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Having an inspector in your home can be a stressful situation for many people.  To reduce your stress, help the inspection go smoothly and to minimize possible distractions - the following tips can come in very handy.

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How well do you know your Home Inspector?

I want you to know **Home Integrity Home Inspection**.  I will have a calm and courteous approach with you and your potential buyers.  In addition, I will provide a detailed report printed on-sight with a summary for the buyer at the end of the inspection.   I will have another report emailed to you that day..  My non-alarmist approach will address any issues that may be found within the home  - and help your clients resolve them.  I am available 7 days a week and can work with your busy schedule.

For your next sale, refer **Home Integrity Home Inspection** to your clients.  I will help you get the job done!

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The addition of barn doors is a simple and cost effective way to add character and detail to a seemingly simple space.  The rails are now readily available on most home decor websites along with hardware stores for the realistic look.  Doors can be re-purposed, made or salvaged adding even more creativity to this functional design element.

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Beautiful example of a sometimes unused space.  Warm, inviting and comfortable.  The exposed brick adds romance and architectural detail to this private hideaway. 

Contemporary attic master bedroom with landing. Mustard yellow walls.

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Curb appeal is typically one of the most important aspects of marketing and selling a home.  Potential buyers need to be able to see themselves greeting guests at their beautiful new entryway.  These trends will help simplify the art of creating inviting curb appeal.

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Buyers and Sellers can both benefit form the following bits of advice.  2016 proves to be a prosperous and growing market for Residential Real Estate with an expected push toward the end of the year.  Great for both sides of the sale.

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Need to sell your home?  Trying to sell someone else's home?  These simple tips will help you sell your home quickly, or maybe even live in the home you have a little better.

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Since the increase of reported incidents of porches and decks failing have been in the news lately, the concentration on these types of inspections are on the rise.  As you are surveying a new potential home or if you own an older home, keep some of these basics in mind.

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Most people love a good creative project - renovating a home is just the design fix that many of us need.  Before you jump in make sure that you have the main aspects of the new home that you are thinking about renovating inspected before you take the plunge.  It could save you money, heartache and alot of time.

How to Assess the Real Cost of a Fixer-Upper House

When you buy a fixer-upper house, you can save a ton of money, or get yourself in a financial fix.

Trying to decide whether to buy a fixer-upper house? Follow these seven steps, and you’ll know how much you can afford, how much to offer, and whether a fixer-upper house is right for you.

1.  Decide what you can do yourself.

TV remodeling shows make home improvement work look like a snap. In the real world, attempting a difficult remodeling job that you don’t know how to do will take longer than you think and can lead to less-than-professional results that won’t increase the value of your fixer-upper house.

Do you really have the skills to do it? Some tasks, like stripping wallpaper and painting, are relatively easy. Others, like electrical work, can be dangerous when done by amateurs.

Do you really have the time and desire to do it? Can you take time off work to renovate your fixer-upper house? If not, will you be stressed out by living in a work zone for months while you complete projects on the weekends?

2.  Price the cost of repairs and remodelling before you make an offer.

Get your contractor into the house to do a walk-through, so he can give you a written cost estimate on the tasks he’s going to do.

If you’re doing the work yourself, price the supplies.

Either way, tack on 10% to 20% to cover unforeseen problems that often arise with a fixer-upper house.

3.  Check permit costs.

Ask local officials if the work you’re going to do requires a permit and how much that permit costs. Doing work without a permit may save money, but it’ll cause problems when you resell your home.

Decide if you want to get the permits yourself or have the contractor arrange for them. Getting permits can be time-consuming and frustrating. Inspectors may force you to do additional work, or change the way you want to do a project, before they give you the permit.

Factor the time and aggravation of permits into your plans.

4.  Doublecheck pricing on structural work.

If your fixer-upper home needs major structural work, hire a structural engineer for $500 to $700 to inspect the home before you put in an offer so you can be confident you’ve uncovered and conservatively budgeted for the full extent of the problems. Get written estimates for repairs before you commit to buying a home with structural issues. Don’t purchase a home that needs major structural work unless:

You’re getting it at a steep discount

You’re sure you’ve uncovered the extent of the problem

You know the problem can be fixed

You have a binding written estimate for the repairs

5.  Check the cost of financing.

Be sure you have enough money for a downpayment, closing costs, and repairs without draining your savings. If you’re planning to fund the repairs with a home equity or home improvement loan:

Get yourself pre-approved for both loans before you make an offer.

Make the deal contingent on getting both the purchase money loan and the renovation money loan, so you’re not forced to close the sale when you have no loan to fix the house.

Consider the Federal Housing Administration’s Section 203(k) program, which is designed to help home owners who are purchasing or refinancing a home that needs rehabilitation. The program wraps the purchase/refinance and rehabilitation costs into a single mortgage. To qualify for the loan, the total value of the property must fall within the FHA mortgage limit for your area, as with other FHA loans. A streamlined 203(k) program provides an additional amount for rehabilitation, up to $35,000, on top of an existing mortgage. It’s a simpler process than obtaining the standard 203(k).

6.  Calculate your fair purchase offer.

Take the fair market value of the property (what it would be worth if it were in good condition and remodeled to current tastes) and subtract the upgrade and repair costs.

For example: Your target fixer-upper house has a 1960s kitchen, metallic wallpaper, shag carpet, and high levels of radon in the basement. Your comparison house, in the same subdivision, sold last month for $200,000. That house had a newer kitchen, no wallpaper, was recently recarpeted, and has a radon mitigation system in its basement.

The cost to remodel the kitchen, remove the wallpaper, carpet the house, and put in a radon mitigation system is $40,000. Your bid for the house should be $160,000.

Ask your real estate agent if it’s a good idea to share your cost estimates with the sellers, to prove your offer is fair.

7.  Include inspection contingencies in your offer.

Don’t rely on your friends or your contractor to eyeball your fixer-upper house. Hire pros to do common inspections like:

Home inspection. This is key in a fixer-upper assessment. The home inspector will uncover hidden issues in need of replacement or repair. You may know you want to replace those 1970s kitchen cabinets, but the home inspector has a meter that will detect the water leak behind them.

Radon, mold, lead-based paint

Septic and well

Pest

Most home inspection contingencies let you go back to the sellers and ask them to do the repairs, or give you cash at closing to pay for the repairs. The seller can also opt to simply back out of the deal, as can you, if the inspection turns up something you don’t want to deal with. If that happens, this isn’t the right fixer-upper house for you. Go back to the top of this list and start again.

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Buying a home is serious business.  Listening to experts and doing your homework can save you from costly repairs and mistakes.