For Your Vexation Get a Home Inspection

22 July 2007 – Madison, Wisconsin

Can a person paid by one party perform a service involving a third non-paying party be totally objective?

I just don’t know about Home Inspectors. I like them and believe they perform a valuable service, but what if the subject property were MINE and the inspector is hired by my Buyer?

The following is for example purposes only – I’m not saying it happened, Maybe it did, maybe it didn’t. But it’s food for thought:

My house is a ranch-style with a walkout basement. It’s 15 years old, but well maintained – or so it seemed. Here we are sitting pretty with a solid contract, thinking all is ripping toward closing, when I get a call that the Home Inspector wants to come over. OK. I know what they are looking for – more or less – and figure it’ll be a snap. C’mon over.

The Buyer’s agent arrives first, followed by the Buyer in his grubbies – he’s carrying a flashlight and work gloves. So. It is THE hottest day of the summer and these poor guys are going to crawl around in my attic. I put bottled water, Gatorade, and pop (Midwest for soda, I know now) in the fridge for the intrepid explorers – no harm (and maybe a few brownie points) in being nice. I dutifully disappear before the Inspector arrives.

Later that day I get a call and “The Third Degree” from the Buyer’s Agent – in a nice way, of course. I set the record straight. A couple days later The Amendment arrives with a shortlist of demands (which will kill the deal if not met). I then get the Inspection Report. I read it and the list of hafta gottas. The descriptive language assures me I’m living in Poe’s House of Usher about five minutes before the collapse. Even the things that were perfect were only average or worse by description. All that CYA language. I was ready to bulldoze the place and take the loss on the spot.

Of course, I get a tiny bit warm under the collar when a report describes my castle as though it’s serf’s hovel. So I call MY Inspector buddy, who tells me the other guy is nit-picky and not busy enough. Throws in a few words only sailors could appreciate.

So what! It’s on paper now and is now truth. Now fact. Now real. It’s part of my condition report, whether or not it’s 100% accurate. I am stuck with it.

So I think. If I were the inspector and the guy next to me with the gloves and flashlight were paying me to look at a house, wouldn’t I have just the slightest tendency to opine in his direction, just a little. I mean it’s 95 degrees and 85% humidity and I’ve got an attic-crawling buddy. Gray has so many, many shades. Kinda like in an NBA game where the home team gets all the questionable calls – the ones that could go either way.

I don’t believe there were improprieties, but we are all only human. So my real question – with so much riding on an inspection and the only alternative is ANOTHER pro or inspector to counter the first: Are Home Inspections really all that objective? And really, how could they be? A seasoned vet might see a condition one way – the rookie, another. Experience plays its role in every service. Underwriters will let something pass on one loan file and kill it in a later one.

I don’t mind (much) that the Inspections are imperfect, but I mind for the weight they carry. Maybe if they were mandatory and provided by the lender it’d make more sense to me, but to have it optional and paid for by the Buyer – that troubles me some.

Regardless, after a much wailing and gnashing of teeth (plus a few hundred dollars in contractors and a price reduction) nearly everyone is happy.

CAN’T WAIT to inspect the home I”M buying! (Now where’d I put that hardhat?!?!)

Art Blanchet

Your Home-Your Money

Middleton, Wisconsin – The Best Place to Live in America – The Best People Make It That Way

17 July 2007 – Middleton, Wisconsin

It’s people like Bill and Cathy that make Middleton, Wisconsin the Best Place to Live in America.

CNNMoney.com came out with their annual list of the best places this week and this modest suburb of Madison took first prize. Middleton is attracting the kind of people that want to live in a place with access. reasonable real estate prices, low crime, and a positive outlook. In the published interview, residents cited the tightknit community as to why this community rose to the top of an impressive heap.

A tightknit community? How do you get one of those? Well, let’s get back to Bill and Cathy. These are the kind of people you want in your neighborhood. Bill coaches or assists in three community youth league sports. He’s on committees and supports their games. He does business – their business, not his – locally with as many people as he can. He knows his neighbors, their kids, and can talk to them about jobs, family, and nothing at all very comfortably.

Bill and Cathy both volunteer at their son’s school, providing support ranging from lunchroom work to field trip chaperones. Cathy is active in local committee and church groups. They vote, ride bikes, and help their neighbors shovel snow during the long Wisconsin winter. They are the good citizens of Middleton – They didn’t move to the #1 community in America – they helped create it.

So why is this relevant to my blog and Your Home-Your Money? Bill is Bill Quigley, my business partner and friend. We maintain a small office in Middleton and Bill is the brains behind the problem-solving we do for our Robbins and Lloyd Mortgage clients. He’s one of the nicest guys you’ll ever meet and is the neighbor you’ve always wanted. And behind every great man…well that means Cathy is his equal in every way.

Congratulations to Bill and Cathy Quigley for living in America’s best place – and congratulations to Middleton for finding them. They are a small part of a big deal, like the tiny jewels in a Rolex watch that make it so precise – and so very precious.

Art Blanchet

Your Home-Your Money

YHYM Talks to Canadian Mortgage Professional

29 June 2007 – Madison, Wisconsin

Well, they like us in Canada anyway – but we weren’t their first choice. We forgive them.

A few weeks back Bill Quigley and I were interviewed by Vanessa Chris from Canadian Mortgage Professional Magazine about YHYM for an article they were writing on the use of technology in the mortgage industry. As Vanessa researched the Canadian cyber waves for her article, she soon realized there weren’t any Canadian Podcasters up there, so reluctantly searched neighboring states and found us – and Your Home-Your Money – in Wisconsin. Close enough. (Good thing she chose us over anyone else – I was ready to trump the competition by playing the “race” card – my MOM was born in Canada!)

The print article, entitled, “Digital marketing: The wave of the future,” came out in May. The online version is available here at http://tinyurl.com/37t8k7 as of this week.

Our section of the article deals with the use of podcasting, blogging, and broadcast radio as marketing tools. Podcasts can be listened to as live streaming audio via computer or telephone. Radio can be streamed, heard via airwaves, or now as podcasts via the host station. Both forms of podcasts are downloadable to computers and to cell-phones (we don’t push this) and MP3 players for portable listening.

Blogs, websites, and eZines can promote all media. Video is emerging for us soon – you’ve seen some of our sorry-looking experiments. Here is how we promote and utilize our digital media locally:

• We gain credibility by providing information to the public/marketplace via sound and digital media.
• We market to that public via commercials, targeted surface mail, and email.
• We invite Guests who make contributions of information to the public via sound and digital media
• We invite Guest database and cross-promote to build credibility for both parties.
• We market to mutual databases and offer special services or discounts to both databases. Expenses can be shared or kept separate – with an eye on RESPA guidelines.
• We invite mutual databases and broadcast listeners to hear archivedpodcasts. These are marketed via digital means via blogs, websites, and email.
• We continue with a Second Guest and can then share three databases – directly or indirectly.
• And so on.

The article puts this together better in a nice interview format. We recorded the interview – with permission – which is like an uncut version of the final story – we’ll share that, too. As a point of interest, CMP has shared the article with an affiliated partner in Australia (Mortgage Professional Australia) where it will get that “Down Under” twist. Add this to a couple of quotes in Blogger and Podcaster Magazine (thanks to TalkShoe) – plus a few Podcast Industry audio interviews – and we are having a wee bit of fun and getting a touch of fame. Now if there were only money…

If you follow our blogs at all, you’ll see we are fans of Scott Bilker and Tom Domin. Why? We like what they do as professionals and consumer-advocates (Scott advises about consumer credit and Tom provides low-cost marketing materials to mortgage pros) and want to be associated with them. Having something to offer in the way of support and promotion allows us to control our relationships as professionals – we ARE judged by the company we keep.

Well, that’s the skinny on our moment in the spotlight (or maybe just a flash-light in our case). Just thought we’d share – and possibly inspire. We will help those willing to learn what little we know – perhaps another GROUP (oh no!?!) is in order…

Thanks for reading and listening. With a little effort on our part, you’ll soon be watching, too.

Thanks to Vanessa Chris and Canadian Mortgage Professional for a sweet article!

Art Blanchet

Bill Quigley

Your Home-Your Money