on the first page. (or simply Google "Jim Nolan, home inspector, Orlando FL" )
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&safe=off&sa=X&oi=spell&resnum=0&ct=result&cd=1&q=Jim+Nolan,+home+inspector,+orlando+fl&spell=1

I hope you will reconsider my qualifications. More importantly I hope that someone from your office would contact me (like your Government Affairs Director) so that we might work together with the Home Inspectors, The Realtors, the Home Builders and the Insurance Industry to finally come up with a meaningful solution to the Real Estate, Home Construction and Property Insurance crisis' in our state. Together we can do it.

Thank You for your time.
All The Best,

Jim Nolan
Home inspections By Nolan
8935 Jonathan Manor Dr.
Orlando FL 32819
407-876-3724
NAHI CRI #990007 FABI RPI-0590
Orange County FL #3100-0005495
NAHI Florida Charter Member # 008

Jim’s report was accepted - - not surprisingly. He good at what he does.

Be sure to ask some questions before, during and after your home inspection. Before to make your selection, during to understand the process and concerns regarding your home; and after to be comfortable with your reflections on the results of your report.

If you have questions, I would be happy to help you.

Selling a Home in a Buyers’ Market

Selling a home in any market takes planning and hard work, like taking a hike up a mountain. Selling in a stronger buyers’ market is much more like rock climbing a vertical cliff. Sure, you need special equipment in either, but the danger, anxiety and concentration are greater while you pull your way up the vertical cliff, as are the consequences if you misstep.

Certainly the very best way in either circumstance is to have a strong partner to help plan, navigate and carry some of the load. Most would not attempt any hike or climb without an expert as their partner. Certainly, if this is your first time, you will require the assistance of a professional.

As you do your homework, you will want to gather some very solid information to help put you in a better position from the very start of your journey. Helping homeowners and sellers with real estate planning and marketing is a specialty and an art. Not all professionals are equal to the task, and you need to know if they or their team of experts can help you make a success of your efforts in the short run.

To get you started we have put together some Tips for Home Sellers:

Knowing that home prices are soft and still falling in many areas of Florida, it's most likely is very tempting to try to sell on your own and avoid paying a commission to an real estate agent. However, note that homes represented by licensed professionals historically sell faster and for a higher price than those sold by owners alone, a fact in the results of the National Association of REALTORS recent annual survey. It is also harder and riskier to try selling on your own. Perhaps if you are still willing to do most the work and save some of the commission, you would consider placing your listing with a licensed brokerage on a limited listing basis. Typically, you can save almost half the commissions.

When using a licensed professional, be sure to select an internet-savvy real estate agent to represent you. Questions to ask any agent you're considering include:

• Do you plan to use syndication to publish my listing widely?
• Do you cover Craigslist, Yahoo!, Google, etc.?
• How many sites will my home be on?
• What kind of traffic do those sites receive?
• Will you purchase ad space on the Internet

Use the Internet to find a tech-savvy agent. Sellers can find local agents with sophisticated internet marketing skills. These agents use technologies and other web marketing techniques to syndicate listings and to create and maintain user-friendly, informative Web sites designed to help their clients sell their homes.

Know your most probable buyer. Just because they make an offer and are breathing does not make them the right buyer even in this buyer-barren-market. In the current buyers’ market, the buyers today are very picky compared to what they were just a few years ago. Are you potentially selling to a first-time home buyer? A Move-Up Buyer from a neighboring community or town? A Relocation Buyer who most likely will be working with a relocation-specialty brokerage. A Move-Down Buyer coming from a larger home as an empty nester or as the result of a recent divorce?

Knowing who may be the best candidate can help you in your marketing to one or two of these categories.

Know your Home’s Faults
Homebuyers have so many houses to choose from that they can shop at their pace. They can get more information on each home before they make an offer on any of them. If you find a buyer for your home, they get it inspected and the home inspection uncovers a problem, today's buyers are more apt to walk away and find another house.

An informal survey of a handful of home inspectors found that the percentage of their business devoted to pre-listing home inspections has increased from practically nothing to about 8 percent to 10 percent in the past year. Some sellers decide to fix the problems and show receipts of the work; while others disclose the problems at the time of listing, telling sellers their listing price reflects their awareness of the home's flaws.

Home inspector Jim Nolan, president of the Florida chapter of the National Association of Home Inspectors, suggests sellers obtain a pre-listing home inspection and then adjust the price if problems are uncovered unless it's an issue that needs immediate attention.

More often than not, home inspectors and agents said that sellers who need no convincing to get a pre-listing home inspection tend to be the homeowners who took good care of their property. But it especially makes sense when the home seller, because of work demands, health or age, has not been able to keep up with every aspect of home maintenance.

Sell it Vacant or Not?
When a real estate agent shows a home to a potential buyer, each room and its potential to those possible buyers is somewhat outlined by the content. The depth, width and height are more understandable with the sellers’ objects in the room versus an empty room. All too often a listed house will often go to market without furniture or accessories of any kind, drastically lowering its full market potential.

And now thanks to popular television programs such as "Flip This House" and the multitude of similar shows, a lot of people are tempted to try their own hand at setting up or selling their home (known as For Sale By Owner, or FSBO). It certainly can be a great way to make some money, if you have the right home in the right neighborhood at the right time. However, many of these homes miss the mark when the time comes to listing the house for sale.

While much care is taken to note the amenities in a listing such as the perfect new kitchen cabinets and counter tops, tile for the bathrooms and gorgeous flooring for the living room, these same homes go on the market bare naked, and dollars are being left on the non-existent dining room table. It is not just a few FSBOs that make this mistake. Real estate agents and home sellers who decide to list a vacant property are also missing out on the greater market potential they could enjoy if the empty rooms were staged & decorated by a home stager. Given the same circumstances, a limitedly staged home will sell faster and for more money than a vacant home.

Save Time, Money and Peace of Mind
Homesellers, if you truly wish to reduce the danger, anxiety and loss of concentration in your home sale, you will take some of this FREE advice. As you decide your course of action in climbing that cliff, you will be best served by doing some homework, getting some help and setting plans for success. These tips will be a great start. After all, failure to prepare can hurt you monetarily and emotionally. Based upon the average home in the current market, these tips can save you up to 30%. In this market place, that is quite a bit of savings back in your pocket. And will give you back some peace of mind.

Knowing is best in a Short Sale Situation

Know the Facts
With all the misinformation swirling around the troubled mortgage markets and real estate industry, the average homeowner and home buyer are sure to be confused, anxious and fearful of their next move. Well, take some comfort from the current situation as there are options for every circumstance. The real problem is finding someone to help you sift and sort through the appropriate options and work with the lenders involved.

And, it all starts with the foundation of facts. then we build the options from these to fit the circumstances of the homeowners and buyers.

Take the facts as they are:

• In Central Florida alone, there are over 24,000 listed properties in the MLS (Multiple Listings Service) available to willing, able and ready buyers.
• Foreclosure proceedings are at a record pace in Florida.
• Mortgage lenders are financially troubled by the volume of past-due loans (pre-foreclosures), foreclosure proceedings and REO (Real Estate Owned) they now find they need to deal with.
• Mortgage lenders have changed and tightened up credit requirements for most of the loan programs available.
• The federal government is offering help to targeted homeowners and lenders to alleviate many of the troubled loans.
• Mortgage interest rates are still low relative to rates just five years ago.
  With the saturation of available properties in the market, we are in a very heavy buyers market and properties are being discounted by up to 30% (a bit more in certain circumstances).
• Mortgage lenders do NOT wish to have the real estate /homes (thus becoming REO), but would rather have the owner make payments as agreed (or modified) to make when the loan originated.

Short Sale
The facts above lead many to utter the words “Short Sale” very quickly as the answer to the situation of both Buyers and Sellers. This is the term most misunderstood and misused in the current market.

The REALTORS boards and MLS have come up with procedures to minimize the misuse and misrepresentation of a “Short Sale”. The unfortunate part is that not all REALTORS are equal to the task. Many will offer the use of a “Short Sale Listing” to “help” the home seller. But without doing all the work necessary to establish a short sale, it is nothing but a misleading listing with a CYA (cover your Assets) label imposed by the REALTOR & MLS rules.

The label of a short sale with the proper disclosure that the listed asking price may not satisfy the outstanding debt and is subject to a third party approval is just the tip of the iceberg that can be the “Short Sale Listing”. What lies beneath is the big, hairy, icy mess of getting the property sold.

The basis of a short sale is that the lender knows.
A short sale will never work if the lender does not know. They need to know the financial circumstances of the owner /borrower (not just the fact that they are past due on their payments or will be very soon). They need to know the market conditions of their collateral-home (relative to the loan balance, whether it is still owner-occupied or leased). And they need to know that they are willing to take a discounted sales price for the home in order to avoid the long and costly foreclosure process. Absent of the right knowledge by the lender, the offering of a short sale listing is a pure waste of time. And, it kills many transactions.
It wastes time for the homeseller, the possible homebuyer (and many times there are more than one), and it wastes the time of the real estate professionals involved in writing contract offers and counter offers.

Know thy Short Sale Terms
There are far too many listing agents and brokerages which offer short sale listings without the knowledge and permission of the lender to do so. If you decide to get involved with one of these listings, note that it will not be an easy process, nor a quick one, and certainly not a probable one. Think 3-4 months.

Doing What is RIGHT
This is not to say that buyers and sellers can’t have success without engaging the lenders early in a possible short sale situation. But many more options open themselves to the seller if they do including being able to stay in the home. And, yes, doing what is right by the client may mean the listing agent doesn’t get the listing. But after all, isn’t helping the client the real answer anyway?

Refinancing Now While the Money is Cheap

Refinancing the mortgage isn't the trend it was just a few years ago in 2003, but with current 30-year loans priced under 6 percent, it could be again. And SHOULD be immediate action for some.

"Rates are within spitting distance of their 40-year lows," says Keith Gumbinger of HSH Associates, a mortgage research firm which publishes a Weekly Market Trends & Forecast Newsletter (for free subscriptions, Click Here). "For most borrowers, this is still a very good opportunity."

Good opportunity, absolutely. Walk in the park? Not so much, no. The current credit situation means that even though the money is still very cheap, it isn't flowing as freely as it did five years ago. It's harder to qualify for a good loan and it may take a bit more work to find the right one loan. But that's extra work that's especially worth doing for ambitious homeowners and homeowners currently holding challenging loans.

"First on line should be borrowers who had adjustable mortgages re-set last summer into the 7 percent range and higher," says Gumbinger.

The next group who should be in the marketplace today are those who bought homes with two-tier mortgages and/or have higher-rate piggyback loans. And, for those who have sub-prime mortgages at least two years old and have been making timely loan payments since then, the timing is right.

Here's how to determine if a refinance, (also called a “refi”) makes sense for you or someone you know, and how to find the best loan program and pricing.

1) Know your Credit Score. Check your credit score, and the equity in your home. If you don't have at least 10 percent of your home's value in equity, don't go any further. It will be near impossible to get a loan in this market.

If you're serious about refinancing, check your credit report at http://www.annualcreditreport.com/. If you have blemishes -- late payments and missed payments, and the like, pay to get a copy of your credit score at http://www.myfico.com/. If your credit score is below 680, you will have a very hard time finding a decent loan, says Gumbinger. Look into improving your score before you start applying for loans.

2) Know Your Savings. Be sure the savings are worth it. Use today's quick rule of thumb: If you're planning to stay in your home for at least five years, and can save at least one percentage point on your loan rate, a refi should be worthwhile. The longer you're planning to stay in your home, the smaller the rate differential needed to make it worthwhile. But, don't rely solely on rules of thumb: You will want to use a good online calculator to find out what your break-even point will be: HSH has one to use at www.hsh.com/usnrcalc.html.

3) Avoid Jumbo Mortgages. Large balance borrowers should think about getting in line. Mortgages of more than $417,000 are considered "jumbo" loans, and fall outside normal lending guidelines as they are too big to be guaranteed by pseudo-government financial giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Consequently, jumbo rates haven't fallen as fast as the rates on smaller mortgages. But the discrepancy between the cheapest and costliest jumbo loan is significant, so the right lender might make a refi worthwhile.

Furthermore, the Bush economic stimulus package might help: It would raise the threshold on the Fannie and Freddie backing; some loans now considered jumbo could be refinanced at lower conventional rates. Start working with your mortgage lender now, and keep tabs on the market through an automated rate watch.

4) Shop the Marketplace. It is a competitive marketplace for loans, so shopping for low-cost loans on-line makes a great deal of sense. Call your local mortgage broker. If you don’t currently have one, I might recommend a great site to get started with any obligation and cost: Click Here. Make sure that you get a reasonable good-faith estimate, up front, of how much the lender will charge you for such items as the appraisal, loan processing and the like.

5) Lock Your Rate. And don't procrastinate. It's not just the stock market that is volatile right now: Interest rates are rocky, too. Recession is the buzz word now. But, the moment the financial markets think the nation's biggest threat is inflation instead of recession, all long-term rates will rocket. And those cheap home loan rates will be just a fleeting memory.

Remember, when refinancing becomes the trend again, it may be too late. There are greater rewards for those who investigate their options and act quickly. You should start NOW.