“THE FLIP” When its Good From AFar but Far From Good

Posted by visualprohomeinspections on January 26, 2012 · 4 Comments 

It Looks Good from Afar but it’s Far From GOOD. “The Flip”

As you are out house hunting this season you’ll find yourself driving around or surfing the internet looking at homes. Most of the listing photos will present the home as a charmer or in some sort of attractive fashion. That being said, your emotions run high as does your excitement level at the prospect of purchasing a new home. Home buying is a very emotional transaction and let’s face it you aren’t at your local best buy or car dealership picking up the newest gadget or leasing the newest town and country mini van. Someone else has purchased this home to resell it at a profit and the question is, have they done a good job? The next question is what do they consider GOOD WORKMANSHIP? In this post you will see that some investors have different ideas of what is acceptable .

Before you purchase your next home it’s a good idea to have it inspected by a professional.

You don’t want to end up with this scenario.

OK, OK!! I know you are smarter than to fall for something this ridiculous but would you have seen some of these things that we as inspectors see everyday? Let’s take a little visual tour of some hidden issues you might not have seen on your walk through or in those photos on the internet.

This looks like a nice new kitchen that was just installed in this newly remodeled colonial. All new appliances right?

Well we found out that this dishwasher is not new and the door gasket leaks pretty heavily when the dishwasher is run through cycle.

We also discovered that the new oven was not connected to power and upon opening the oven the door nearly fell off the hinges. I’m going to go into detail about this home and the inefficiencies I found and, I will say this “There are many different skill levels of contractors and investors who buy these homes and clean them up to resell them” I found quite a few instances in this home of what not to do.

Let’s move on…

For a moment let’s go out on the roof of this home and see what we find. This home appears to have a newer roof that had been installed within the last five years. The first thing I see is the lack of vertical wall flashing where the roof meets this wall. Note that the siding in this photo rests on the shingle When it should be held up from the shingles at least a half inch and there is no step flashing behind the siding where the two surfaces meet.

Here is a diagram of how it is properly done.

Without proper flashing installed water will penetrate the home causing damage that may not be seen for years.

Weather Stripping Missing

This may not seem like a big deal, but not properly weather proofing the home leads to cold air drafts and higher levels of moisture entering these areas which lead to moisture related problems. Notice the Large gap at the top of this door. It’s almost an inch and half gap. The sides of the door are missing the weather strip as well. It’s a simple installation that should have been completed when this new door was installed. In this case the garage door technician did not do his job.

Faucet Not Secure In Wall

This faucet was installed in the wall but was not secured to the studs in the wall so it moves in and out of the wall. There was obviously a rookie plumber or a jack of all trades (master of none) who installed this fixture without securing it as well as a lazy project manager who allowed the drywall and tile to be installed without checking  the fixture. Finally, there was no access panel installed on the opposite side of the wall to get at the fixture. Now someone will have to go in and install the access panel and secure the fixture as it should have been done before the home was painted.

Don't put anything heavy on these shelves

This is not a code issue however it’s so disappointing that things like this are considered acceptable to the project manager on this project. These shelves are spanned over four feet wide and only held up by a piece of 1″x2″ on each end and nothing on the back wall. As soon as these shelves are loaded with towels, blankets and whatever else you keep in your hall closet, these shelves will flex and eventually collapse.

Broken Fireplace Damper

I’m on my back with my head in the fireplace inspecting the fireplace chimney and I reach up to operate the damper and as I push the damper open the steel damper door falls directly onto my head and leaves a small gash. (one reason I keep a first aid kit in my vehicle). The damper door hinge pins were broken and never repaired. The potential issue here is that if you were to light a fire in this fireplace and the damper is not operating properly your home will fill with smoke and in an effort to open the damper while the fire is lit could result in serious injury.

Code Violation Bathroom Floor Register

It’s obvious that whomever is in charge of this Flip Project  has no formal training. This is a blatant code violation. This heat register should be in the wall.

Rule 918a. Section 603.17.2 of the code is amended to read as follows:
603.17.2. Prohibited locations. Diffusers, registers, and grilles shall be prohibited in the floor
or its upward extension within toilet and bathing rooms required by the Michigan building
code to have smooth, hard, nonabsorbent surfaces.
Exception: Dwelling units. Within dwelling units, floor registers may be located in a room
or space containing water closets, but shall be located a minimum of 3 feet from the water
closet.

Looks OK Right?

Double Tapping Breakers can cause fires.

This is a potential fire hazard

Notice the Laundry Breaker with two wires we call this double tapping. Double tapping (also called double lugging) is one of the most common electrical deficiencies found within the main or sub electrical panels. This is a term referring when two wires are attached to a single fuse or breaker. Most fuses or breakers are not designed to accommodate this condition. This condition may overload a fuse or breaker causing a fire.

However, there are some breakers are designed to accommodate double taps.

Most homeowners are not aware that they might have this condition inside their electrical panel. You may be tempted to go down to the basement and pry off the electrical panel, but don’t! Just touching an electrical panel can be dangerous!

To be on the safe side and for safety, call a licensed electrician to evaluate further and repair as needed. He/she is more trained and experience in these matter.

The lesson to be learned here is that when homes are Flipped, they are marketed as “Completely Remodeled” or “Top To Bottom Renovation” and that’s great, but when you don’t know who the re-modeler is and you understand that some of these properties are just cosmetic fixes. Like putting lipstick on a pig it’s best to have a professional go through the home with a magnifying glass.

For questions or comments please feel free to contact Visual Pro Home Inspections.

Filed under Bank Owned Homes, Foreclosure, Home Inspection, Home Inspection Checklist, House, House flipping, Real Estate, Uncategorized · Tagged with buying a bank owned home, buying a foreclosure, flip this house, foreclosures, furnace inspection michigan, gravity furnace, holmes on homes, home inspection, home inspection checklist, home inspector, inpspecting foreclosed homes, pilot lights, plumbing fixture, real estate transactions, selling a house, vincent Cameron, visual pro home inspections