Tag Archive for: las vegas

The Las Vegas housing market continues to sizzle in 2021. The median price of a single family home was $295,000 in August 2020. Currently, the median price if a single family home, as of July 2021, is $385,000, it has increased $90,000 in less than a year. This is great news for home owners in the valley, as it is a sellers market. With the state of the market, sellers have such an advantage, especially as they typically receive multiple offers for thousands above the value of their home. Often times, prospective buyers will forego a home inspection to make their offer look more appealing to a seller. This is a dangerous road to take, as often times after purchase, a new homeowner may have tens of thousands of dollars of repairs to make on a home, and this takes them completely by surprise.

There are many options available out there to make sure you are purchasing a home that is safe for you and your family. Naturally, the first recommendation is a full home inspection. If that doesn’t work for you, as you may be trying to appeal to the seller, then we suggest checking into walk through inspections. These are not a full home inspection, but more of a simple walk through with the home inspector of  the property you are interested in purchasing. The inspector wont take any photos or make any notes, but they will look at any area that may be costly, or a safety concern, and let the potential buyer know. These inspections are a fraction of the cost of a normal inspection, and not as thorough, but they are better than no inspection at all. Protect your assets.

Additionally, there are inspections sellers may get to be confident in the home they put up for sale, and that it is safe.

If you are a buyer, or a seller, and you are interested in a home inspection, pre-listing inspection, or walk through, check us out.

http://www.fruitfulhomeinspections.com

We are very happy with the result of our company truck wrap. It was designed by Wrapmate, a Colorado company, and applied by a local company here in Las Vegas.

It is a beautiful design. Pulling up to our inspections in this great company vehicle just feels wonderful. We love what we do, we love inspecting homes for our clients. Being a positive part of the home buying process for our clients is a wonderful feeling. This wrap is a visual representation of what we are most proud of, which is our company and the services that we provide.

If you need a home inspection, check us out. http://www.fruitfulhomeinspections.com

If you like what you see in the wrap, check out wrapmate. http://www.wrapmate.com

 

This is a great question, especially considering how hot the summer months in the valley can be. Air Conditioning manufacturers recommend that homeowners have their units serviced annually. But in Las Vegas, many experts recommend two annual tune-ups. One before the hot summer season, and the other right after. The reason for this is pretty straightforward: Las Vegas experiences extremely hot summer temperatures, much hotter than most of the rest of the country. That means that air conditioning units often have to run at very high levels every single day–for months. This puts a lot of wear and tear on the unit, and results in a need for more frequent maintenance. Having your A/C unit serviced will keep the system clean and primed to operate at its designed peak performance levels. Systems that go without consistent maintenance typically perform much less efficiently, in both cooling effectiveness and energy efficiency–running up your electricity bills.

Additionally, for the same efficiency reasons, it is recommended that you change your air filters more consistently to make sure you have even unobstructed airflow for peak performance.

As we enter into the hot Vegas summer months, one luxury that makes the brutal three digit temperatures bearable is a pool. But how safe is yours, especially for your children?

Here is a simple list of safety features that you should have to keep your pool from becoming a danger to your family.

  1. A barrier. Typically the pool would be located in a fenced in area, separate from access with traditional means, such as the back glass door, or side yard entry. This fenced in area would be accessible via a self-closing and self-latching gate, that would open out and away from the pool, to prevent children from running up and pushing the gate open.
  2. Door alarms installed on any point of entry to the back yard where the pool is located, such as the back sliding glass door, or the pool barrier gate itself, that would alert the home to a child accessing the pool area.
  3. Anti-vortex drain cover. These covers prevent the drain from becoming a dangerous hazard itself. Pool drains use powerful suction to move the water, filter it, and keep the pool clean. The main drain requires an anti-vortex cover to prevent dangers such as a child swimming and getting their hair caught in the suction, which can pull them and trap them below, causing a drowning hazard.

These are three basic safety features to have in a pool area, especially with children. For more information on pool safety, check out this website: https://www.poolsafely.gov/

Southern Nevada. Out in homes we are noticing, more often than not, that certain required appliances are missing this important safety device. So, then, what is a sediment trap, and why do I need it?

A sediment trap, is sometimes referred to as a “drip leg.” It is an extension on the metal gas line typically running to a gas burning appliance. The device is installed at the point that the gas has to make a 90 degree turn to reach the appliance. This is shown in the photo. The main function of the device is to “trap” any sediment, dirt, or harmful particles that may be in the flow of the fuel. These particles would otherwise be free to flow into the appliance itself. A buildup of sediment in your fuel burning appliance is a fire hazard, and could reduce the life span of the appliance itself.

These sediment traps are required by the State of Nevada on gas burning appliances such as water heaters, furnaces, gas fire places, boilers, etc. Please reference the notice below. Find out how we can help you with your home inspection, check us out!

 

It is NOT X-ray, it will not allow you to see things behind walls…. “Thermal Imaging,” or “Infrared Imaging,” refers to a technology that allows a camera, or other device, to view and photograph any given area and display temperature differentials for what is in the image.

For the basics on what Thermal Imaging is as a whole, there is a nice article here: https://www.visiononline.org/blog-article.cfm/What-is-Thermal-Imaging/8

From a home inspectors perspective, and why this technology is a very useful tool in our arsenal, what is valuable is what the camera will assist us with. A “thermal image,” example above that many people have seen, is an image displayed in a multi colored format that a trained inspector can decipher. Those colors show the inspector the differences in temperature of those areas of the image. This allows the inspector to focus attention on specific areas of the image to look for things that may be a hazard, such as moisture damage. This allows the inspector to further investigate the area of concern with other tools, such as a moisture detector. Often times moisture damage is not visible, especially in a ceiling. The Thermal Camera allows us the opportunity to possibly find damage that may otherwise have been invisible to the naked eye.

At Fruitful Home Inspections, we use state of the art Thermal Imaging devices to assist us in finding defects in your home. Check us out at www.fruitfulhomeinspections.com and see how we can serve you today!

We always recommend our clients get a home inspection. Waiving a home inspection is a decision that may open you up to costly repairs in the future. Please refer to the interesting article discussing the topic of home inspection, and with a discussion with the founder and CEO of InterNACHI regarding home inspections and waiving, and other options available to home buyers.

https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/mortgages/waiving-home-inspection

 

 

Currently, in the United States, there are 29 states that require licensing for their inspectors to perform home inspections, and Nevada is a state that requires their home inspectors to be licensed.

I wanted to . . .

Some questions we hear often are “What is the difference between an Appraiser and a Home Inspector?” And “Do I need both?”

First, on the . . .

There are many memes out there that convey this simple message. There are always cheaper ways to get something done.

Whether it is hiring a mechanic . . .