Videos that highlight important things for buyers & sellers

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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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.atlanta-noise-pollution

Traffic and Influences not Thought About...

Everything is relative so not all things…

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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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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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