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Home Inspection: 5 Common Red Flags - YouTube
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hey this is Jeremy owner of shine
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insurance agency and your host for the
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shine insurance youtube channel i'm here
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today with Rowley Mason owner of Majuro
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inspections he's an inspector and our
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video today is going to share the red
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flags that he tends to see the most when
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he's inspecting homes so homes home
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inspections are a part of the health of
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your home finding out the health of the
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home that you're trying to purchase and
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Rowley does that all the time you see
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some red flags so Rowley thank you so
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much for joining us today thanks Jim I
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appreciate it alright so let's dig right
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in what's the first red flag that you
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tend to see when you're inspecting homes
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well the the biggest the one I see a lot
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certainly is moisture
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I'll come across that in various
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locations on the home and that's really
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the biggest biggest issue you could deal
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with as a homeowner is moisture in the
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house whether it be at the roof in an
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attic and the walls basement crawl so
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that's that's the biggest thing in the
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in the one flag that we are obviously
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looking for making sure the home you're
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gonna have moisture in the home from
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time to time whether it's a roof leak
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and such but we're there to help
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identify that so you don't have
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something built up over time and cause a
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big issue okay is there what's the worst
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moisture issue you've ever seen well
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he'd have to be basement flooding issues
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of course it's not flooding on there
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it's always after the fact but I had a
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basement that was carpeted it was a
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great area great space they had a lot of
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games and things down there didn't know
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they had moisture so until you actually
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look in the corners of the house look at
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the carpet the trim it was wood trim you
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start to get a better picture of what
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might have went on in the past and a
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good identifiers the things need to be
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sealed up a lot more than they were
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so yeah it's that's probably the biggest
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place I found it is in basement okay
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cool and and I think sometimes when
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there's moisture issues that might bring
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us to the the second red flag that you
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tend to see that's very similar and kind
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of connected probably with moisture
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issues so what's that second red flag
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yeah that would be mold or mildew in the
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home so you'll never see an inspection
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report necessarily that says that it is
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mold 100%
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you know making sure that you have it
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tested at least after the fact is what
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we're gonna at least make sure that you
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understand when we see something that
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looks dark on wood is something like
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that we're certainly going to call it
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out it's possible mold or mildew and
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you'll usually have a recommendation to
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have a test performed whether that be a
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swab at that location to verify if it is
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mold or not or it could even be have an
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air quality test perform because if you
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see enough of these things throughout
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the house enough of these possible mold
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or mildew spots and we'll certainly call
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that out and want to make sure you have
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that test it so you understand if it is
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a serious problem or if it's just
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directly at that particular location
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where we saw some moisture intrusion so
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the mold is like during the inspection
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itself you aren't likely to walk away
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with whether there's mold in your house
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for sure or whether there's mold all the
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way around that tends to be a secondary
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inspection if it's noticed by the
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primary inspection that's correct
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we'll never call that 107 because we're
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not licensed necessarily as mold
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specialist or remediate remediation
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specialists however certainly we're
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going to be on the lookout for that and
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if we see something that certainly looks
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like mold we're gonna call it out you're
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gonna have varying degrees of that as
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well what we may see but yes the thing
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is just like moisture in a home in in
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pest issues there sometimes well that's
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going to be hidden behind a wall perhaps
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you're not going to know how serious it
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could be but if we see evidence no
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matter how small we're certainly going
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to call it out and make sure you have it
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tested and certainly if we see enough of
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it recommend an air quality test be
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performed as well and that could be
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potentially an additional expense for a
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buyer if you notice some potential mold
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or some potential air quality issues
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that they may have to pay a little bit
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more for an additional inspection but
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obviously at that point it's super worth
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it right absolutely it is an added cost
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and it's not something we necessarily
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will do some firms may but there are
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companies in the area that will do that
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for you and it is an edit cost but
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certainly as you said you want to know
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before you move in you certainly want to
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make sure it's not going to build up on
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you over time
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you're living there and you certainly
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don't have to deal with it if you try to
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sell it yeah future it's worth whatever
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extra cost is associated to get that
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moisture absolutely mold or mildew
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inspection done okay
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so the first two red flags kind of have
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to do with moisture or the things that
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result from moisture what's the third
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one
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well kind of kind of put these together
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here plumbing and electrical systems
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they're obviously completely different
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but the point is these are systems that
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run behind walls under floors and things
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that aren't necessarily accessible and
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visible to us when we go through the
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house so we keep an eye out for things
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where we can whether that be behind the
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electrical panel we'll take that off and
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look at the at the wires and see how
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they run and make sure everything is is
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done correctly Plumbing's the same way
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we'll open up cabinets and run water as
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we check each actual location where you
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actually have access to the plumbing and
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so those are big red flags if you have
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of course leaks but if you see enough of
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that it may may be a point where you
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have to have a plumber come out and
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review the house there may be more to it
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than just those small leaks if you see
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enough of those issues same thing with
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electrical if you see a lot of issues
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here and there perhaps it's an older
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home and they have a lot of upgrades
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electrical upgrades you have to make
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sure that's done correctly it may look
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fun and and you get power everywhere but
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unless they had it done by someone that
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was licensed to do it and it did it
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correctly you know you can be doing with
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a big issue after the fact if you ever
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have an electrical work done on the
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house they may identify it then and you
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it could cost a lot to repair that fix
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it absolutely are there huge parts of
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either electrical or plumbing that are
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just red flags in and of themselves like
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an element if you see it in a house it's
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like you know this is a problem well
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probably more electrical and plumbing
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it's a great question though electrical
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you can usually tell a couple different
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ways and that would be if you have
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certain situations if you have radiant
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heating along the floor and then you
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have an electrical outlet you know not
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too far from that that's a big red flag
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it's got to be addressed or if you see
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signs for instance when I open up a
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lectric okay no I may see issues where
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wiring is overheated and such those are
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things you aren't going to necessarily
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see they
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today in the house but they will over
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time a crew and build up into bigger
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issues and that's usually where we'll
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see it okay cool and then I would
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probably add fuses in a house is that a
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pretty big red flag or no well it is you
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know older homes they as you inspect
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them they may maybe inspect it a little
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bit differently just because of code was
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a little different back in those days
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and not that we're code inspectors but
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we'll no code at the time timeframe so
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we may not call out something
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necessarily because of its not code now
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however refuses is a great question
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that's something we'll usually ask have
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an electrician come out and give you an
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idea what it might cost to replace that
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because that's that's certainly very old
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at this point okay cool so those are the
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the top three moisture intrusion and
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mold milda do and then electrical
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plumbing stuff what's the fourth one
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fourth I would say would be your windows
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that's such a huge cost if you ever have
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to deal with those sometimes you can
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deal with one at a time and that's great
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but if you have windows that are that
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are older maybe they're wooden maybe
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they've taken a lot of a lot of moisture
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over the years so the frame and such are
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not as efficient as they used to be or
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they just don't work as well as they
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used to that's certainly something that
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we look for and have to keep an eye out
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of performance of those windows not just
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environment as far as how tight the
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house may be sealed up but certainly
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just the function of them and so we've
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the main thing again moisture intrusion
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you want to make sure that's not
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happening at the windows make sure
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they're sealed up if you see foggy
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windows and things like that you may
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have a broken seal just indicators where
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you perhaps could get away with
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repairing may have to replace it though
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okay and that's a big thing if you're
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gonna have to replace windows it's just
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important I know that doesn't mean
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necessarily you're not gonna buy the
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house you know but maybe it affects the
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price that you're thinking about paying
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or the investment you know you're gonna
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have to make after the purchase and all
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those numbers add up so having your
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inspector point out something like
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windows there's a key piece of your
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decision making process absolutely a
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great way to summon that up
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okay so the fifth red flag kind of final
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one's gonna be a group of things it
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sounds like yes these are what I would
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consider big-ticket items so you're
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dealing with HVAC system whether that's
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the furnace or the outside air
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conditioning
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it they'll make up a one system if you
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will you have septic systems perhaps if
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you're dealing with foundation issues
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that's another one structure type issues
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and the roof you know all those are
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big-ticket items that we have to look at
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of course those are things are gonna
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cost a lot of money they're gonna really
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be a big expense if you have to deal
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with that and so we're hopefully going
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to be able to identify for you the age
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of those systems some things like septic
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system we can't necessarily inspect but
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you can have a company come out and pump
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that system and we encourage that if
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it's not been done within the last three
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to five years we certainly encourage to
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have that done before you buy the home
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they can give you at least a visual
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inspection like we went on a home and
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tell you how the septic is performing
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but that's a big one that will call out
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and make sure it's done we can't really
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tell you much more than it's there it's
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in the waters flowing out so have that
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done HVAC system again is one of those
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things where you just don't know when
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it's gonna fail if it's over 20 years
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old though you know you just want to be
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sure that we can identify that for you
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and help you understand you're gonna
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need to budget for replacement sooner
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than later and so hopefully that helps
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with the buying process as well
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roof system is another huge one so we're
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looking for issues with with the roof
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whether it's it's deteriorating faster
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than it should perhaps but certainly
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there are visual cues as well that will
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tell us how old that system is okay cool
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so five red flags let's go through them
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real quickly moisture intrusion in all
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different parts of the house you can
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experience mold or mildew you're not
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necessarily going to verify whether
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there's mold or mildew in the house but
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you can point out if you feel there is
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and then an additional inspection could
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happen to give more detail to a buyer
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about that the third one was electrical
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and plumbing making sure that those
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systems are working are in good shape
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and giving the buyer an idea of maybe
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how old they are and how useful they are
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well electrical and plumbing is useful
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no matter what but how old they are I
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guess and then windows you know giving
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you a sense of the age how well they
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keep the house tight again whether
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there's any moisture that comes in and
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then finally big ticket items like
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HVAC systems roof different stuff like
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that you're gonna give the buyer a sense
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of what what the scenario is with those
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how old they are whether they need to be
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replaced sooner than later right
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absolutely and whether they need to be
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checked before they buy perhaps is
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another comment I'll throw in a lot
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especially with HVAC make sure you have
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it reviewed and serviced especially if
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we don't have a good log on that system
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to show it's been maintained over the
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years right and so a lot of times people
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will have the same person come in and
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maintain the system often the same
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people who installed it and so then you
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would have a good log on your HVAC
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system in that scenario unfortunately
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that isn't always the case though right
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that's correct
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now I know we said five things but then
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we're gonna throw in a bonus here at the
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end something that is maybe almost more
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important than any of the rest of them
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and really definitely need it to be
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pointed out as a potential red flag if
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there was something wrong with it and
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what is that really yeah that's that's
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dealing with the foundation so
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foundation itself is really the biggest
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thing aside from moisture intrusion
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because if that foundation is struggling
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there's issues with cracking or or
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shifting it could really be a whole
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different ballgame as far as what you're
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dealing with on that house even if
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you're dealing with issues with pests in
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a basement or crawl that will certainly
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affect your foundation as they can eat
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away at other things but we're gonna
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look at that and we're gonna be looking
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out for things like that crack moisture
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intrusion in cracking moisture intrusion
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locations but just overall it's it's a
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huge thing you just can't go without
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looking at and that's something that has
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to be done it it is with any inspection
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but certainly anything can be fixed it's
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just a matter of us trying to help
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identify anything that we see whether it
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be perhaps sagging or floors that are
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sloping a certain way there may be times
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we'll call out for a structural engineer
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to review the house based on that okay
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so what are some of the common issues
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you see with foundations well with the
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foundations the common issues are just
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floors that may slope or you may have
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some sagging in a room doors that that
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closed on their own anytime you come in
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and have a doorstop at
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our vendor roommate kind of throws a red
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flag and maybe something's going on with
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that foundation sometimes you might use
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a golf ball and just roll it down sit it
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in the floor and see if it rolls a
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certain way and then getting under the
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house whether it be a crawl or into the
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basement and looking at the support
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structure of that if it's you know
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concrete pier block pier the beam
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structure and all these things are
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handled during construction and checked
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off but certainly there are times when
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when those things will fail and you have
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to review it we won't necessarily tell
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you that these are things that have to
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be done we'll call out a structural
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engineer to review that if we do see it
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but more often than not any foundation
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issues we're dealing with the actual
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floors we'll notice that our sloping or
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other things that that want to lead us
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there all right well we're all a thank
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you so much for sharing some of the red
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flags that you see when you're
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inspecting if folks would like to have
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you inspect their home for them or
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inspect the home they're about to
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purchase how could they find you sure if
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they go online at wwe.com that's mej aro
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and also then give us a call at eight
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eight eight four zero zero two seven
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four zero all right thank you so much
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yeah thank you if you enjoyed this video
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there are some other inspection videos
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that we've created with raleigh the
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first one is when does the inspection
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happen in the home buying process and
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the second is do I really need a home
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inspection believe it or not a lot of
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people don't think they need it we'll
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explain exactly why you do if you'd like
[876]
a step-by-step guide through the home
[877]
buying process we've created that for
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you at new homebuyers guide net we will
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walk you through every single step and
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help you have a great experience so
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check that out by clicking the link
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below
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or going to new homebuyers guide dotnet
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until the next time have a wonderful day
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