Jamie Riley:
I was just doing an inspection yesterday, and this was one of the sidewalls of the garage. You could see how
Jill Glanzer:
Oh wow. It’s kind
Jamie Riley:
Of cracking and everything.
Jill Glanzer:
That’s quite a crack.
Jamie Riley:
Yeah, it went all the way through to the other side of the wall, and they had wood stacked up on the side of the wall to hide it. And it was something I actually, the
Matthew Maschler:
Seller was using the wood to block the
Jamie Riley:
Buyer’s view, and it wasn’t even that well hidden. So it was almost like, what do you think? This isn’t going to come up. And then, so the only people there were me, the listing agent at first, and then the buyer’s girlfriend showed up and the buyer’ss father showed up.
Matthew Maschler:
The buyer’s girlfriend? The buyer’s father, not the buyer. Not the buyer’s agent.
Jamie Riley:
Correct.
Matthew Maschler:
And the listing agent were at the inspection.
Jamie Riley:
Correct. And then, sorry. Yeah. Then I got a text from the buyer’s agent, Hey, when should I get there? Are you guys? And I was like, I started at 10 o’clock. It’s been, we’re well under way. I’ve been in there about a half hour. Why don’t you come now? Come now.
Jill Glanzer:
Right.
Jamie Riley:
So I show the buyer’s girlfriend the wall and just to let her know what’s going on because everybody, as they show up, they want to know
Matthew Maschler:
The wall had foundation problems. I mean, you could see the cracks. It
Jill Glanzer:
Looked like a
Matthew Maschler:
Staircase or a slinky cracks all through the foundation problem. What city was it in?
Jamie Riley:
Coral Springs. Coral
Matthew Maschler:
Springs.
Jamie Riley:
And she looked at it, no big deal or whatever, but then the father of the buyer, he was walking around on the phone with his son, who was the buyer the whole time. And I’m doing my inspection. I’m not paying attention to what they’re doing, but he’s bad mouthing the house over the phone to his son the whole time.
Matthew Maschler:
Had the father ever seen the property before?
Jamie Riley:
I don’t think so. It didn’t act like it. I mean, he was just basically talking about the cracks all over the walls and stuff. And there was quite a few, the house had foundation problems,
Jill Glanzer:
So there were other cracks throughout the house,
Jamie Riley:
Mostly on the same side of the house though.
Matthew Maschler:
And the seller didn’t disclose it to the buyer.
Jamie Riley:
And then the agent, the listing agent, the listing
Matthew Maschler:
Agent
Jamie Riley:
Comes in and she’s like, oh yeah, we had a structural engineer here last weekend. And he said everything was fine. And I asked,
Matthew Maschler:
These cracks are just cosmetic.
Jamie Riley:
Yeah. And then what’s funny though too is she said, oh, we had a buyer that also already backed out because of this. I said,
Jill Glanzer:
You didn’t disclose that.
Jamie Riley:
It didn’t say anything to, I mean, that may have come up at some point to them, but I knew nothing about it. And it was kind of funny. When I asked her, I was like, did you get a report from the structural engineer? And she’s like, oh, he didn’t put anything on paper.
Matthew Maschler:
He just said it was fine.
Jill Glanzer:
He just came and looked and goes, yeah, those cracks are fine. So
Jamie Riley:
I was telling Matthew earlier that the buyer’s agent shows up and all this is going on where it’s not a big deal. I’m just doing my inspection. And the first thing that the buyer’s girlfriend says in front of the agent when he shows up is, I don’t want to buy this property. We’re going to go ahead and cancel the inspection. We’re just going to pay you for it, and we don’t want this. It’s too much work. And she starts to walk away to her car. And I was like, well, hold on a second, let’s talk. He just showed up. Let’s have a conversation about this. Right.
Matthew Maschler:
She said, we’re going to cancel the inspection. You’re halfway through the inspection,
Jill Glanzer:
But they were going to pay you.
Jamie Riley:
Yeah.
Matthew Maschler:
You don’t even finish the inspection. We
Jamie Riley:
Don’t even finish the inspection. And I said to her, I was like, look, you’re going to pay for the inspection anyway. Let me finish it.
Jill Glanzer:
And
Jamie Riley:
You can negotiate what it is that you want to do with your real estate agent. I mean, that’s what this whole thing is all about. Anyway, the best part about it is that we found that there is an issue and a problem. And if it isn’t a problem, we’re going to find out because the lady, the listing agent’s saying it isn’t a problem. So everyone’s giving me dirty looks no matter what I say at this point. Right.
Matthew Maschler:
A buyer’s agent is like, what’d you say to her? Screw up the deal.
Jill Glanzer:
But you handled it so professionally, I have to say,
Jamie Riley:
Well, eight years of experience is why if I was brand new, I wouldn’t have known what to do. But the Buyer’ss agent, of course, the first thing he did when she said that is, look at me. I mean, he literally just walked in the door and he throws up his hands looking at me. Did you just say to her, how could you have destroyed a deal for me before I even got
Jill Glanzer:
Here? You are there to protect the buyer.
Jamie Riley:
Hello. I’m trying to let them know what it is that they’re buying.
Jill Glanzer:
Right.
Jamie Riley:
That’s basically it. Right.
Jill Glanzer:
You’re just giving facts. You’re not skewing anything. You’re just saying this is what’s there.
Jamie Riley:
Yeah. So she agreed to, we got the buyer on the phone, which was her boyfriend, and we all talked together on a group chat about, let’s see what the problems are, how in in-depth they are, and take a look at the, which magically decided to tell us, oh, he did give us some kind of a report about the structure for the engineer did. She said, which she had originally said
Jill Glanzer:
He didn’t put anything in writing. Now all of a sudden he had a report,
Jamie Riley:
Right? So now she’s going to share that with him. And then I said to them, you want to get your own as well. And she was like, oh, it’s about $1,500 to hire a structural engineer to come out. And I was like, that’s fine. You guys can negotiate. Who pays for that? That’s all I’m up to them to do. But it should be done because agreed, they hadn’t already been truthful to begin with or honest and upfront. So that could be your best friend, that could be your brother, who knows best to get another one done,
Jill Glanzer:
Somebody
Jamie Riley:
That isn’t affiliated with them and see what they say and go from there.
Jill Glanzer:
Absolutely.
Jamie Riley:
So that’s what they’re doing, and they’re going to work it out, I think today.
Matthew Maschler:
Alright,
Jill Glanzer:
That’s great. That’s
Matthew Maschler:
All right. So welcome to the Real Estate Finder podcast. I’m Matthew Ashler, real estate broker with the signature real estate companies here in the great state of Florida. And with me, the co-host of the Real Estate Finder podcast at my real estate partner, Jill Glazer. Hi, Jill. How are you?
Jill Glanzer:
I’m doing awesome. How are you doing today?
Matthew Maschler:
I’m doing great. Good. And we are here today with our favorite inspector, Jamie Riley, with Sherlock Holmes. Hi Jamie. How are you?
Jamie Riley:
Wonderful. How are you?
Matthew Maschler:
I’m doing great. Doing great. Thanks for joining us. I, I’ve been meaning to get you on the show for a while.
Jamie Riley:
Yeah, appreciate it.
Matthew Maschler:
And obviously we started early. I like to warm up a little bit, put the headphones on, and then all of a sudden you just get to talking inspection. So I hit the record button and good timing. We got a little pre-show going on. So Jamie with Sherlock Home Inspections. Jamie, how long have you been a real estate inspector?
Jamie Riley:
Eight years. Eight
Matthew Maschler:
Years.
Jamie Riley:
Yeah.
Matthew Maschler:
And you do Palm Beach County, Broward County?
Jamie Riley:
Yeah, I do Palm Beach and Broward. I try not to go too far north of Jupiter, but certain companies u I would do it, and I definitely try to stay out of Miami,
Matthew Maschler:
Try to stay out of Miami. And Sherlock Holmes is statewide, so there’s other inspectors on the west coast
Jamie Riley:
In central
Jill Glanzer:
Florida, et
Jamie Riley:
Cetera. Yeah, my brother owns the company. He’s got about seven inspectors that cover the whole area and just been doing it since I think 2010.
Jill Glanzer:
Oh, yeah, that’s even longer than eight years.
Jamie Riley:
Yeah. Yeah,
Matthew Maschler:
That he’s been an inspector. Yeah. Yeah. So that’s took
Jamie Riley:
Me a while to be like, okay, I’ll come work for you. Right.
Jill Glanzer:
It took a little bit.
Matthew Maschler:
Were you a home inspector
Jamie Riley:
Beforehand? No, I was always in sales or customer service of some kind. I worked in heavy construction, equipment rentals,
Matthew Maschler:
Stuff
Jamie Riley:
Like that. Different companies, Sunbelt rentals.
Jill Glanzer:
Oh, okay.
Jamie Riley:
Stuff like that.
Matthew Maschler:
So we were talking about something that Jill said, right, you’re there to protect the buyer and it could be protect, but it is also informed. A lot of times buyers, they may only see the property once, twice, and it’s a very large purchase to see a house. And the first time you see a house, you’re not looking at the details, you’re not looking at the structure, you’re not going into crawl spaces or checking out the foundation. So even if the foundation is, there’s a lot of crack marks. The first time you see a house, you’re looking to see if the house is livable, if you want to live there,
Jamie Riley:
If it’s what you want, if it’s
Matthew Maschler:
What you want in a house.
Jamie Riley:
And that’s something I do is I treat every house as if I’m buying it myself.
Matthew Maschler:
I
Jamie Riley:
Think it’s important no matter what business you’re in, to try to look at things through your customer’s perspective, you are the customer, what would you want? I mean, and the things that you find are hilarious to me too. I don’t know if you’ve ever seen the movie seven from the nineties with Brad Pitt.
Matthew Maschler:
I don’t think I have,
Jamie Riley:
But they were checking out an apartment, and once they bought it, a train went by and it rattled the whole place. Everything shook. And it’s like, oh, yeah, no wonder they only kept bringing us here to show their house at certain times. So I’ve been to situations like that where you hear the train horn
Matthew Maschler:
And
Jamie Riley:
You’re like, oh man, I used to live next to a train down in Fort Lauderdale as a kid. And I remember waking up to hearing that on Saturday morning when you didn’t want to or sleeping in and planes overhead flying, things like that.
Matthew Maschler:
In Boca, there’s certain flight paths for the Boca Airport. So it is important to see the house a couple different times, day, night, times a day, different traffic patterns. You see a house on a Sunday and it looks like a nice quiet street, and then you close, and then you realize that you’re in the path that all the moms or parents know to shortcut to the school. And then there’s a line of cars snaking through your neighborhood for school pickup. Maybe you didn’t see that when you left. So yeah, the home inspector’s job is to go through the house and make sure that it’s, I would say structural, but we weren’t talking about the foundation, just that it’s structurally sounded, it’s in good condition and it’s not something, Jill and I had an episode a few weeks ago about, it’s not a pass fail situation, and it’s not something that as the buyer, you can delegate to someone else. You’re hiring an inspector, but as the buyer, you have the right to, and you should be there for the inspector or part of it. And if you can’t be there, really look and understand the report. I can’t tell you how many times we have the buyer hires. The inspector doesn’t read the report.
Jamie Riley:
Oh, that happens a lot. We get questions and it’s like, did you actually read that part of the,
Matthew Maschler:
But we don’t get questions. And they’ll ask us, is there anything I should be concerned with? And I said, yes, you should be concerned with the condition of the house and you should read the report and make sure that,
Jamie Riley:
Yeah, we get a lot of questions where it’s like, okay, so what was wrong with it? And it’s like, well, you have to read the report. It’s
Jill Glanzer:
A little subjective, right?
Jamie Riley:
Do you care that the caulking isn’t perfect and there’s little separations and things like that? Or are you only concerned that the AC is broken? Right. There’s big problems, there’s little problems, there’s all kinds of cosmetic issues,
Matthew Maschler:
And there’s two different buckets or two different ways you can go with things like caulking and with things. There’s certain things that are just, that’s the house.
Jamie Riley:
And
Matthew Maschler:
If it’s okay with you, go ahead
Jamie Riley:
And buy the house. Well, that was a perfect example of what you just said too, because yesterday the house was from 1973 and it’s like, okay, it’s still standing. This obviously isn’t a new problem. So foundation issues are a problem that come up in houses, but it’s also something that can be fixed. How much and how in depth that problem can go, and how expensive it could be $50,000 or is it something that isn’t even worth fixing because it’s going to be okay?
Jill Glanzer:
And some people just jump to panic right away. Oh, absolutely. And they’re like, oh, there’s structural problems. Forget it. When you don’t know, maybe the seller would be willing to fix the problem.
Jamie Riley:
Maybe
Jill Glanzer:
They’d be willing to give you a big credit for the problem.
Matthew Maschler:
Right. So
Jamie Riley:
That’s
Matthew Maschler:
The thing is if you see a, so I was saying that’s the house. Do you want to buy the house or not? The other bucket is these are the defects. Can you afford to fix them or do you want to negotiate with the seller to fix them? The third thing is this situation, right? Where there’s more information that needs to be had. And very often something that Jamie inspects can lead to questions that need further investigation. And it happens with houses on the water with the pylons.
Jamie Riley:
Oh, I’ve come across houses that had caught on fire and they tried to cover it up in the attic with paint, and I look at it and it’s chalky, or there would be termite damage or something. And it’s like, well, how extensive does this termite damage go? And it’s damage the trusses in the attic. We need to get a roofer out here to see how much needs to be replaced because obviously it can’t be let go as is, right?
Matthew Maschler:
So then hiring the structural engineer or the roofer or the fire mediator to
Jamie Riley:
Give a quote on what would be right
Jill Glanzer:
Or a plumber for a plumbing problem, get that extra expert out
Jamie Riley:
There,
Matthew Maschler:
But at least the inspection reveals that there are these additional questions that need to be pursued, and you have to be careful with your time. If you have a seven day or 10 day inspection period, you don’t want to get the inspector out on that seventh day when you don’t have time to respond to the
Jamie Riley:
Well. That’s another thing too that we’ve come across where extensions are the worst thing a real estate agent wants to hear because all of ’em want to go to close. So there’s different ways of doing it where it’s like, okay, we’ll close on the day that we already have said, but if the problems exceed this dollar amount, you are going to be responsible for it even after closing. So there’s different ways in negotiating. And to me, since I’ve been a home inspector, I’ve seen so many different ways that real estate agents negotiate that are intelligent, smart. That’s the one thing I work with a lot of real estate agents. I say it all the time. Some are good, some are middle of the road, some are terrible. But I work with ’em all and it’s like you see the ones that are successful in how they treat their customer at the end of the day, how they are with their client. You have to get into their mindset and think, what would I want to do in this situation?
Matthew Maschler:
Absolutely.
Jamie Riley:
Because how hard is it just to get ’em to that point where they found something they want in the area, that they want the location, they got all the stuff they want, and then, oh no, we’re not going to buy this house. It’s got a crack in the wall and the foundation. Well, somebody’s going to get it. That house isn’t going to get demolished, right? It’s going to get fixed. And if they want to sell it, they already had one buyer back out or whatever the deal is, you can always negotiate. Somebody has to give, somebody has to take, everybody ends up happy
Matthew Maschler:
And see, Jamie knows this more than other inspectors that the tool as agents that we have to redress any problems that come up in the inspection is that negotiation. We joke around the As is contract, as is with right to inspection. The joke is as is with right to renegotiation. And I try to tell my agents, also, don’t ask the seller to fix things because they’re going to fix it the cheapest way possible. They may not fix it, they may not fix it to your standards, ask for a credit, and that way the buyer can fix these things after closing, or the buyer can just figure they can live with it and just pocket the money. So the buyer should ask for a credit, not for the seller to actually do the work. And if you are going to have the seller do the work, have a lawyer, have someone really, really good, write the addendum. The addendum should be very clear about what work needs to be done in what timeframe and what happens if the work is not done.
Jamie Riley:
I mean, to me, every house tells a story when you get there and trying to uncover, then find out what that story is, is kind of what I like to do, go through. And it’s funny, you can go into certain rooms and see like, okay, you can tell this was a family that lived here, or this was just some couple that flipped this house and they want to get rid of it or whatever. And there’s so much more to it than just the physical of what it is that you see when you’re going through a house.
Matthew Maschler:
Do you check the alarm system?
Jamie Riley:
Typically? We do not. I’ll sometimes put in my report if it’s on or not, or connected, because a lot of times she’ll come across an old intercom system from the sixties that doesn’t even work anymore. So under my electrical, I might put in there that there was old electronics no longer in use, should probably be removed. Removed if not being used or connected, stuff like that. We do check smoke detectors. You
Matthew Maschler:
Have to make smoke or let a cigarette?
Jamie Riley:
No, typically we’ll just activate it with the push button or whatever. A lot of ’em are connected to the alarm system though, so we won’t check that. I’ve had the fire department show up before because they haven’t gone off and not by my doing. I’m supposed to test it, but they got a text to their phone and Oh, my phone was on silent. I didn’t respond to that. So they ended up showing up or things happen. So
Matthew Maschler:
That’s very interesting to tell the seller to make sure they monitor their phone for alarm monitoring
Jamie Riley:
Reasons or there’s certain instances where it’s there, but we’re not going to test it because of that. It could happen. Or the last thing, I mean, I’ve heard of it, but it hasn’t happened to me where a sprinkler system would go off.
Matthew Maschler:
Oh, inside the house?
Jamie Riley:
Yeah. Oh
Matthew Maschler:
My goodness.
Jamie Riley:
In a condo. So you got to be careful and know what you’re doing.
Matthew Maschler:
You see that in hotels.
Jamie Riley:
I’ve
Matthew Maschler:
Seen it in schools, the sprinkler system, but in a house, it’s condo. Yes. But in a house, the fire alarm goes off and all of a sudden it waters down your whole house.
Jamie Riley:
So there was one thing I wanted to touch on where you had mentioned, and a lot of people talk about it, whether a house passes or fails inspection. So there’s a couple of inspection reports that everybody knows about heard about, but aren’t familiar with that I think every real estate agent should learn about and know about for their client to benefit them. And that’s the four point inspection report, the
Matthew Maschler:
Four point inspection report
Jamie Riley:
And the wind mitigation. The wind mitigation lets the insurance company know the level of protection that the house has, and that not only includes whether the house has storm panels with the proper Florida product approval number on them, but it lets them know if it has a new
Matthew Maschler:
Roof,
Jamie Riley:
An old roof, how the roof is held down with straps, clips, what types of nails, all that goes into the wind mitigation. And there is no pass or fail in that there’s either has the best of the best, has some of something or has nothing at all. So a lot of people will take the nothing at all, no protection as a fail because their insurance will say, we’re not going to insure you unless you get something right.
So that’s where I think the confusion comes in is people will say, oh, we failed because we didn’t have any credits on the wind mitigation. Well, you didn’t have it. So get some, upgrade it, update it, and you can have something is better than nothing. But of course, obviously having the best of the best is the best thing to do. And that would be a brand new roof, a hip roof, the type of roof that handles the wind loads the best, all of the hurricane protection you could possibly get with the proper Florida product approval numbers, impact windows are the best indoors and where we see a lot where people replace all the windows in their house with hurricane impact, windows and doors, and they’ll leave out one window.
Matthew Maschler:
And
Jamie Riley:
Unfortunately that’s how the insurance company ensures the house is based off the weakest form of protection.
Matthew Maschler:
A chain is only as strong as the weakest link.
Jamie Riley:
Exactly. That’s interesting. The wind will blow in through that one window and that’s what will lift the roof off. So they want to see everything garage door. Anything with glass is the most important. If you don’t have glass on that door, you could still stay within the A rating if all of your glass impact rated, but if you’re non glass openings like your garage door or your front door, a side door, whatever, if it doesn’t have glass, you could still stay in the A rating. It’ll just fall under an A one or a B two, something like that to a lesser degree. So that’s the wind mitigation. Then there’s the four point, and that’s the one most people don’t even know about or hear about until their insurance company says, we want this report from you. And that consists of just roof, plumbing, electric, and ac.
Matthew Maschler:
Oh, that’s why it’s called four point.
Jamie Riley:
Yeah.
Matthew Maschler:
Because four things, and
Jamie Riley:
That’s also included in a normal home inspection. Everybody does it. It just has to be on a separate state regulated form that’s filled out for them so they can see that everything is okay. So if there’s something wrong with one of those four things, then the insurance company’s going to want to see one of those four things fixed properly before they’ll issue you insurance. So that’s a huge one where people think pass or fail, right? Because they’re like, oh, I passed AC and roof, but I have plumbing issues. I have electrical issues.
Jill Glanzer:
And sometimes they’re a little, they’re minor. I know you did one in a unit that I sold last year in Boynton, and there was underneath the young girl. Yeah, it was underneath the sink.
Jamie Riley:
The sink shut off valves,
Jill Glanzer:
The sink shut off valves. Those things don’t cost a lot of money to fix. So you could easily ask the seller to fix those things, and then Jamie would come out and reinspect and the four point would be done. They’re not difficult to do,
Jamie Riley:
And you need these for
Matthew Maschler:
Your insurance. They help
Jamie Riley:
With your rates. Sink. Shutoff valves are a huge plumbing issue that we actually come across more often than anything because a lot of times we’ll go into houses and condos from the sixties and seventies that have been completely renovated and they redid everything, but then you go into the sink and they didn’t change out the sink shutoff valves, and they’re seized up because we never use them. So they have to be working properly, otherwise you will not pass the plumbing part of an inspection. So we don’t really pass or fail. It’s just kind of what it is, and it’s all repairable or fixable. So
Jill Glanzer:
Because the sink shutoff valve, if you don’t have it, it could cause a flood,
Jamie Riley:
And
Jill Glanzer:
That’s why they want it there to working.
Jamie Riley:
Everybody has a main shutoff out for all the water in the entire house, but if you have a sink leak, they want to see you able to shut the water off at that one particular sink instead of having to shut the water off at the entire unit house just to fix that one leak. So the more a real estate agent knows about those two reports, which are, they used to be required for any house older than 20 years, but literally since last year
Jill Glanzer:
I’ve
Jamie Riley:
Been doing them on houses that are brand new because the insurance companies are requiring everybody to have those two reports to make sure that everything’s good. They don’t want to insure anything anymore down here. It’s really changing the industry quite a bit from what we’ve seen, keeping us really busy.
Jill Glanzer:
And then how does that work, Jamie? I feel like people want to get the home inspection to see if they even want to buy the house. So they might not always want to go pay the extra money for the four point, even though it’s not a lot of money until they know, okay, Jamie, I know I’m buying this house. Can you prepare that report for me?
Jamie Riley:
Yeah. So when I go out to a house, I take all the information so I don’t have to go back. And then you just get the full home inspection and you can
Matthew Maschler:
Decide
Jamie Riley:
At a later time if you’d like to buy the four point and win MIT if you’re going to buy the house. But always, it depends on where they’re at with the agreement of purchase and stuff. If they know they’re going to get it,
Matthew Maschler:
Then you just do it.
Jamie Riley:
Yeah, some people, they’ll wait until their insurance company tells ’em they need it, and then they’ll call us back and we’ll give it to you at that point. But I always do the report the same day just in case I get that call later. But yeah, it’s been required by pretty much everybody now. And it’s definitely something, I think it saves the buyer money on their homeowner’s insurance every single month, depending on where they are with that report, depending on your level of hurricane protection, they can charge you less money because they know that you’re not that much of a liability depending on the age of your water heater, the age of your ac,
Matthew Maschler:
Those
Jamie Riley:
Things are going to be in the four point. Has your electrical panel been replaced? They’re going to charge you differently according to all those things because they know, Hey, this guy just replaced his electrical panel a year ago. We can charge him less every month. He’s not going to have an electrical issue. And here’s another one that people might not think about agents or just anybody is the permitting. That’s something I think every agent should look for,
Matthew Maschler:
But
Jamie Riley:
I try. Tell
Matthew Maschler:
Me more about the permitting
Jamie Riley:
For permitting for Palm Beach County. It’s really easy to find online. For me, I always try my best to pull it up for the customer. We actually have it somewhere in our documentation that we’ll charge extra if you ask for it, but I always try to throw it in there if I can find it. It’s so important because
Matthew Maschler:
Let’s define what we’re talking about. You’re pulling, you’re looking to see if there’s open permits.
Jamie Riley:
I’m looking to see if the work that has been done in the house has been permitted. So for me, more than anything, I’m always looking for the roof is the first one I’m looking for because that goes directly onto the wind mitigation,
Matthew Maschler:
And
Jamie Riley:
That will get you a new roof credit if your roof was done after 2004.
So I can look at a permit and go, oh, cool, this roof was done four years ago, so you’re going to get a new roof credit right off of the bat. It’s worth doing a wind mitigation if you even get one credit on the report. So right off the bat, I know that I can tell that person, you want to get the wind mitigation, you know what I mean, before I even get out to the property, but also tells the story of the place because you’re like, okay, we’re looking at a new water heater here, or we’re looking at one that a lot of times I’ll go out to a house like yesterday and they had a permit from 2003 for the ac, but the AC was from 2013,
Matthew Maschler:
And
Jamie Riley:
That’s fine. It’s not ever going to be a problem unless the next buyer is, oh, I want everything to be perfectly permitted, the way people replace things and do things without permits all the time. It’s just that when you have the permit, it assures that it was done properly and installed the way it should be and that it underwent inspection before passing and things like that. So yeah, you’re going to come across that.
Jill Glanzer:
So for insurance, if let’s say you have a 2013 water heater for that four point, it’s included in the four point. Let’s say it’s not permitted, does that count as a 2013 water heater or does it count as a 2003?
Jamie Riley:
Yeah, because see, the water heater’s going to have a sticker or a stamp on it. The inspector, if you’re going to say what year it is, you have to prove that it is, you
Jill Glanzer:
Have to have a picture of that sticker,
Jamie Riley:
The picture of the product label, and that goes for AC and water heater. So if you don’t have it, they’re not, they’re not going to be able to prove it. You’re not going to be able to put it. So they don’t necessarily care that it was permitted. They’re about to insure your house. They want to make sure that it’s new and that it’s working properly and that you can prove that it is. So that’s what we’re there to do is check all the plumbing, make sure there’s no leaks. They have a series of questions on the four point that ask, is there any sign of old leaks? Is there any sign of leaks and different situations?
Jill Glanzer:
And really as an agent, you look that much better to your customer and you’re providing such a better service if you know about these things, right?
Jamie Riley:
Oh, absolutely. Because you’re saving the money on their monthly homeowner’s insurance. Right. And it’s funny because I come across the agents every day that I’ve dealt with for years, and they’ll still ask me, what’s a four point?
Jill Glanzer:
They don’t know what it is. And it’s
Jamie Riley:
Almost like you do know, I’ve told you four or five times before, but let’s go through it again.
Matthew Maschler:
It’s still words to me. Sometimes
Jill Glanzer:
I’m in the weeds with details. Matt knows that about me. I’m so detail oriented about this inspection and what these people need that sometimes I get lost in the details and I can’t see the forests through the trees. Like, oh my gosh, there’s this shutout file that’s not working. What are we going to do?
Matthew Maschler:
And for me, I’m like, well, just talk to your insurance agent about it. I’m not the insurance agent.
Jill Glanzer:
That’s true. You try not to be the expert of things. You’re not an expert in
Matthew Maschler:
I’m the agent, I’m not the mortgage broker. I’m not the home inspector. I don’t need to know anything about the four point. Jamie. Does the four point give it to your mortgage broker
Jill Glanzer:
If there’s a
Matthew Maschler:
Concern or question now, but I don’t need to see it. If you have a question about what it means, ask Jamie. If you have a question about your insurance, ask the insurance agent and I’ll facilitate anything you need me to do after that. But you have to talk to those people.
Jill Glanzer:
We should do an episode later about knowing too much. What is too much to know as an
Matthew Maschler:
Agent. That’s
Jill Glanzer:
Why now there’s
Jamie Riley:
Never too much. Yeah, I feel like you guys, the more informed you are, the, you can always refer to the home inspector, whoever, but when you have the answer and you know and you’re positive, it’s nothing better than that. Because basically just like our report when we put it together, you’re trying to show value in what it is that you offer. Right, right. Because how many times, I mean, I’ve been to situations where it’s like, well, the agent didn’t have to sell this place. They just found it in the location that they wanted, and it was what they wanted. They just opened. It was easy. Open the key and turn the knob and the place sold. Right. So it’s like you do add value to yourself as an agent or anything, the more you know, right? Absolutely. And the more you offer to your customers.
Matthew Maschler:
Absolutely. But also, again, I also have very good insurance agents that I refer to. Right?
Jamie Riley:
Yeah. Very good inspectors. So
Matthew Maschler:
I don’t need to insert myself in that
Jamie Riley:
Conversation.
Matthew Maschler:
This is another thing I want to make sure before we’re run out of time that Jamie brings to the table for our new home customers. We had a lot of customers in the last few years buy new homes specifically from GL on Lions Road, the bridges properties, the Lotus properties, et cetera. So everyone, when they get their new home, they don’t tend to get the house inspected. It’s brand new. There’s always a punch list after closing that the owners work with the builder on finishing out the punch list. Do you often inspect before the new construction close?
Jamie Riley:
I actually did one a couple of weeks ago for a guy that, right the day he closed, I did his inspection in Lotus,
Matthew Maschler:
And
Jamie Riley:
Then he called us back 10 months later, which was a couple of weeks ago, to do his pre warranty expiration before his warranty expired.
Matthew Maschler:
So on the pre-inspection, close the pre-closing inspection.
Jamie Riley:
Yeah.
Matthew Maschler:
Do the builders ever have a problem with you being there?
Jamie Riley:
Yeah, they require us to do certain things with my personal insurance to be able to get into there. And then they also say, you can’t get on the roof, you can’t take the electrical panel off. You can’t get into the attic, things like that, but nothing of major. I also try to bend the rules as much as possible by asking them, is it okay if I inspect the roof from my ladder?
Matthew Maschler:
Is
Jamie Riley:
It all right if I just peek my head in the attic, but don’t climb into it, which they allow. I don’t take the electrical panel cover off, but I do make sure things are wired properly by going through the outlets and things.
Matthew Maschler:
And for your buyers of new construction, you’re not doing the inspection to renegotiate the price. Here. You’re just one belts and suspenders. You want to make sure that the house was constructed good, but also you need to create that punch list. I would have to get Jamie in there before the closing so I could create the punches. I don’t know what’s good or not, or what’s structural. So if there’s a problem, I want to make sure that that’s on the record. But more importantly, talk to me about 10 months later because one year after the closing on new construction, a lot of the builder’s responsibilities expire,
Jamie Riley:
Correct? Yeah. So I’ve been in Lotus Homes in Boca, Delray area, I guess that’s right there on the border over a hundred times now.
And basically we offer a pre warranty expiration inspection. So we come out and inspect the entire house right before your one year anniversary when your warranty expires. And we go through and we talk to you and ask all the questions of what has gone on since you’ve lived here? You’ve lived here. Surely you’ve come across some issues that have come up. And in a lot of cases, they’ve already put in tickets with GL to try and get things repaired, and sometimes they haven’t. I’ve come across people that haven’t gotten refrigerators, they still haven’t got refrigerators,
Matthew Maschler:
They still don’t have a refrigerator
Jamie Riley:
Or screens missing from their sliding glass doors, things like that. This never got installed. I’ve come across, TRUS is cut in the attic for whatever reason, that compromised the roof integrity. So you come across all kinds of stuff and it’s just good to know what you got. And then of course, all the cosmetic stuff that
Matthew Maschler:
Could have
Jamie Riley:
Been avoided or whatever, but most people were on their community website that they’ve got there and they’re happy. But we’ve done, I’ve done several different neighborhoods all over the falls and Parkland. More GL homes are coming too, from what I know,
Matthew Maschler:
Right?
Jamie Riley:
Oh yeah. We’re going to have fun here in Boca Raton and
Matthew Maschler:
600 more Lotus Palms on Glades Road, and then across the street on Lions
Jill Glanzer:
Next to Olympic Heights. I don’t know the name.
Matthew Maschler:
I think it’s a new pro
Jill Glanzer:
Maybe.
Jamie Riley:
How many homes there? 800.
Matthew Maschler:
700.
Jamie Riley:
So you got to think, right?
Matthew Maschler:
I’m joking. The sign says A N E W, and then the next word is P R J C T.
Jill Glanzer:
I kind of thought that that sounded weird. A new proje,
Matthew Maschler:
A new little project.
Jamie Riley:
Well, what’s funny is
Matthew Maschler:
A new project by Geo Homes,
Jamie Riley:
What’s funny to me is say they add a thousand homes. People in Boca Raton don’t have one car. Everybody’s got at least two. They got kids. What is going to happen to our traffic? We’re going to become like Miami down here.
Matthew Maschler:
One of the issues is years ago, years ago, Boca, the city of Boca, had the opportunity to annex a lot of West Boca and they didn’t. And so a lot of that area in west of the turnpike is unincorporated Palm Beach County
Jamie Riley:
Agricultural.
Matthew Maschler:
So a lot of the building decisions, none of the building decisions are made by the city. They’re all made by the county, and sometimes the county isn’t as interested in this remote area of the south part of the county. So the city officials of Boca, they can pretend that it doesn’t exist outside the county lines, but every home on Glades Road at that light is going to add to city traffic. I think it was a mistake years ago by the city to not annex a large portion of the unincorporated Palm Beach County area. The people, it was the long-term residents on A one A. And a lot of the old Boca, not old as an age, but old Boca families, they didn’t want their vote diluted and they didn’t want control of the city to be lost to these new residents out west. But because of that, a lot of the western part of the city grew
Jill Glanzer:
In a way that may not be
Matthew Maschler:
Sensible for the city because
Jill Glanzer:
It brings people to the east. All those people come east. So it does affect eventually, it’s just that it’s hard for sometimes people to see the future when
Matthew Maschler:
They’re there. One of the reasons they sold the golf course, so they sold the golf course that’s going to become Lotus Palm, is the golf course was technically outside of city limit, and they were able to replace it with a private course that they bought in the city limit. And to me, run both courses because Florida’s golf capital of the world, but most of the golf in Boca and nearby is behind private gates. You can’t access it. So to have an additional public course doesn’t suck.
Jamie Riley:
It’s going to be interesting to see what happens. I mean, I love the drive on 4 41 north of Clint, more into Delray, Boynton beach area. It’s always nice and rural,
Jill Glanzer:
Right? It is nice.
Jamie Riley:
But it’s going to change. I think it’s going
Matthew Maschler:
To change.
Jamie Riley:
And it’s just money always wins out, right?
Jill Glanzer:
Always.
Matthew Maschler:
Absolutely.
Jill Glanzer:
Always.
Matthew Maschler:
So we talked about, so when you do the end of warranty inspection, you didn’t have to do the closing inspection, right? Just come
Jamie Riley:
In. Yeah, you don’t have to. It’s always good. We do pre-construction, we do pre drywall, we do foundation.
Matthew Maschler:
And then what’s the goal of that pre warranty inspection 10 months after the closing. It’s just to make a new punch list.
Jamie Riley:
Well, basically you want to know if there’s anything that went wrong in the year that you lived there, right. I came across the guy who had, he didn’t use this for his closing, but he used this for the pre warranty, and he had an AC from 2016, and it was literally, it should have been 20 something, 2021 in
Matthew Maschler:
A brand new house.
Jill Glanzer:
Oh, wow.
Jamie Riley:
Yeah. So
Jill Glanzer:
They used an old ac.
Jamie Riley:
Yeah, it was probably brand new and had never been used,
Jill Glanzer:
But it was just, that was the date it was manufactured.
Jamie Riley:
So when he goes to sell his house, it’s
Jill Glanzer:
Going to look like 2016. That’s
Jamie Riley:
The year that it’s going to be sold as Right. So he was like, right off the bat, I want that AC replaced and he has every single right to, because he hadn’t been given what he bought,
Jill Glanzer:
And had he not had you inspected, he would’ve never noticed. So that however much you charge for that is so worth the money.
Jamie Riley:
Exactly. So yeah, in that one instance, it paid for his entire inspection report right there. And that was pretty early on before I even got started inspection.
Matthew Maschler:
That was at the pre-closing inspection or the 10 months in, that
Jamie Riley:
Was the pre warranty before his warranty expired. So had he waited another two months or so, it would’ve been on him.
Matthew Maschler:
I just think he closed. He accepted it, but it was good that the builder replaced it.
Jamie Riley:
Yeah. I mean, there’s an argument to be had on all. There’s a lot of times Bill push back and say, oh, we don’t fix that or replace that, but many of the people that live in Lotus are from New York, and they got that squeaky wheel, gets to Grease saying, I’m going to get what I
Jill Glanzer:
Want. They’re not letting anybody get away with that. Yeah, exactly.
Jamie Riley:
So they get on that community website and before you know it, they’re just like, we want them to be happy and just kind of go away quietly. Let’s take care of this. It’s not a big deal.
Jill Glanzer:
I’m just imagining in these new home communities, like 2016 acs just sitting there for six years and then all of a sudden they build a house around it. It’s so bizarre.
Jamie Riley:
Yeah, it’s crazy. I mean, I could tell you stories all day long about the stuff that I’ve encountered and come across and things like that. I think what’s interesting to me is how much it stays with you. You kind of just don’t forget the one you had even brought up. I remember the girl that,
Jill Glanzer:
Yeah,
Jamie Riley:
Yeah. You
Jill Glanzer:
Remember her name. You came back for, came back prior to closing to make sure that the four point was done because there was the sink shutoff valves. And so you do, you get to know these people. And also another thing Jamie will do, which I think is really helpful, if he has an inspection and then my customer doesn’t understand the inspection and I’m reviewing the report for them, I can put him on a call with me and he’ll explain everything. He’ll answer any question.
Jamie Riley:
Why wouldn’t you? I mean, I’ve come across buyers that are like, oh, I’ll be at the inspection, but I’m a little shy to ask these questions. I’m a little nervous to open this cabinet door. I’m like, this is the most expensive thing you’re ever purchasing in your life. You should walk in there. You own the place already. Don’t be afraid.
Jill Glanzer:
And you have leverage right
Jamie Riley:
Now. Yeah. You’re going to live here, so don’t you want to know as an inspector, it doesn’t change the report whether you’re there or not. During the inspection, I can go a little faster if nobody’s there. So it’s not the end of the world if somebody isn’t there when they’re buying the property. I did one in Palm Beach Gardens last week that was like a $3 million house and the buyers were in. Singapore happens.
Jill Glanzer:
It’s
Jamie Riley:
Fine. It doesn’t change my report at all, but it’s good there to be there and be informed if that’s what you want.
Matthew Maschler:
Has technology changed since you started inspections or is there anything that you’re doing differently now because
Jamie Riley:
Yeah,
Matthew Maschler:
Of iPhones or whatnot?
Jamie Riley:
My report is completely done on my phone now where I used to have my phone, my photos that I take with my phone, Dropbox into my computer, and then just drop and drag ’em into a report that we would put into A P D F and send you that way. But now everything’s done on an app on my phone, and it’s still a P D F form that you get in an email. But it’s just so much faster, so much easier. I still take my time. I prefer to do one house a day. I can do two or three even if I wanted to, but I prefer to just spend specific amount of time with each individual customer that I got. I treat it like I’m buying it.
Matthew Maschler:
So you do one a day every day or most days?
Jamie Riley:
Yeah, most days I try to do one a day. A lot of times we’ll get just, Hey, we need a roof inspection done, or I’ve got a moisture intrusion inspection done. We do air quality for people that think they may have moisture, intrusion, mold issues, things like that. We do, of course, the insurance inspections, four points and wind, MITs on their own. Somebody just needs a wind mitigation. Some people just need a four point. Some people need both. A lot of times I’ll get sent out to do a wind mitigation and they never heard of the four point they call their agent while I’m there. Oh yes, it’ll benefit me to get it. So as a buyer should always ask, because they might not tell you that it’ll save you money on your monthly homeowner’s insurance.
I always tell people too, if you’re shopping for homeowner’s insurance shop for it yourself. Get a lot of people that’ll tell you, oh, we’ll find you the best rate. We shop over a hundred different insurance companies, don’t worry about it. We’ll find it for you. And then they busy in their own career, jobs, life, whatever. I was able to find my own homeowner’s insurance a thousand dollars cheaper than anybody else would find for me, because I allowed them to shop for me when they said they would do that back in 2020. But the cheapest person was a thousand dollars over what I found myself, because it’s not in their best interest. They want to make a commission. So you should always shop for yourself, look out for you. Right. When it comes to homeowners insurance,
Matthew Maschler:
Do you put in prices? Would you say this is broken $5, or this air conditioner needs replacement a thousand dollars? Do you put prices in your reports?
Jamie Riley:
Yeah, we don’t do an estimate for repairs because we don’t do any of the work. We just tell people, you can call and get quotes from plumbers, roofers, whatever it is that you want, because they’re going to vary.
Matthew Maschler:
I never liked it when inspectors put prices in because it just pigeonholed. It hurt negotiation
Jamie Riley:
And
Matthew Maschler:
It pigeonholed things. And then what we saw in the last few years is prices have changed rapidly.
Jamie Riley:
Oh yeah. I referred Jill to get a roof done, and I think I had told her I paid $5,000 less than what they quoted her. And she was like, oh yeah, that was 2020 prices.
Matthew Maschler:
We’re
Jamie Riley:
Not doing that anymore.
Matthew Maschler:
Yeah, it was just two years later. I’m calling the same people that gave me a quote a year or two ago, and I got to call ’em now, and I have the old quote, and I don’t expect the price to be the same.
Jamie Riley:
So
Matthew Maschler:
Yeah, prices change and
Jamie Riley:
Maybe lead with that. If you’re calling for the roof and say, Hey, you guys still going to honor this old,
Jill Glanzer:
Right?
Jamie Riley:
Oh, you’re not. Okay, I’ll shop around. But if they say yes, you might not shop around. So always think about it. You’re the customer, because
Matthew Maschler:
I’ll ask you offline if you’re still recommending that one particular roof company I have.
Jamie Riley:
Absolutely.
Matthew Maschler:
I have two roof drops to do. So. Alright. So if anyone out there, obviously if you’re working with us or me, Jill, or any of our agents, you can contact Sherlock Holmes inspections through us. But if not, you can just Google. It’s sherlock inspections.com. It’s a very simple email address. Everybody knows how to spell Sherlock.
Jamie Riley:
Yeah, Sherlock Home Inspections. You can find us on Google. We got a bunch of reviews.
Matthew Maschler:
And then the phone number is eight three three four Sherlock. That’s a good one. And I’m looking at the website. There’s different phone numbers for Sarasota and Tampa, Sebring, Orlando lc, Palm Beach Broward. So just Google Sherlock inspections or Sherlock Holmes inspections. Do you know why your brother chose that name?
Jamie Riley:
His wife actually created that name. We get compliments on it a lot. It’s great. But yeah. Are
Matthew Maschler:
They Sherlock Holmes fans?
Jamie Riley:
Oh, absolutely. Yeah. I mean, it’s a big part of what we do.
Matthew Maschler:
I don’t think I’ve read any Sherlock Holmes books,
Jamie Riley:
That whole mindset. Oh, did you see the movie?
Matthew Maschler:
I’ve definitely seen some movies.
Jamie Riley:
Oh,
Jill Glanzer:
There was a newer movie out the
Matthew Maschler:
Robert Downey one.
Jamie Riley:
Yeah,
Jill Glanzer:
I haven’t seen it. That
Matthew Maschler:
Was good.
Jamie Riley:
So when he kind of body language and reads people before he even has a conversation with him
Matthew Maschler:
When it was
Jamie Riley:
A lot the way that we are.
Matthew Maschler:
When I was 18 or 19, I was in London and we stayed at a hotel on Baker Street, so it was all Sherlock Holmes themed.
Jamie Riley:
That’s awesome.
Matthew Maschler:
And then my most recent trip to London, we were on a tour and they had a Sherlock Holmes kind of Sherlock Holmes character come in to interrupt our dinner one day. And the kids played detective,
Jamie Riley:
So she doesn’t get enough credit for creating that name. But it’s great. We love it.
Jill Glanzer:
Everybody remembers it.
Jamie Riley:
Yeah. Yep,
Matthew Maschler:
Yep, yep, yep. All right. So thank
Jamie Riley:
You so much. We’ll wrap this up. Thank you
Matthew Maschler:
For, thank you
Jamie Riley:
For joining
Matthew Maschler:
Us. Thank you,
Jill Glanzer:
Jamie.
Matthew Maschler:
Jamie Riley with Sherlock Home Inspections. It’s a capital mistake to theorize before you have all the evidence.
Jamie Riley:
Thank you.
Matthew Maschler:
That is a rough quote. Thank you for joining us on the Real Estate Finder podcast. I’m Matthew Ashler.
Jill Glanzer:
And I’m Jill Glanzer. And if you ever want to buy or sell or rent a home, give us a call at (561) 208-3334.
Matthew Maschler:
All right.
Jamie Riley:
Awesome. Thanks for having me
Matthew Maschler:
And Jamie come back. We’re having a celebration on October 10th for our 100th episode.
Jamie Riley:
Oh yeah, that’s
Matthew Maschler:
Good. Right here in the courtyard.
Jamie Riley:
Fun.
Matthew Maschler:
Alright. Did I ever tell you how I met Jamie?
Jill Glanzer:
No.
Matthew Maschler:
So I was walking in the mall and I was walking with Wendy. He was walking with his girlfriend and he looked at me and he recognized me from Facebook. I don’t think it was Matthew Mania. That’s how I met Nel. Said Matthew Mania when I met Lio. But Jamie says, Hey, you’re Matt. Right? And I think we just knew each other from one of the restaurant Facebook groups.
Jill Glanzer:
So
Matthew Maschler:
We got to talking and he knew I was a real estate agent, and he’s a real estate broker. A real estate inspector. And it was right the time, right about the time when we were having issues and needed to replace our inspector,
Jill Glanzer:
Inspector,
Matthew Maschler:
And I was looking at the signature. Then we have a vendor’s network approved vendors network at Signature, and he wasn’t on it. And we hired someone on the vendor’s network for our next deal. But then a couple days later, coincidentally, Sherlock had come on board as a signature preferred vendor. As soon as that happened, I emailed you. I emailed the whole team. I’m like, okay, from now on going forward, Jamie, I was just telling Jill how I met you in the mall. We recognized each other from Facebook, and then coincidentally, your company signed up to be a signature vendor. Then having, because I like to use the signature vendors, even though I don’t have to, but I prefer to. When you guys signed up as a signature vendor and I needed a home inspector, I was like, this is perfect. And it’s been smooth sailing ever since. Yeah, it’s fun. And then it’s always cool to have common interest too. You both grew up around the eighties and loves wrestling. Yeah. So anyway, so I just wanted to add that. I wanted to add that.
Jill Glanzer:
That’s cool. I never heard that story.
Matthew Maschler:
Yeah, we met in the mall
Jill Glanzer:
From
Matthew Maschler:
Facebook.
Jill Glanzer:
All right. That’s great. All
Matthew Maschler:
Have a great one.
Jill Glanzer:
Alrighty. The future looks bright and the stones pass by the sky’s dog. Blue. When it’s almost that time, light shows cameras flash when I pass. Living in the moment, forget about the past. They save the best for last. Matthew Mania. We about to make a splash. Life is a marathon full of sharp turns, got to keep pace while the hands on the clock turns high stakes. Five star run estate. I run a show. You can tell the boss in place electricity energy if vibrate. I’m always on time. Even if I’m late, I make dreams come true. Living my life. Hope the
Speaker 4:
Same for you knows what time it? It’s mania. The time says what time? Whose time? What time? It’s mania. The time. Yeah. Got him shook, scared. Can’t look. We’re not afraid of the big bad wall first comes to right.
