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Welcome back to Go Gaddis Real Estate Radio right here on AM nine 20. The answer in this segment of the show Home inspections. What does a home inspector. Look for. And how does a home inspection differ from an appraisal? You have to have both. In many cases, when you buy a home, how are they different?
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Welcome, Brett. I. JJ have me back. Hey, man, it's been a, it's been several months since we've had you on and your segments are always very popular, so I am, uh, I am anticipating that you and I will be creating another one that is, is very popular. Let me ask you a couple questions, and this is not something that we prepared.
How does someone learn to become a home inspector now in Georgia? I don't think there are any licensing requirements. So Cleve Gaddis could hang out a shingle tomorrow as a home inspector. Uh, I would give advance warning to everybody who is listening to this show to not have Cleve Gattis under any circumstances, inspect anything, especially a home with a crawl space or something where there might be creepy crawlies.
'cause I don't necessarily want to get into that, but what's the process I. Or what's the process that good home inspectors go through in order to get educated on how to do a good inspection? Yeah, there's a lot of schools that you can actually end up going, um, to, there's a lot of online, uh, classes you can take.
Um, you can end become a member of like ASHI or nhi ghi. There's several different, uh, memberships you can actually end up going to and they have a lot of training on, on their websites. So that would be the, I would, I would think that would actually help them tremendously. Got it. Okay. And so, and you're a member of the Georgia Association of Home Inspectors, is that correct?
Yes. Mm-hmm. Yes. And, and they actually, uh, I think there's a requirement for you to be code certified if you are with the Georgia Association of Homeless Inspectors. Maybe other associations have that. But, but is, is that correct? A lot of the Yeah. Associations do. Um, like you were saying, in the state of Georgia, you don't have to be licensed or certified to be a home inspector.
Right. Which is, is, is kind of actually scary. But you want somebody that's actually, you know, either licensed or actually with one of the memberships. 'cause obviously they have a lot ongoing training. Yeah, yeah. Interesting. So I always recommend that anybody who wants to find a home inspector go to the Georgia Association of Home Inspectors websites.
I think it's G h i.com if I remember correctly. It might be.org. Um, but if somebody wanted to reach you directly, Brett, to set you up or schedule you to do their next home inspection, how would they reach you? Uh, it's worldclass pss.com or they can go to, uh, call us at (678) 250-6653. So world class pss.com or give that number one more time.
Uh, 6 7 8 2 5 0 6 6 5 3. Okay. Okay, it's uh, 6 7 8 2 5 oh. Mold. Perfect. 6, 7, 8, 2, 5 oh, mold. So just remember something you do not want is the last four, last four, uh, digits. So you, I have, I'm buying a new home. I have scheduled you to come out and do a home inspection. Uh, when you get there, uh, do you have a particular process that you follow to make sure that nothing gets missed?
Talk to me about that. Well, we actually use software. Um, what we use is home gauge and it actually is itemized, you know, go through the foundation, it'll go through the roofing, electrical, the plumbing structure. I mean, so obviously it has, is itemized where you have to check everything off to make sure it's been checked.
So, and, and, and it walks you through the entire process. So it's almost not possible for you to forget or overlook something. If you hired me as a home inspector, I might forget one of the bathrooms because, you know, something happened and a phone call came in and I got distracted. But it sounds like you have a checklist that would prevent that from happening.
Well, on a home, there's, there's over 1600 items that obviously on a home. So I mean, every single thing is not checked. Yes. But the most important things, I mean, we actually end up checking from the foundation, electrical, plumbing, the structure, you know, all those I items. Everything. I mean, it's amazing when you think about it, the number of switches and outlets and lights in the house and, and you know, the, the railings and the ballisters on staircases and stuff like that.
There's just so much that needs to be, uh, inspected. So, long story short, you are generally inspecting pretty much everything. What would you say the three most important. Uh, items or three most important areas of a home, um, in terms of importance in the inspection? Obviously the foundation, because, you know, with the foundation problems, I mean, as you know, it can cost thousands of dollars.
Yes. Um, that would obviously be number one. The other thing would be the roof. You know, the roof could be an expensive thing. Uh, the furnace and the AC unit, you know, those, those are, are very important also. Yes. So I would, those are the three top ones. Interesting. I don't know what the average foundation repair would cost in Georgia, but I'm guessing it could be 10 or 20 or $30,000 for sure.
Yes. Mm-hmm. I would say the average roof replacement in North Atlanta is probably $15,000, if I had to guess. And, you know, new heating and air conditioning systems can be 10 or 12,000 a piece. Uh, and so it does sound like those are kind of the high priority, uh, items for, for for sure. Um, when you inspect a roof, how do you inspect a roof?
Do you crawl up on the roof and, uh, climb up and down the roof? Not okay. Yeah. To be honest with you, clearly we do not, um, we usually use binoculars. Um, our insurance doesn't allow us to get on the roof. Um, we're in the process of trying to end up doing drones. We're trying to get our drone license right now.
Yeah, that would help tremendously. Well, that's interesting. So I, I was, uh, was not expecting you to say, yes, I get up on a roof. 'cause even when I see roofers who do it every day, I mean, in some areas, Atlanta, those roofs are pitched so high that it, that it is, it is very scary. So I would not get on your roof to inspect it for any reason, but I would, by the way, get a drone pilot license so that I can inspect it for you.
So that's such a, such an interesting thing. Um, If you, uh, let's say you are inspecting a, uh, uh, a stucco home, or, uh, maybe you're inspecting a home, uh, with a crawlspace that, that has something in the crawlspace that needs additional inspections. Do you recommend that if you find, uh, some potential issues with.
Uh, let's just say it has synthetic stucco that then a buyer follow up with someone who is an expert in just that area to get a good understanding of, of exactly what the problem is and what the cost would be. Yeah, that's a good question. But yes, we do that. Um, what we would put on our report that recommend, for instance, like if it's a foundation problem, recommend a structural engineer to look at it further, especially if it's got some bad cracks and stuff.
So yes, we do, uh, refer obviously, you know, to, to, uh, roofers and stuff like that. And so when you, do you actually give a referral to a roofer that you trust, or do you just, uh, encourage them? We, we do have some that we do trust. If not, I mean, I prefer them to actually go and try to get like three estimates to make sure Yeah, yeah.
You know how that is. So, yeah, I'll, I would absolutely recommend three estimates. Absolutely, absolutely. How long, if you've just joined us, you're listening to Go Gaddis Real Estate Radio right here on AM nine 20 of The Answer. I'm Cleve Gaddes and I'm joined, uh, on the line today by Brett Gordon, who's the president, c e o of World Class Home Inspections, actually does a lot of home inspections himself.
You have been out and, and, and helped us deal with mold situations and a couple of listings over the years and, and has always been, you know, very much appreciated. One of the, the areas of a home that I am least. Interested in being in, uh, is crawlspace and what type of things get inspected in a crawlspace and would it be possible just to skip the crawl crawlspace altogether?
Meaning would it be okay if you skipped it? No, uh, to me it's very important. That's actually one of the most important things is look in the crawl space because you can see foundation problems, which can be very costly as you know. Um, you can end up finding water intrusion. You can find termites. You can find insulation that's falling or missing.
So those are all important things. Um, in a crawl space. It needs a vapor barrier, which is plastic on the ground. Yeah. So, you know, all those are important things so you don't end up having mold also. Yeah. And I assume, you know, the venting for air to be able to get in and out. Sometimes in Georgia, you've got a.
A, a river running through it. The water comes in one side and runs out the other side of the crawl space. So I assume you find lots and lots of issues. Plus you can look at plumbing lines and H V A C lines, right? And stuff like that. You have a great view of everything, and I know exactly what you're talking about.
I've been in, uh, the crawl space or really what was like a, a very short, short basement. 1911 and you could see the thing had settled all over the place. And you could see it very obviously from the crawlspace. 'cause you could see the makeshift. You know, pilings or pillars or whatever they are that they had installed to make sure that they didn't have any more, uh, settling.
So I know in the last time you bought well as, see, you know, even in the crawlspace, you can see there's obviously a lot of things you can find in there that adds to that 1600 items that we actually check. I know there's a trend for people to try to spend as little money as possible on a home inspection, and I'm not saying you're more expensive than the than the average, but I do believe it's very important when you're going to inspect your home, if you can save a couple hundred bucks by someone who might not be as qualified, that you really think twice about that.
It's very important that you have somebody who was fully qualified, right, to inspect your home. Brett, if somebody needs to get in touch with you to have a home inspection, how would they reach you? Then go to our website@worldclasspss.com or call us at (678) 250-6653. Perfect. Real quick, what's the difference between a home inspection and an appraisal?
Home inspection obviously is we're, we're checking obviously the condition of the house. That's what we're looking for is letting you know the condition of the house appraisal is actually giving you the value of the house. How much is actually worth good term. Yeah, so Home Inspection focuses on that specific home and appraisal focuses on the other homes and sales in the area, and helps you understand value.
Uh, Brett, thank you as always for being a guest. I hope you'll come back really, really soon. I wanna remind everyone that we are having two free investor seminars, the six Keys to Real Estate to Success and Real Estate Investing, Saturday, August the 26th from 10 to 11. Wednesday, August the 30th, beginning at 7:00 PM We're gonna discuss the four types of returns on a real estate investment, investing through your I R A, avoiding taxes when you sell and the ideal properties to rent in Georgia.
Go to go gaddis radio.com, GOGADDISradio.com. You'll see. The link to the investor seminar across the top toolbar sign up and we look forward to seeing you. Then we're gonna take a quick break. When we come back, we're gonna talk price to rent ratios and a list of questions that you should ask a builder when you're buying a presale new construction home.
Stick with us. We'll be back.