Bill's Blog

The problem with Federal Pacific Panels is that when you find them they are not smoking or spitting sparks. They are just sitting there working as they have for 25, 30, or more years.Because of this, some inspectors will say that a Federal Panel is OK...I say be careful. I cannot, in good conscie...

This was a unique experience! The call came in as two townhouse inspections on the same afternoon for the same client. The inspections turned out to be for a pair of sisters (not the Nun type) and the townhouses were close together in Springfield, VA.Both of these townhouses were about the same a...

I picked the title Nervous Nellie because my client was a woman. If it had been a man it would be Petrofied Pete.  In either case, this was an excellent example of the agent helping during the home inspection to keep the client focused and calm.   He did nothing to down play, or change what I was...

"Holy Smokes" I said out loud as my current detector went crazy next to a live, loose, jumble of 6 AWG (55 amp) wire. That's a big wire to encounter loose in a crawl space and that much electrical power would kill almost instantly.  That is an X-wire. I've named them after the popular video game ...

They tricked me and I am glad. It was one of those hectic days.  I had three inspections scheduled and planned on a twelve hour day with driving. During my morning inspection the inspection at mid day fell through. Appraisal not high enough. While on the way to inspection number two I learned fro...

I was about half way through an inspection of a beautiful 15 year old upscale single family house in McLean when I noticed the maid going about her cleaning routine.She was using a conventional vacuum cleaner. As an inspector some things make me go "Hummmm." In this case it was the fact that I ha...

"What you are saying is, dead people don't pay their rent!"Bingo! I thought. He gets it!My client had asked me how he can reduce his liability as a first time landlord. And I said to him that on an old townhouse like this one, one of the best things he can do is go beyond what was required by the...

When people skip home inspections, there are alot of things they fail to learn about a house.  Sometimes they live in the house for years and do not maintain the things they don't know about or understand.   Water filters are a casualty in many home transactions.   They don't need to be if the ri...

This was one of those cases where I had both the owner and the buyer in the house at the same time.  My agent told the owner about the attic fan in the story below and it was a bit embarrassing for her because she was trying to do the right thing.   The seller had the right idea.Three years ago, ...

I credit my wife of 37 years, Melinda, for many beautiful things in my life, and one of these is an insight which I think is particularly important in this day of instant information and life driving technology.   When she was in her late twenties, she decided she wanted to volunteer with the loc...