Camelot Home Inspection Services

Recently I have been inspecting a lot of bank-owned properties, most of them in the Santa Maria, CA area, where a lot of new construction has resulted in a lot of new unsold homes, which has really hurt homeowners of nearby existing properties as well. Like many cities across America, a lot of people in Santa Maria bought overpriced homes with adjustable rate mortgages that they could not keep up with or couldn’t afford in the first place. People are losing their homes left and right. A lot of these homes were rented out, and tenants are being unceremoniously evicted by faceless, greedy banks. As a result there is a lot of anger being vented. Some of it is being physically inflicted on the homes that I’m inspecting. I like it not. Here are some examples from a house I inspected yesterday:

Every drywall surface in the house had been kicked in. The light fixtures, plumbing fixtures, kitchen appliances - all gone.

As a result, I now ask if a house I will be inspecting is bank-owned. If it is, I ask the selling agent what kind of shape it’s in - i.e., has it been abused. If they say yes, I add a $100.00 to the price of the inspection. Another thing that I am experiencing with bank-owned properties is that all the utilities are shut down, water especially. Banks hate water. They fear that all the pipes will burst and turn their write-downs into little mold factories. So they ask their listing agents to ‘winterize’ the home, which is just a fancy term for ’shut the damn water off, please’. As a result I now have to ask the selling agent to ask the listing agent to make absolutely, 100% sure that the utilities are all on. If I have to come back I’m going to charge the buyer for my time, including the drive time, and delay delivery of the inspection report. This is a lose-lose for everybody. But sure enough, even when I receive confirmation that ALL the utilities have been turned on, about 50% of the time they are not.

Its the dawn of a new era. But, as I told one agent who gets me a lot of work inspecting foreclosed properties, it’s better to eat moldy bread than to have no bread at all.

After 15 years of home inspecting, I’ve finally decided it’s time to start sharing some of my experiences with anyone out there who cares to read about them. With all the foreclosures and trashed houses out there, I’m sure to be able to come up with some interesting posts. Also, with WordPress now making it possible to post photos and you-tubes, it should make things a bit more interesting.