Welcome everybody to Midday Magazine for this Tuesday, March 11th, 2025.
Have your host, James here and I am joined right now by David Farmbrow and Relity Radio.
Let's talk some radio, let's talk Relity with David and get into some fun stuff here.
David, thank you very much for joining us, how you been?
I've been very well, thank you.
It's wonderful to be with you again.
Always appreciate the time, the topics.
We get to really dive into some things in the real estate area that we don't always get
a chance to do that with.
This one I think is an important one and one that buyer, seller, people just thinking
about it out there are going to find this a very informative and interesting topic because
we're going to talk about home inspections.
Let's dive into this one, David.
Right, and it's something that is very important because you're making a big financial commitment
and it's also where you're going to be living.
Now a lot of what the home inspectors check is things like safety and there are some
things which we let go in our own homes, but when you're selling it, it all goes under
the microscope and sometimes there are things that you didn't even know were a safety hazard
that might be identified.
So you kind of give us a, that's a basic breakdown of what a home inspection is.
Is there, is there parts of a home inspection that, you know, we wouldn't realize, especially
we haven't had one done before?
Yes.
And the home inspector tests a lot of things.
Now when, when you go and you look at a house to see if you want to buy it, you're, depending
on the individual, some people are only in there for five or ten minutes, they just walk
in, walk out and say yes or no.
Some people take 30 to 45 minutes to look around a house and it obviously depends on the
size, but, but the home inspector is usually there for three to four hours and again, that
just depends on the size of the home, how many outbuildings there are, you know, some
of these houses you've got five bedrooms, three bathrooms and two, three stall garages.
Well, he's going to be there for five hours to do that.
If it's a two bedroom home with no garage, he'll probably get it done in, in probably
two hours, but a lot longer than we spend when we just go for our walk around.
When it comes to home inspection, they're inspecting the whole house, too, right?
I mean crawl spaces, little areas you might not have thought of.
They do.
Most of the home inspectors are extremely conscientious, or in fact, all of the ones
I've worked with have been, and what they have to do is if you have a roof space, then
they have to go up into the roof space if they can.
If it is not acceptable, then they'll at least try and look up there and shine a flashlight
around.
And they're checking for things like the structural integrity of the roof.
So if they see any beams have been cut or anything's rotten, they'll report that.
They'll look at things like whether there is any mold on the wood, although they don't
like it's called it mold, because it might be something that's a different type of microbial
growth, and they'll always, if they see anything like that, they'll always say this must be
tested by a specialist.
The other thing they check when they go into the roof is for insulation.
Because most homes, depending on the age of the home, will have something, it'll either
be a modern cellulose insulation, which is very efficient, or it'll be something like
fiberglass.
But if it was fiberglass insulation that was put up there in the seventies or eighties,
you may only have about four inches of it.
Now they recommend about 12 inches.
Now if you go back in time to the forties and fifties, then you might have a vermiculite
insulation, which can sometimes contain a spestos.
And that's something that the homeless vector might discover that the homeowner just didn't
know about, because who goes up in their roof space unless they need to, you know, run
some new wires for their lighting?
I worked at a radio station when I was out in California.
It's been around for a very long time and a big shut up to them.
And the building that we worked in was an old home that's been kind of manufactured to
have a bunch of different businesses in it.
And I've been in that building a bunch.
I was talking to my old PD this weekend just going over something and he tells me, well,
we're not even in the studio.
I'm like, why?
Well, a spestos.
Right.
A spestos.
I think in 2025, we don't think that that's still a thing sometimes, but that's still a
thing sometimes.
Yeah.
And it's important to not panic when you hear the word a spestos because obviously there's
two things that a spestos was really useful for.
One was the heat proof property, of fireproof properties.
And the second is its fibrous nature, which means it was used a lot of the time as a sort
of binding agent in things like floor tiles and in shingles on the siding.
So it does have its uses, but the problem with a spestos is most of the time if it gets
into any sort of particles that can be breathed in.
Now with that insulation, because it's a powder, then that in itself can be a problem.
But when you find things like floor tiles, it might be perfectly fine if the floor tiles
are not disturbed or chipped.
So a homeless specter will be able to identify these things.
And they'll be able to say, well, this is what your options are.
You can either have these taken up professionally by people with a correct equipment and has
matt suits and things, or you can enclose it.
And in those cases, they're not touched.
So a homeless specter will have a pretty good idea of whether something is likely to contain
a spestos.
They won't say this contains a spestos, they'll say in floor tiles of this type from this era,
they most often contain a spestos, and therefore you should exercise caution if you want to
replace them.
David, who does the homeless specters?
Well, homeless specters have to be licensed by the state, and they go through quite a
rigorous training course.
They are extremely knowledgeable.
They also, in our state, they tend to be members of the professional association, which has
the highest standards.
They have requirements about what they have to inspect, and they're allowed to do limited
testing.
They're not allowed to do anything that would be destructive, so they can't take down
the paneling from the basement to look at the, to see whether there are any cracks in
the foundation.
But they can test the outlets, and they can do testing to see if there's any gas leaks.
These are what we might call non-invasive tests.
I think for some people, they might think that these were done by realtors or some of
these things.
It's interesting to hear, you know, it's an actual profession, it's an actual job, and
some of that, and I find that part very interesting.
That's...
Yeah, and the nice thing is that these home inspectors are usually really conscientious.
They know that it's someone's home, and they know that the person's going to be investing
a substantial amount of money.
They all often point out things that we didn't even think about.
Like, you know, one of the things that comes up quite a lot is, when you have a home that
was built before the 1980s, you often have an attached garage, and sometimes you can
access the roof space from that garage just by going through a hole in the, in the top
of the garage.
Now, those spaces really should have a firewall up, which is a specific type of material
that would be fire retardant.
And the reason for that is that many house fires start in the garage because you've got
your vehicle, you've got fuel, and often other materials there, and this would just help
prevent it spreading to the house.
They also check things like whether there are fire doors between the house and the garage,
because if you don't, then again, the fire can spread a lot more quickly than if you
have that in place.
A quick hypothesis for you, David, because I think that sometimes if you think of a home
inspection and you're a seller, and they come in and they're inspecting, and oh, what
are they going to find wrong?
This could bring down value.
To me, and again, this is not my wheelhouse, I'm learning from you and others.
That's a good thing, because I can get more from my home.
If they do this inspection and say, A is wrong, and I got to fix A, I fix A, I'm able
to possibly charge what I wanted to for my home or even more possibly, this can be a
good thing overall for sellers.
This is one of the questions about when a home inspection is done, because traditionally
a home inspection is done after the offer is accepted.
Not every offer has a home inspection contingency, sometimes when there's a very competitive
situation, a buyer will choose to forego a home inspection, because they want to make
things easier for the seller so they can have a competitive advantage over another buyer.
But most of the time, an offer will have home inspection contingency, which will mean
that once the seller has accepted the buyer's offer, the buyer then has a certain period
usually about two weeks to get a home inspector in, and then whatever the results of that
inspection are, then there may be some further negotiation.
Now you raise a very good point, a seller can actually have a home inspection done themselves,
and this is a very good way of preparing a home for sale.
Now there is a potential that you could open Pandora's Box, so your home inspector could
reveal so many things that you have to address, and if you don't have the money to address
them all, then you'll be in a situation where legally you have to disclose them, because
you're now aware of them.
But it is one very good way to prepare a home, if you have the resources to deal with it.
Home inspection usually costs between four or five hundred dollars, because you are using
somebody who is skilled and qualified, who spends a lot of time at the property, and
then after they've been at the property, they have to prepare the report, and that all
takes time and equipment as well.
So it isn't just something you want to say, yep, we'll have a home inspection when we're
selling, but it's something that you should seriously consider, because if you can then
present that report to a buyer and say, well, look, these things came up, and we've
addressed them all, the buyer will have a lot of confidence.
Now, if I'm representing a buyer when a home inspection report has already been done,
I'll say to the buyer, you must bear in mind that this report was not done for you.
It was done for somebody else.
So if there's a mistake in the home inspection report, you don't have the protection of being
able to go back to the home inspection, say, how you made a mistake.
So sometimes a buyer, even in those situations, would want to have their own inspection done.
Is there any more that you feel like you answered pretty well already, before I even asked
really, when should a home inspection be done, kind of nailed that, any more you wanted
to add to that?
No, there's nothing more really.
Just that sometimes what happens is that the home inspector identifies certain things
that need a further investigation.
So one example is the mold test that we talked about before, but there can be all sorts
of things that require a specialist investigation that they might put in their report, like you
might need a structural investigation if there's something wrong with the foundation.
Or if they identify a problem with the gas line, then you want to get a gas inspector
in to look at that.
We're talking really to radio with our friend David Farmbrill and David, what are the
most common issues that come up during a home inspection?
Well, almost every home inspection, even when it's a home that looks perfect, will have
some things come up.
And I usually say to buyers just to prepare them, that you'll probably have between about
10 and 20 things on this home inspection.
And when I say things, I'm talking about things that are identified as defects.
So these are the, if you like, if you like, there's a sort of traffic light system.
So there's the red, which would be the defects.
There's the amber, which are things that are maybe not necessarily a defect.
But there's something that you might want to deal with the future maintenance item, just
to prevent a problem arising.
And then the green, of course, are the things which are tested and are okay.
So the most common things that come up are usually electrical and plumbing problems.
And most of the time, they arise when people have done what we would call handyman electrical
work or handyman plumbing.
Now people can do their own electrical work in their home, but obviously it's sensible
to know what the rules are and what the code is.
And a lot of people don't know that.
Some of these things I can see when I walk through a house.
So I can see when a power cable is not properly rooted through the beams in a basement, as it
should be, and when it's just being tacked onto the underneath, or when sometimes a power
cable is just loose.
You know, I can see those things, but a home inspector is much more detailed.
So they will go to the electrical panel, they'll unscrew the cover.
And then they'll look at all the connections.
And they'll look for things that we wouldn't even think about like, whether somebody has
put two circuits on one lug, which might overload it, or sometimes they might tap a ground
in with a neutral, which was very common about 30 years ago.
There are lots of things that they can see that we wouldn't know.
They also know by looking at the electrical panel, whether it might be a model that has
been recalled.
So sometimes I see one which I've had called out by electrical, sorry, by home inspectors
before.
And I think, oh, I know that's a bad one, but I'll leave that to the home inspector,
because they'll be able to confirm definitively if that's one that's been recalled for safety.
How can sellers best prepare their home to avoid surprises during the inspection process?
Well, obviously the big one is to get a home inspector in yourself.
But there is a cost to that.
When you're preparing a home for sale, your realtor will come through the home and just
make notes on things anyway.
You know, the realtor has to do the measurements, and they have to be able to, you know, say what
type of fuel it has, what type of heating, cooling, et cetera.
So the realtor will check a lot of things.
And one of the things they will be looking out for will be some of the more obvious things
that would be brought up by home inspector.
So your realtor isn't going to take the cover off your electrical panel, but your realtor
might say, I'm looking at your water heater, and I can see that your water heater should
have a pipe attached to there in case the relief valve blows.
And that pipe should be directed to the floor, but that pipe isn't there.
And the realtor will be able to say to the homeowner, if you get that fixed now, it'll
probably cost a plumber $100 to do it.
And that will be better than having that coming up on the home inspector.
So a few little things like that and some bigger things are realtor will be able to spot
and advise the homeowner to fix.
If they spot those things and the homeowner doesn't want to fix them, then they do have
to be disclosed.
Have touched on a little of these, are there any other red flags that buyers should be
especially cautious about?
Well, I think the main thing is safety.
That's the most important thing, because sometimes we can be able to blasey with safety.
One of the things that I see come up a lot is when a home inspector determines that there
isn't sufficient means to escape in case of fire.
And this might be something like you have a bedroom in the basement, but if you look
at the window in the bedroom, it is not large enough or it is not sufficiently close
to the floor to be an egress window.
And sometimes people say, well, that's all right, because we'll just use it when our
friends come to say, okay, so what if your friends come to say, and then the staircase
catches fire?
Well, sorry, but your friend isn't going to do very well.
So these safety things need to be taken seriously.
And if you're going to have a bedroom in the basement, you need to make sure that it's
got the proper means to escape.
David, I believe you and my mom know each other.
And I didn't know that you knew this much about, I had this conversation with my parents
when I was a kid.
I set up the basement, I had a cool room down there, I'm already moved in, I was bringing
my boombox down there, and my dad's like, no, you're not doing that.
And it was all for these reasons.
It's an important thing to remember, especially when it comes to that, how tempting that is
to put a room down there.
It's a good one to bring up.
And fire things get brought up a lot.
One of the things we see a lot is absence of smoke alarms.
Most people who die in fires die through inhalation of smoke, not through getting burned.
And a smoke alarm gives you that time you need to get out.
As we're wrapping up, David, how should repairs or concessions be negotiated after an inspection
report?
Well, this is something that varies from transaction to transaction.
And sometimes you have a situation where either buyer or seller find it very difficult
to move on the price that they've agreed.
But your realtor will help you negotiate that and will advise you on what's achievable
and what is desirable.
So sometimes you won't be able to come to an agreement because you might say, well,
we need $10,000 worth of work done to this foundation.
And the seller can say, well, I'm not paying for that and I'm not doing it.
So and then the buyer might have to walk away.
But that's why you have a home inspection because otherwise you could buy a house and
then find you've got to do $10,000 worth of work.
Is that something that the homeowners can kind of reach out to you and other realtors
about and you know, hey, I don't know who to go to to fix this.
And you can kind of be a middleman or help with those things.
Yeah, we can with a lot of things.
You know, I have a good context book.
Obviously, it's not a literal book.
It's all on my phone.
It's all digital.
I have people who have done work for me and for my clients in the past.
People I know who are ethical and who will charge a reasonable rate.
And I will happily pass those on to my clients.
And David, as we're wrapping up here, if people have follow up questions, they want to
know more.
Reach out to you in general.
How can they do that?
Well, the easiest way to get to me directly is by texting or calling 715-323-8594.
They can get to me through my website, rapidshomes.com, or they can contact me via my Facebook page,
which is David Farnborough Realtor.
Encourage you to do that.
Everybody reach out to David.
You can trust his source in this game.
Reality Radio will be back with us next month.
We're looking forward to hanging out with you again real soon.
Thanks for the time, David.
We'll talk again real soon.
Thank you very much.
Well, a more midday magazine coming up for you.
On Wednesday's edition, in part one, we'll have our friend's family, really family natural
food, Stephen and Katrina Hintner.
And in part two tomorrow, encourage with Kim Shields and Linda.
We'll have Linda and Casey and Liz Beth Whitzers.
We're going to talk about the Perry Chicken Festival coming up Thursday.
UW Extension's Laura Huber will be with us and we'll have more for you on Friday.
We do have some Wisconsin basketball, big tent tournament going on, so that might interrupt
some of our programming.
Keep that in mind, everybody.
And keep in mind, you can catch all of these interviews and future interviews at civicmedia.us,
civicmedia.us.
Go there, find all of our shows, as well as wfhr.com.
We'll be back with more midday magazine for you right here at 97-5 FM 13-20 AM, WFHR,
locally grown radio.
