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It's a sad day of mourning here in Northern Utah. The weekend was full of extreme joy and devastating sadness. Currently Shelly and I are emotional wrecks. If there are errors in the MMM this week please forgive us, but our hearts are currently broken.
Today is Valentines Day and Shelly and I beat the rush and had a romantic getaway Saturday evening (more on this later). This getaway provided the extreme joy part alluded to earlier. Sunday morning as we were driving back home to our kids, we received a cell phone call notifying us that my Grandmother had passed away.
The death of a loved one is
an extreme crush. Grandma Garner was my last living Grandparent
and the tears freely flowed with the notification. Shelly was
wonderful in her ability to listen to me and help ease me through
the natural flow of emotions. Surely Grandma Garner is in a better
place. At 91, Grandma had been alone for about 8 years since the
passing of Grandpa Bob. She was living in Matthew, Missouri, which
sits about 250 miles south of St. Louis. Grandma was the type
that lived for her Grandkids and Great Grandkids. Growing up,
we spent a lot of summers at Grandma and Grandpa's house and they
were key influences in our upbringing. Grandma always knew when
I was getting into trouble. This was a remarkable feat considering
she was blind.
Being legally blind, Grandma still would probably have made a great Home Inspector. Her other senses were incredibly sharp. Her sense of hearing would always detect my youthful silence. I never knew until years later that her key indicator that I was getting into trouble was my silence. If I was quiet, then I was up to no good. She taught me what my posterior felt like after the switch graced my buns...... Grandma, I will miss you very much.
SECOND DEVASTATION: We are getting to the point where we don't want to answer the phone anymore. Sunday evening we received another call, this time from Shelly's father. He shared the bad news that her 85-year- old Grandfather had just died. She is still in shock from the news. It was just August that his wife had died and now he departed this life to join her. Here was a man that never missed sending a note for every child, grandkid and great-grandkid's Birthdays, as well as anniversaries and major holidays. He had 6 kids, 12 grandkids and 14 great- grandkids, and he never missed even one special occasion. He welcomed me into the family with open arms and I never felt out of place at family gatherings. He always expressed his gratitude to me for helping to make a great family with his special granddaughter, Shelly...... It never ceases to amaze me how much the elder generation can teach me. Their social graces and consideration for others is an area that I really admire. I seem to be in a protective mode for me and my immediate small family, while the grandparents are in a mode of reaching out and caring for all of their posterity..... This is a quality to be admired.
Never once did either Shelly's Grandfather or my Grandmother ever ask for help. They made do on when they had put away over the years. Neither was wealthy in material things, but each felt so extremely blessed with their families. Both could go on forever with stories of their posterity. Both suffered heartache, loss, and extreme joy. Both lived through times of wealth and times of tightening the belt. Both were survivors (as adults) of the Great Depression. Both were fully striving to live a higher spiritual law and endured faithful to their deaths...... We are going to miss them both so much....... It is really hard to watch both Shelly and I pass through the emotions of grief and loss, even though we know that they have gone on to a better place.
HUGE DILEMNA: Now comes the question of how to take a full week of work and arrange to get our family of six to southeast Missouri for my Grandma's funeral and then to Phoenix for Shelly's Grandfather's funeral. We are still sorting out the logistics and only one thing is for certain: thousands of miles will be put on our vehicle during this coming week. =:-|
LENDER DRIVEN INSPECTIONS cont.Feedback from the Lender driven inspections was very interesting to sort through this past week. Steve Jordan from Oregon brought back to my mind the dirty way that Lender driven inspections can make you feel..... Am I compromising my integrity? If I let something go am I selling out? Do I even like dealing with gray areas? Steve shared the following experience......
Bottom of exterior siding panels had
dry rot in the bottom 6". I recommended repair. Buyer wanted
to do the work himself, over the first year after moving in. Lender
wanted a "clean" dry rot report before he would advance
funds. I wrote a separate section on my P & DR report, entitled
"For Buyer's information only." I moved the information
there and changed the dry rot to "Pre-dry rot stages of deterioration---recommend
that the areas be kept carefully painted and caulked to prolong
life----". I didn't like this, but I knew the buyer personally,
knew that he knew exactly what he was getting into, and knew it
was a win-win situation for all involved for him to be able to
go ahead with closing of the
house.
Now before you cast any stones at the confessed sinner, I would ask you to walk a mile in the man's shoes. Better yet, you should walk two miles first. This is a tough situation that a non-Lender driven Inspector cannot relate with. It would be so easy to hang the scarlet letter around Steve's neck and cast him out of the Association unless you have been there. Let me come to his defense. Lender driven inspections, whether for Pest & Dry Rot or for a Home Inspection are not always in the Buyer's best interest. Many times they are being mandated upon people who are strapped for cash that are just trying to get into a home. They love the house, they love the cheaper "Price" and they love that they can move-in and do a lot of the work themselves. The dilemma is that the Lender can require them to do everything before the closing instead of after they move-in. If all of those items were completed before closing, then the selling "price" would be higher and they couldn't afford to buy the house.
I did just such an inspection for a man buying an older house because it had an auto garage on the property that was larger than the house. He restored vintage cars and was going to be spending 18 hours of every day restoring cars and only 6 more sleeping in the old house. The list of needed repairs was lengthy and that is where the negotiating came into play. The man loved the house and he was going to be performing all of the repairs at his own expense before closing. I took him on the roof and showed him the areas of deterioration that prevented the roof from satisfying the 2 years of remaining life guideline. The Buyer said that he could not afford to strip the entire roof right now or afford to pay professionals for the repair. He wanted to know if he could just repair part of it with new shingles and add sealant where it was needed as more of a short-term patch. I understood his situation and said that the guidelines did not say that it had to be pretty, but that if he could do the work in the following areas that I could give him the needed two year clearance.
A month later I returned to the home to see that the Buyer completed the list of over 25 items and was ready for me to re-inspect them. He signed that he had completed all of the work himself. As for the roof, although not fair to look upon, the roof would easily last for two more years. I gave the roof the needed clearance as well as the other 24 items. I refuse to let Sellers cut corners and do the major work themselves, but I have found it beneficial to work with Buyers. For example, if the Seller's had asked me if they could perform the same roof repair I would have negated it without a professional Roofer doing the work and putting their name on the line. Sellers want to do it to cut corners and they couldn't give a hoot about the caliber of the repair or if it will last. They want the cheapest repair possible. Buyers are different....... Hang the Scarlet letter around my neck as well.
Brent Foster from Lacey, WA, shared that he does several different types of Lender inspections and offers the following advice.....
Lenders will not ask you to change anything. What is more dangerous is they will want you to tell them what to repair, what not to repair and then re-inspect the work preformed by others. It is becoming obvious not to perform any re-inspections because the preception is EVERY THING IS PERFECT. Do not do it! Also there are many loan programs with no guidelines for minimum property standards or repair mandates so the lenders are making them up as they go.
Example: An observation of a roof cover might be stated (the composition
roof appears to be 12 to 14
years old, this material is brittle and susceptable to high wind
damage. No visible damage to roof cover at the time of inspection.
Typical life average is 15-18 years. Monitor.) If you do not recommend
the roof cover be replaced and a portion blows off in a high wind,
guess who they call? Been there, done that!! The question to the
lender is the documented observation of an aging component and
mandate for repair, further review or replacement. Brent Foster
- Lacey, WA
As usual, Brent has shared his real life experiences and has made me step back and re-evaluate my position. Brent is accurate that Lenders:
The interesting point is that this is a whole new market. We also have the choice of whether or not we want to participate in this type of inspection. I have chosen to fully participate in Lender Inspections. Instead of allowing this unique marketplace to develope and mature without my input, I have opted to be participitory and help the Lenders define what I need to do.
The first thing that I had to quickly realize was that even though I am Certified by AII™ and adhere to their Standards of Practice, the Standards do not define the steps to performing Lender inspections. To follow Brent's example, let's examine the Roof. By AII™ Standards, how do we determine if the roof needs to be replaced??? Where is the line drawn on an older roof? At what point do you clearly say that the roof is "Okay" verses "It needs to be Replaced"? Unfortunately the Standards of Practice do not specify clearly and therefore our opinion is too subjective to satisfy the underwriter's needs. After only a few of these types of inspections, I spoke with Brent and he shared with me the Appraiser's guidebook. I figured back in 1996 that if I learned the rules of the Lender that I could more clearly make judgement calls on the numerous gray areas that we encounter during a Home Inspection.
GRAY AREAS:
This list goes on and on, but how would you handle the listed gray areas on a Lender inspection. Now remember, the Lender will be reviewing the inspection report and will make their decisions based upon your evaluation. If you report all of these items with no defined course of action the Lender will be required to have each item upgraded. Knowing this...... how do you decide which items MUST be repaired/upgrade and which do not??? Our SOP's do not help us.
The answer to this dilemma is in the HUD Handbook 4150.2. It defines what is acceptable and what is not. I wish that every issue was discussed in 4150.2, but they are not. 4150.2 does provide a lot of excellent guidelines, however ,they are hidden like buried treasure within the 125+ pages. Some of the gray topics are clarified, while others are still left to the Inspector's judgement.
4" of fiberglass insulation instead of 12-15" = Some Lending programs REQUIRE R-38, yet most do not care - Ask the Lender
Forced air heater that is 30 years old = The heater must have 2 years of remaining life left. This is subjective, but justifies your deferment to the specialist. If it looks run down then call for further Evaluation or condemn it. If it looks to be okay then recommend further evaluation and a service tune-up by a licensed HVAC. The key is the 2 years of remaining life. The liability is diverted when you recommend further evaluation.
Roof that is not leaking but looks to have about a year of life left. 4150.2 specifies at least 2 years of remaining life. I have found that 2 years of life is really easy to determine. If you question the lifespan then require replacement and defend your stance with the HUD guidelines. In Brent's case, it would be a good protocol to state in the report that "Acts of God are impossible for the Inspector to predict. For example, we cannot predict if the roof will blow off during a windstorm."
Older carpet with frayed edges in the walkways = If this is a tripping hazard it should be repaired, although carpet replacement is not mandated. A repair is sufficient.
No GFCI's near the kitchen sink on a 1960's home = Not required to satisfy 4150.2, but the report recommends the Buyer's Safety Upgrade, although not required to satify the lending program.
Garage door opener w/o auto-reverse feature = Not required to satisfy 4150.2, but the report recommends the Buyer's Safety Upgrade, although not required to satisfy the lending program.
Tile shower pan with deteriorated grout, but no evident leaks = Not required to satisfy 4150.2, but the report recommends the Buyer's Safety Upgrade, although not required to satisfy the lending program.
Home with only one smoke detector installed = Not required to satisfy 4150.2, but the report recommends the Buyer's Safety Upgrade, although not required to satisfy the lending program..
Window with a faulty thermo-seal = Not required to satisfy 4150.2, but the report recommends the Buyer's Safety Upgrade, although not required to satisfy the lending program.
Now before any clarifications are needed, I am in Utah and there are no provisions for bad thermo-seals and sleeping room smoke detector installations in the purchase contract. I have been told that California considers both of these necessary for the sale of the home and they would need to be upgraded and on your list of needed repairs.
At first I was very uncomfortable compiling the list of items that need repairs. I also questioned whether or not I would be covered by my E&O. I found that I created more headaches at first by expressing my lack of decisiveness as to whether a repair should be mandated or not. It is now very easy for me. I had to define for myself what my SOP's mandated, what the HUD 4150.2 mandated, and take into account any special provisions mandated by the specific lending program. When I do a Lender mandated inspection, I know that I am the bad guy. I am the referee on the court. I wear the striped shirt and I am responsible to blow the whistle.
Anybody that has been a ref knows how hard it is to blow the whistle in the first few games. It is a completely different mindset. After a few seasons it becomes second nature. The first thing that you learn when you blow your whistle during a game is that nobody questions you when you blow the whistle loudly and confidently make your call. The grief over a call comes when the sheepish ref blows the whistle softly and isn't sure what to call. This type of foul call draws disapproval from all of the players. When I referee, the whistle is blown quickly and loudly. Next I immediately make the confident call and let the offender know who he was and what he did wrong. It is amazing how most players will look at me with amazement feeling that they did NOTHING wrong, yet when they see my confidence in the foul call they step back and say.... "Wow, I didn't realize it, but I won't do that again."
The same is true for Lender inspections. The Inspector must be decisive and give the needed course of action. If you are uncomfortable doing this then don't book the inspection. In fact, the report is not enough. You must also extract the information that needs to be repaired or further evaluated. This saves the Lender from reading through your 14 pages and making their own judgement calls. Extracting your list of needed repair/evaluated items is equal to blowing your whistle loudly and making the foul call. Once again, if you are uncomfortable doing this then don't referee!
As to Re-inspecting, Brent said to not do them because you then provide a false sense of security that everything is perfect. Re-inspections are a natural part of the Lender inspection market. They bring in an additional $80-$160 here in Utah depending on the types and amount of items that need re-inspecting. If you have previously extracted the information into a concise summary, then re-inspections are easy. I return to the property to look at only the 8, 10 or 20 items listed on the Needed Reair Summary sheet. On this sheet I have given them specific guidance. For example, miswired outlets are easy for me to re-test and give a clearance. For heater issues, however, I require written documentation from the HVAC that they have completed the repair and that they give the heater at least 2 years of remaining life. This clearance is defined on the Repair Summary sheet.
My biggest headaches came from my lack of specifying what the course of action was. Brent will confirm how important this is on his Pest & Dry Rot evaluation that the directives be specific. If a professional needs to look at it and make a judgement call, then you must specify which type of professional and what they must make a judgement call on. Simply saying that the heater needs a tune-up is not adequate. Stating that "a licensed HVAC must evaluate and give a two years of remaining life clearance on the heater in writing in order to satisfy the requirements of the lending program" is specific. The re-inspection consist of your return to the property and reading the written clearance by the HVAC. Then you write a follow-up report and submit it to the Lender saying that you saw the clearance by the HVAC and that a copy of the clearance should be submitted to the Lender before closing. For $80, I can do this.
JETTED TUB BONDING???Last Week I posted the following Photo Challenge to the readership and only 2 souls were brave enough to respond. That either means that the photos were so lousy that you could not make a determination, or you are all sitting back waitng for the feedback. Here are the photos again......
The following photos were taken on the same 1996 home.
First
comes the jetted tub motor located underneath the jetted tub
and accessed through the access cover.
Next
is the bonding wire from below the tub.
Then
comes the double clamping connection on both the supply and the
discharge lines on the water heater.
Next
is the interior water supply shut off valve.
Finally
there is the PEX style underground water main splice with the
interior copper supply line system.
The main house ground is provided via a rod ground at the exterior main panel. The interior subpanel is connected to the main exterior Main panel with the standard supplies, neutral and grounding conductor. No other bonding or grounding jumpers were identified.
Jon Gudnason is always keen on the topics of grounding and bonding. Jon shared.....
"I think so. If I understand bonding correctly its intention is to join all adjacent metallic components together. The return path to ground would be through the ground wire in the cable supplying the spa motor. The copper pipes in the home should all be bonded to the main panel ground bar. The reason for bonding the copper pipes is not to ground the electrical system. That comes from the utility neutral and the ground rod. The reason for bonding the supply pipes is to be sure they will not maintain current potential but trip a breaker if a hot wire were to come in contact with the pipe. Jon Gudnason - Placerville, CA
Jon is correct, or at least partially correct. Bonding was explained to me as the last extra level of protection to keep the electricity out of the water in case every other system fails. The part that was unclear in the photos is that the copper plumbing system was never bonded to the main panel. In Utah, the majority of our homes are grounded through the water main as well as a UFER or rod ground. The newer water mains are usually copper and there are obvious ground clamps at the shut-off next to the water lines exit location from the home. This particular installation was unique because the water main was plastic PEX. This defeated the extra efforts that the installer took to bond the jetted tub spa motor to the copper water pipes. Without some sort of bonding jumper to the main panel or grounding rod it was all in vain. This comes from an installer who is just going through the motions and doesn't realize that there is a plastic water main...... VERDICT: Well intentioned installation, but Wrong!!!
Steve Bradley from Oregon addresses another issue brought to light in the photos with....
"Michael, you are truly fortunate by having a basement to view your jetted tubs. Of all the jetted tubs in houses I have inspected in my area, none had a readily accessable opening to inspect the electrical or plumbing requirements without cutting through a caulking seal and/or removing 4 to 8 finish screws. I note these items as being inaccessible and advise the client that if these items are a concern then further evaluation should be performed by a qualified person." Steve Bradley
While it is true that I love the basements, most of my units are inaccessible as well. Usually the basements are finished off and I cannot view from below either. This was a rare case where I could view from every direction. While we are issuing Scarlet letters on this Valentines day, I want to issue one to Steve. I question your comment of "I note these items as being inaccessible and advise the client that if these items are a concern then further evaluation should be performed by a qualified person." I tend to use this vernacular in a couple spots within my report and wonder if it gives the client any real value. The client is not the professional, we are. If there is an issue or a need for further evaluation then we need to help make that determination. As to the inaccessibility of the jetted tubs I have added the following to my reports. "There is a jetted tub installed. The full evaluation of jetted bathtubs is beyond the scope of this evaluation. There is no access provided to the tub plumbing and spa motor. I was unable to verify if there is the recommended GFI protection and bonding installed for the jetted tub = Potential Hazard = Recommend verification by a licensed Electrician." I feel a lot more comfortable with this comment because I know that if those items are not part of the installation that lack of GFI and bonding is a Hazard. If I followed the old method of... "if these items are a concern then further evaluation should be performed by a qualified person" then I would be leaving myself wide open for death and bodily injury claims.
This same reporting method is true of sloped lots or hillside lots in my computerized report. My standard comment for sloped lots says... "NOTE: If soil stability or expansive soil conditions are a concern, please consult a Soils Engineer." This came directly from the AII™ handwritten report and it is really a worthless statement, in my opinion, yet I use it regularly. I also safeguard myself by adding either of the following statements..... "We recommend further evaluation by a Structural Engineer." and "We strongly recommend further evaluation by a Structural Engineer." OOPS.... I need to change my report comment to "Structural and/or Soils Engineer." I think that I need to revisit the "If it is a concern, then" type of comments because they are really lousy guidelines for clients and a wishy-washy way to weasle out of making the judgement call. I'll let you know next week what I think and I look forward to your feedback on the topic..... Until then, let's not issue the Scarlet letters just yet.
QUOTABLE QUOTES: "Do
not condemn the judgement of another because it differs from your
own. You may both be wrong." --Dandemis (Indian Philosopher)
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AII™ Web Site: www.INSPECTION.org