dwcatanese

In the report you document that there's a broken window seal on the upper sash in the northwest bedroom and it's very likely that all the windows are likely to soon follow that trend because they're 30 years old.id="blue"> Assuming the home is 30 years old, seals can break due to reasons other then age, why can't the above comment be written in the summary as well as in the interior? Both style of reporting are accurate and truthful, but one style benefits the client and the other style...well, it doesn't. id="blue"> A summary makes things better for the realtor and the attorney. As a rule they're not my client. I write the report to benefit the client. id="blue"> However, the buyer usually puts faith in the attorney to represent them, righly or wrongly so, and if by lumping the problems together in one place makes them clearer to the attorney then aren't you benefiting the client as well?

To me, the only time it is worthwhile to add pictures to the report is when the buyer cannot be present at the inspection. Otherwise, we make sure we show them every problem. If the buyer is out of town, our report allows us to add picures and e-mail the repor to the client, agent, or attorney if requested. As far as the attorney goes, at least in this area, 9 times out of 10 I think they only look at the summary page of the report. Plus, the client or realtor usually faxes the report to the attorney and the pictures don't transmit so well. That is why my summary page is very detailed and contains a list of all the problems that are included on the interior of the report; for instance: "the top sash of the north window in the master bedroom has a broken thermal seal." I've seen reports that use phrasing like, "1 or more windows have a broken thermal seal" but don't specifically give a location. For me, it is important to have a report with a fully narrative summary. I just don't see how boilerplates can be detailed and specific enough. However, I have never tried a report with boilerplates, so it is probably wrong of me to pass judgement. I just like the flexibility the narrative summary of my report offers.

We recently did an inspection in a subdivision of newer homes (about 4 years old) in Crystal Lake, IL. Every home in the neighborhood had a small knob protruding from the side of garage. It was about 8-10 feet above the ground. It looked like it could be some type of sensor. Any idea what this would be? Sorry, I didn't get a picture.