Tim Beavers here from Above All Home Inspecting. October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month and we would like to share with you some of our great promotions and our plans to donate to Susan G. Komen for the Cure. Throughout the month, we will team up with professionals, colleagues, clients, friends and family to help promote Breast Cancer Awareness!

So here’s how Home Inspection Sarasota will contribute….. For every inspection booked during the month of October we are going to donate $15.00.

An Invitation for your Involvement at NO cost to You:
For every inspection we perform in the month of October we will donate a percentage from our clients, colleagues and from Above All Home Inspecting to Susan G. Komen for the Cure!

That sounds like a win-win situation for everyone. Our clients receive an outstanding, professional home inspection AND everyone involved can feel good about taking a part in raising breast cancer awareness.

Home Inspection Sarasota Says “And there’s more….”

DISCOUNTS For every inspection scheduled during the month of October:

*$17.00 off every inspection!

*Appliance Recall Check program, a $39.00 value, for FREE!

*Upgrade to our Choice Home Inspection package, receive that upgrade half off ($139.00 value).

For every home we inspect, receive a FREE security system inspection and/or is eligible for a FREE security system and FREE installation!

We are dedicated to providing an outstanding experience! There is a reason so many families have chosen Above All Home Inspecting.

Also, please know that we have a 100% Money Back (no weasel words) Guarantee on all of our home inspections. That’s right, if your client is not totally satisfied with the quality of the inspection, then it’s “on the house!”

A great home inspection, money back guarantee and donations coming directly from you! What more could you ask for? It’s my sincere hope that you will participate in this program. I’m confident that you’ll be glad you did!

Five keys to smooth sales and bargain buys in a slow housing market

(ARA) – Not everyone who relocates has the luxury of doing it when school is out and the yard looks beautiful. If you’re forced to sell your house and/or buy a new one outside peak season, you might have to work a little harder and think creatively.

Anyone who has bought or sold a home has heard the standard advice: Find a good agent, be aware of local home values, fix up the house you’re selling and research school districts and crime rates where you’re buying.

“It’s all good advice, but it’s not always enough,” says Rich Novak, assistant vice president of Home Solutions, with USAA, a full-service financial services provider serving military personnel and their families. “Families who need to move quickly during a tough real estate market may need to go the extra mile to close a sale.”

Keep these five themes in mind from the moment you start planning your next move:

1. Dig deeper: You probably already know to use neighboring home values as a comparison point for selling or buying. But in today’s market, some additional homework can pay off. If you need to sell quickly, for example, keep a close eye on what other houses are selling for in your neighborhood and stay ahead of the market by pricing yours lower. In the wake of the bursting real estate bubble, it’s also important to have a heightened awareness of foreclosures, both where you’re selling and buying. As unfair as it seems, any foreclosures on your street can put a dent in your home’s market value. And if foreclosures are still prevalent in the neighborhood you’re moving to, it could be a warning sign that values could continue to drop after you buy.

2. Be involved: Just because you’re working with a realtor doesn’t mean you can’t do some of your own legwork.

“The first 10 days on the market are the most critical to selling a home because new listings tend to get the most attention from buyers,” says Brenda Wall, relocation director with ERA Colonial Real Estate in San Antonio, Texas. “Anything a seller can do to get their home ready to sell before putting it on the market would be helpful, including de-cluttering, cleaning, painting if needed and making the home look spacious and bright.”

The Internet and social media have opened limitless new strategies to sell your home and find your next one. Try Craigslist, Facebook, Flickr, and YouTube. And don’t be shy, say real estate agents. When you’re selling, post pictures that show your home at its best and upload a narrated video tour – because that’s what you’d want to see as a buyer. At some real estate agencies, a video tour is becoming the new requirement for sellers.

3. Accept a helping hand: Take advantage of a wide range of services, beyond your local realtor’s, that could help you streamline the buying and selling process. Some cost money, such as home “staging” services that can help whip your house into selling shape. Others are free, such as relocation benefits offered by some employers, or the military’s Homeowners Assistance Program. One free service actually helps you while you are out and about looking for a place to live. For example, Home Circle from USAA provides free home search services on the Web and through an iPhone app that gives you access to the same comprehensive listing information real estate agents use, driving directions to the homes you’ve searched and organization of pictures taken to help you keep track of all the homes you’ve seen. Chances are you qualify for some type of assistance through an employer, the government, or an association you belong to – you just have to ask.

4. Get creative: Sometimes it takes out-of-the-box ideas to seal a deal. If you know that a potential buyer is wavering on whether to make an offer on your house, buck convention by making a “reverse offer,” where you try to win the sale with an attractive price. Sellers might also sweeten the pot with extra incentives. Money toward closing costs or prepaid homeowner’s dues are common buyer incentives, but why not set yourself apart by offering a free trip to a beach resort?

If you’re the one buying but can’t find the perfect house, ask your agent to look up houses that were recently taken off the market. You might be able to request a “one-time showing” and get a bargain price on a house the owners thought they couldn’t sell.

5. Remain flexible: According to the experts, buyers and sellers should keep their pride in check and be willing to make some concessions, especially in a tough market. That means not haggling over minor repairs or refusing to leave behind the chandelier your potential buyer loves. Factor in the cost of keeping up your home for several more months versus just accepting a lower selling price today.

“Always think in terms of the bigger picture. Don’t lose a deal over $500,” says Jodi Van Wagner, a Coldwell Banker agent in the Pensacola, Fla., area.

Even in the most sluggish real estate market, an early start and an open mind are two of the best strategies to make your next move go smoothly.
Home Inspection Sarasota also recommends pre-sale home inspections. Click Here to read more. Above All Home Inspecting is your leading pre-sale inspector in the Sarasota Florida area.

How you can make your home – and family – more fire-safe

(ARA) –  A home fire is as devastating as it is dangerous. Fires in the United States cost as much as $347 billion every year, taking into account medical treatments, property damage, fire department costs, lawsuits and more. Even more distressing is the fact that as many as 3,200 civilians and 85 firefighters lose their lives to fire every year. Those figures make it clear why it’s so essential to protect your family and your home from fire.

With the right precautionary steps, your home can be safe and secure. To start, go through your home with this fire safety checklist.

* Check smoke detectors to make sure they’re working properly and that batteries have full power. There should be at least one smoke alarm on each floor of your house.

* Consider investing in residential fire sprinklers. If your home already has them, make sure that they are inspected by trained professionals on a regular basis.

* Make a list of emergency fire, police and medical phone numbers and keep it near your house phone. You could also program the numbers into the cell phones of adult family members in case you have to leave the house before placing the call. Teach children how to call for help in case of an emergency.

* Make sure that your house number is clearly visible from at least 20 feet away. If trees or bushes are obscuring the house number, trim the foliage back.

* Keep flammable liquids away from heating sources. Store them in a cool location away from paper products and cloth materials.

It’s important to remember that while having smoke alarms is essential, they are just the first step in ensuring your family’s safety. They will alert you to a fire, but having a method that gives you more time to escape, like residential fire sprinklers, is an even more effective way to protect your family and home. Residential fire sprinklers are designed to contain and even extinguish a fire before the fire department arrives on scene.

Installing a fire sprinkler system has become more affordable, and is less expensive than installing granite countertops or upgraded cabinets in your home, and sprinkler heads now blend almost seamlessly into your ceiling. With improved technology, according to the National Fire Sprinkler Association, residential fire sprinklers are activated by heat, not smoke, and only the fire sprinkler closest to the fire will activate, which cuts down on water damage while still protecting your family and property.

Once you’ve gone through your fire safety checklist, it’s important to sit down with your family and create a detailed emergency plan. Think of at least two ways to escape from every room in the house and consider purchasing chain-link safety ladders for second-floor rooms. Then, take the time to do a family fire drill, ending in a designated “safe” place that you would go to in a real emergency. Practice a number of times throughout the year to make sure that everyone has the plan memorized. When you know how to escape a fire and protect your home and family, you’ll be able to rest easier.

We hope you found this article helpful, Home Inspections Sarasota wants to help keep families safe!

Home Inspector Sarasota HELPS with Window Installation.

In this video you will find that the window could have been installed better. With this installation the caulking is cracking and the corner of the window was bent out to help with the installation.

Window’s have a tendency to leak if not properly installed and in fact often they will leak when installed properly. This is why you want to continually check your windows seal for cracking and signs of leaking.

Home Inspection Sarasota FINDS Improper Roof Repair

Roofs are one of the most important components to a home. It protects from allowing water intrusion into concealed spaces not designed for water.

This particular repair appears to have been done by an armature.  And it is dried out as well, this patch work is not shedding the water correctly.

Home inspection Sarasota recommends having roof repairs done by a licensed, competent specialist.

Sarasota Home Inspector EXPOSES Electrical Hazard. These wires hanging out of the electrical box are live.

There a many issues going on here. Lets talk about just a couple. Holes in the box are not permitted. All wires should be concealed inside of the electrical box.  Wires entering the box should be secured in place.

This seems to be an ongoing find by your local Sarasota Home Inspector. This appears to have been done by an armature. We recommend electrical work be performed by a licensed competent specialist.

Exposed wires like this are an electrocution hazard!

By Tim Beavers

By Megan Frackelton on September 1, 2010 – Tim Beavers with Above All Home Inspecting, LLC, located in Sarasota Florida helps new construction homeowners….

For_Immediate_Release:

Most fatal fires occur in residential buildings between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m. when occupants are more likely to be asleep. More than 90 percent of fire deaths in buildings occur in residential dwellings.

A Johns Hopkins University study, funded by the United States Fire Administration, found that 75 percent of residential fire deaths and 84 percent of residential fire injuries could have been prevented by smoke detectors.

Smoke detectors generally come in two designs; “photo-electric” sensors or “ionization” sensors. A photo-electric detector uses a tiny light source that shines on a light-sensitive sensor. The alarm is triggered when smoke particles from a fire breaks the beam of light. An ionization detector uses an extremely small quantity of radioactive material to make the air inside the smoke detector conduct electricity. Smoke particles from a fire interfere with the electrical current, and therefore trigger the alarm.

There are three easy maintenance tasks recommended for smoke detectors (smoke alarms).

#1 Clean and test smoke detectors

Cleaning helps ensure better operations, and testing helps to ensure that the unit is operating properly.

Clean and test smoke detectors twice a year. For example: March and September.

Clean smoke detectors using a vacuum cleaner to remove dust and cobwebs. If possible, carefully vacuum inside the unit as well. Press the test button on the smoke detector to see if the alarm goes off. Depending on the manufacture of your unit, the button may only test the warning sound, but may not check the internal smoke detection circuitry. Some units, however, have more sophisticated test systems that simulate the presence of smoke in the chamber. Check the instructions of the detector to see if it has this feature. Avoid lighting matches or candles under the detector to see is the alarm goes off, as repeated use of smoke to activate the detector can cause them to fail and not be available to operate during a real fire.

The benefits of this task are high, in that it helps to ensure the safe operation of your smoke detectors for protecting you and your home.

#2 Replace Batteries

Check your manufacturer’s recommendations, but the battery in most smoke detectors should be replaced once per year, even where the smoke detector is wired in and the battery acts only as a back-up power supply. Batteries deteriorate over time and need to be replaced to ensure proper operation of the smoke detector.
The benefits of this task are high, in that it helps to ensure the safe operation of your smoke detectors for protecting you and your home.

Set a schedule, for example every September install new batteries, clean and test your smoke detector.

#3 Replace smoke detector

Smoke detectors should be replaced every 10 years, according to the International Association of Fire Chiefs, the National Fire Protection Association, and the US Fire Administrator. Why is it important to replace smoke detectors? The units will accumulate significant levels of dust, dirt, and debris and cannot be safely serviced by you.
The benefits of this task are high, in that it helps to ensure the safe operation of your smoke detectors for protecting you and your home.

Set up reminders in your calendar for example; Replace smoke detector September 2010, September 2020.

Review:

Clean.Test.Batteries.Replace.

Clean – Test September & March

Replace Batteries – Every September

Replace Smoke Detector – Every Ten Years

Locations

If you have recently moved into a home this is a great time to start fresh with new smoke detectors. When practical it is best to install the interconnecting smoke alarms. Check with your local Building Enforcement Municipality for smoke detector requirements and locations.

The National Fire Alarm code requires a smoke detector in each sleeping room, in the hallway adjacent to the sleeping rooms (if hallway is longer then 30 feet it is recommended to install one at each end), one on every floor including basements, On floors without bedrooms, detectors should be installed in or near living areas, such as dens, living rooms or family rooms. Smoke detectors are not recommended for kitchens. Place smoke detectors at least one foot away from corners and place them on areas that have a constant temperature like a ceiling or high wall.

Smoke detectors can be a great gift for someone. Its unique, funny and saves lives!

Another safety tip brought to you by your Home Inspector Sarasota.