Hank Miller Team Real Estate Blog - Videos

Home Buyers Should Look for Trouble

The best real estate agent is one that is comfortable with the word "no". The best buyer is prepared, focused and also very comfortable with the word "no". In strong, competitive seller's markets, "no" is a critical buyer asset. Unfortunately, a good 75% of the insanely bloated agent population is unskilled, indifferent or reluctant to push a buyer away from a home. Many don't want to be "the bad guy" and defer that role to others. They hope the inspector, appraiser or others take the hit. Buyers that work with subpar agents like this or slip into "heart over head" decision making, may find that buyer's remorse is a real thing in this market.

Below are a few videos that showcase potential disasters waiting for unsuspecting buyers and their unskilled…

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Problems With Louisiana Pacific (LP) Siding

Many homes in the greater Atlanta market built from the 80's to later 90's likely contain one or more components that owners or buyers should be very concerned with. Given the growth of the Atlanta area during that period, estimates are between 40%-50% of homes are impacted. One of the single most troublesome things was "Louisiana Pacific (LP) Inner Seal" siding; offspring of Georgia Pacific (GP) which was created back in the 70's. This siding is made from chips of wood glued together to make a building material commonly called OSB "oriented strand board". OSB is widely used as a substitute for plywood, mainly due to cost. Louisiana-Pacific used this OSB material, formed it into siding panels and lap siding and embossed it with a covering pattern that…

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Water Damage to Home and Driveway

Poor control of water around a home is the hands down leading cause of problems. Water directly contributes to erosion, rot, foundation and driveway issues; if left unchecked, the structure will fail. This is an issue that's commonly seen around residential homes, building inspectors consistently note it in the form of clogged gutters, downspouts that empty next to the home and "reverse slopes" where water drains toward the home. Routine maintenance but not so routine given the regularity with which issues are seen.

This first video is an excellent example of how water wears away and compromises a driveway. Concrete gets hard and cracks, that's a given. Here, we see the prolonged damage that water did and the resulting settling and deflection. It…

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Do Busy Roads Matter When Buying a Home?

As housing density increases, so does the impact of traffic and daily activity. Most people wrestle with the desire for a quiet home but one within close proximity to service and support facilities. Urban residents are well acquainted with the sounds of city life, the rural markets attract residents happy to drive for residential solitude. The suburban residents often ask about the impact of busy roads when buying a home; the answer (of course) is that it depends. Variables include buyer requirements, types of roads, amount of traffic and characteristics of comparable areas. So to, does the proximity to commercial uses like shopping centers and strip malls.

Traffic and Influences not Thought About...

Everything is relative so not all things…

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How Do Driveways Impact the Value and Appeal of a Home?

Consider the lowly and unappreciated driveway, a bland slab of concrete void of character and charm...but used all day, every day. It's typically one of the first things we see with the home, part of the critical first impression. Everything and everyone in and out of the home traverses this hard slab; the ultimate role player like an offensive line for an MVP running back or quarterback. All is good, unless something shines a light on a shortcoming. Sometimes, there hints but the scope of the problem may not be fully understood until regular use.

Driveways must be functional and compliment the home. Ideally, they will be ample in width, level to generally level and wide enough to allow easy ingress and egress to the home. They will have easy curves…

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Sloped and Cupped Floors

The floors in a home can be a great source of information about a home. Hardwoods in particular can provide "tells" of possible past and/or present issue. Sloped and cupped floors might be signs of hidden issues. Moisture, settling, and even the overall care given to the home can be revealed by the condition of the floors. Below are two videos which are great examples of what to look for, and if spotted, to investigate much further.

There are clear flashing lights to me on that home. Significant cupping and warping like that indicates moisture levels that are higher than desired. Could be a number of reasons, but that situation absolutely warrants additional investigation by flooring folks.

Deflection like that could be due to a number…

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