0:00 Well, thank you so much for joining me today. I have Stephen Silva here from Estate Inspection Group and we are going to be talking about one of my favorite
0:08 topics, the inspection, which I find can sometimes make or break a deal. Can very much make or break a deal.
0:15 And the most emotional part, my favorite part, too, by the way. Okay. [laughter] Well, that's terrific. Um, tell me how you got started.
0:22 Yeah. So, um, you know, the the rascal flat song like God bless a broken path that led me to where I am. You know, that's kind of my story. if it's a highway. But yeah, I know that's on.
0:31 Yeah, there are days where I was like that too. Today especially.
0:34 Um, now for me, uh, you know, my industry, I know, is just not a very sexy industry. No little boy says, "I want to be a home inspector when I grow
0:42 up." You know, uh, it really was kind of a meandering path that could just kind of naturally led me to settle into this industry, but not just settle in, but
0:50 really thrive. So, um, what I did was I worked for my family's masonry contracting company basically from when
0:58 it was definitely, you know, illegal child labor because as a son of a European immigrant, there is no such thing as sleeping in on Saturdays. But,
1:05 uh, that exposure to high-end masonry work, uh, specializing in stone and brick work, um, just really kind of
1:13 naturally exposed me to higher-end construction, which then after working for the family's business, we elevated and started doing more complex
1:20 commercial projects. So, I actually was sent back to school by my parents to get my master's degree from NYU in
1:28 construction project management because obviously these larger complex projects required more contract uh understanding, more law agreements, more you know,
1:37 negotiating with uh lab um unions and and just the labor providers and you
1:43 know, my mom and dad's mom and pop shop, you know, was just was elevated. So I went back to school, I got my masters in
1:50 it and then um you know 2008 hit and our industry took a big hit in terms of the
1:56 construction uh industry. So I you know begrudgingly left the family business and went and got a job
2:04 uh with a high-end um construction project management firm based out of Greenwich building very large and very luxurious
2:12 homes and I did that for about five years. Um but just like that uh that industry also took a hit and then I kind
2:20 of worked myself out of a job because despite their best efforts the future jobs that were supposed to be rolled into you know the estimates just kept
2:27 going out and out and the jobs were just not being landed.
2:30 So then I actually jumped shipped to another uh project management company which wasn't a very good fit just you know culturally. Um but when I joined
2:38 that company I realized that I can't just be hopping from construction company to construction company. So, my wife's uncle, who is a uh licensed uh
2:48 structural engineer, also was doing home inspections, and I'm pretty sure it was either at uh a Christmas or Easter dinner where he was just like, you know, you should look into this. You'd be
2:56 really good at this, especially your communication style. You know, you have a very um you know, disarming, you know,
3:03 type of personality. And realtors on average, you know, it's a very stressful point in the transaction and you would actually, you know, with your
3:11 construction knowledge would do quite well. So like, okay, I'll check it out.
3:15 I shadowed him for a day, saw what it was all about and realized, wow, you know, this actually is something that would interest me because even when I
3:22 was a child, I always loved the idea of growing up to become a teacher because, you know, summers off sounded great, right?
3:30 But when I realized how much work it is to be a teacher, all of a sudden summers off didn't seem like that good of a tradeoff for the the compensation because I feel like teachers are just
3:38 grossly underpaid. But that's for another podcast. Yeah.
3:41 Um, so what this actually provided me was an opportunity to actually use that that passion to educate people
3:49 while applying that lifetime of uh accumulated construction uh knowhow and didn't even realize I was, you know,
3:57 my path was leading me into a position where I'd just become naturally a very qualified home inspector because of my
4:04 communication skills and more importantly because of my construction knowledge.
4:08 Right. And for me, it it almost seemed like scary how easy of a transition it was, right?
4:14 Uh I always knew that I wanted to go into business for myself. I mean, ultimately, the original plan was to take over my family's contracting uh business. Mh.
4:21 But this offered me a new uh path and avenue to do so. And uh had perfect timing, too, because I, you know, I hung
4:29 my tile as a a licensed home inspector in 2015, and that was a really good time for, you know, the uh the industry and the market
4:36 as a whole. like things were really picking up, right? So, I was able to give a solid 5 years of, you know, just sweat and effort
4:44 uh before CO hit, right?
4:46 And then that changed the game completely. And now we're obviously still adapting to those changes ever since then, right?
4:52 But it did give me enough of an opportunity to really establish myself as a player, right? to garnish the respect of, you
5:01 know, being given the opportunity to find a way to meander through these new uh market conditions, right?
5:08 So, timing really couldn't have been better and and more importantly, just the opportunity of just how things naturally progress because honestly, if
5:17 I had been, you know, exposed to the home inspection industry even just a couple years before, I probably would have just completely poo pooed it because I enjoyed being a project
5:25 manager. I love the construction process.
5:28 I love that you show up to a hole in the ground one day and then, you know, 12 months later, something beautiful is there. And I think that that's just
5:36 something really awesome that not many uh fields get the ability to see that tangibility of their input. Right.
5:44 Right. So now obviously I'm not building anything up out of the ground, but what I am doing is inspecting what's already been built and putting myself in the
5:53 position to provide value, which ultimately that's all we're really looking for. Everyone I think really ultimately and found and fundamentally
6:00 wants to feel like their work makes a difference in someone's life. Right. Right.
6:04 And because buying and selling real estate is only the most stressful and financially impactful, you know, event of one's life,
6:11 that's it. being brought in at that critical point and um and really being trusted for your opinion and expertise
6:20 and and knowledge set. It's a very fulfilling um you know career of of what I'm currently doing. And that's why you
6:29 know the whole adage of oh you'll never work a day in your life if you love what you do. I have to say like you know as cheesy as it sounds I am that cliche.
6:37 Well, that's great to hear because you don't hear that a lot and like I was saying earlier, this can be the most emotional part of the process. I want to touch a little
6:45 bit upon um you talked about your communication style and in our markets in New York and Connecticut, we're still seeing a very
6:54 competitive market. We're still seeing when I write offers with buyers, I work hard to kind of strike the balance between a compelling and competitive
7:03 offer, but also protecting their best interest. So, we talk about umformational purposes only for the inspection or health structural safety,
7:11 which kind of doesn't really mean much because they can still ask for stuff.
7:14 It's it's it's confusing, but it's solid. And when someone comes in, a buyer comes in and
7:23 I'm assuming you would do all inspections the same. You conduct them with the same level of integrity. When a buyer comes in and says, "This is just anformational purposes only." How does
7:31 that actually translate? How does that differ in terms of what you're sharing with them or how you're sharing with it?
7:38 Or you kind of can say this isn't as big of a deal or this is something you don't have to ask for. You know, I know this is informationformational
7:45 purposes only, but really you need to talk about this with the seller.
7:48 You know, I feel like in this in this current market that has just evolved so quickly and many can argue very
7:56 drastically. It's one of those things where the buzzword of, oh, we're only doing this forformational purposes only.
8:02 That's what a home inspection has always been, right? You know, a home inspection has never been industrially applied to
8:09 this transaction as an I got you exercise, right? So, that's why it always makes me laugh. I'm just like, well, of course it is. That's what we're
8:16 here to do. You know, that's exactly I am a consultant for hire that is here to educate my buyer, right? or educate in some cases in the pre-listing
8:24 inspections, educate my seller as to what they can expect a potential buyer's inspector to find. Right? And it's all
8:31 about knowledge sharing, right? So, while yes, some findings can absolutely serve as negotiation fodder, that's not
8:38 the objective of why I'm called out, right? So when I have especially, you know, realtors that perhaps I'm working with for the first time and they want to
8:46 just kind of, you know, establish some some boundaries or ground rules like, oh, we're only doing this forformational purposes only as if that's somehow going
8:53 to, you know, throttle my thoroughess
8:55 [clears throat]
8:56 or professionalism. It's just like, yeah, I know that's why we're here, right? You know, exactly.
9:00 Now, how that information is actually applied to the negotiation, well, then that's a whole other discussion, right? But
9:08 ultimately and fundamentally, an inspection's role is to educate buyers as to what it is that they're buying.
9:14 And that's it. Hard stop. You know, the information once com once compiled and reviewed and more importantly
9:23 disseminated and helped better to understand what matters versus what's typical finding. M that's where the nuances of that education then prompts
9:32 the next steps of okay well we didn't know that the home had this condition or was you know or this major component was
9:40 at this point in their lifespan that kind of changes how I want to structure my offer because paying X and
9:48 having things advertise a certain way made me initially believe that this is a condition that I was going to be purchasing the property with. Now that
9:55 I've dived a bit deeper and through my inspection understanding realize that that's not necessarily the case. That's
10:02 when the buyer and realtor should have that discussion. Right. Because ultimately, like you said, your main objective is to make sure that your buyer is protected. the last thing that
10:11 anyone in our, you know, um, flowchart of starting the home search process to
10:18 closing that anyone wants to be accused of is rushing a client or making them feel like they were sold a a bill of bad goods. Right.
10:27 Of course, that's ultimately where the responsible and professional rise above those who are just looking at this as a
10:35 transaction. And home inspectors can be that way as well. I mean, I know that one of the biggest issues with home inspectors is you're not one of those deal killers, are you? And it's like the alarmist.
10:44 And it it's like, well, if I find something that should kill a deal or more importantly makes a client realize, hey, like I'm already at like this, you
10:52 know, at my my last financial string to even make this purchase happen, right?
10:58 I don't have another $25,000 to replace this roof. This is not the right house for me. If that's what results in a kill
11:06 deal, well then, yeah, I'm I'm glad that I'm a deal killer because the last thing I want is someone having immediate buyer's remorse with only the biggest
11:14 investment of their life up to that point. This is not like buying a shirt on sale and then when you bring it home realize, I don't really like this color and then you ball it up and throw it in
11:22 the back of your closet. Like once you buy a house and you realize that that is not the right house for you, that is a nightmare scenario, right? And
11:29 ultimately if all of us through the process of consultants, representatives, fiduciaries,
11:36 if we don't honestly disclose and educate our buyers what those decisions could potentially result in, then we've failed. Right.
11:45 Right. And that's where the professional versus players, that's where we differentiate ourselves.
11:52 Right. Because there's professionals who operate with integrity and really value the working relationship that they
12:00 fostered with their clients versus someone just like this is just another closing check or this is just another inspection fee.
12:07 You don't want to align yourself with people who throughout the real estate sales transaction structure themselves that way because it's only going to end up biting you in the butt later down the line.
12:16 That's true. So, you know, that's the main difference where taking the time to educate the buyers
12:23 and really feel those questions, not make the decision for them, but just really play out different scenarios, offer them, you know, uh, avenues where,
12:32 okay, well, this is if this is what you're looking for, I'm not really in the position to, you know, kind of, um, to tell you whether or not that's a good
12:41 thing or a bad thing, but through my, you know, re uh, you know, network of resources, contact this person. They're an expert. See what they say and and
12:49 based on that information, make your decision as to whether or not this home's juice is worth your squeeze from a position of education rather than emotion.
12:58 Right.
12:58 Right. Because those emotional buys are what tend to make people feel like what have I done? Or more importantly,
13:06 what did someone make me do? And even if you are not the reason why they just pushed through it, no one nowadays wants to have personal, you know,
13:14 accountability. And it's always someone else's fault, right? And if you find a buyer or if a buyer con, you know, perceives that they were pushed into a
13:23 home without knowing the full information beforehand, they're not going to be like, "Oh, this is a tough lesson for me to learn." They're going to be like, "Who who who effed me on
13:31 this?" Right. Right. Right. No, you're right.
13:34 Getting kind of technical and talking a little bit about your resources.
13:38 When working with first-time buyers or even seasoned buyers as well, you know, we look at the main structures. We look at the roof. We look at the foundation.
13:47 We look at the water. We look at radon. We look at the systems.
13:51 Some people know exactly what all of those are and what the consequences [clears throat] mean and some don't.
13:56 What is it you wish buyers knew going in about those systems and what's really important and how it plays out for them
14:04 and maybe something else that they didn't even think of that's not on the disclosures.
14:07 That's a good question. Uh, I like to always focus my clients attention on findings that have health, safety, or
14:16 major financial reinvestment implications. Right. Because ultimately those are the items that can turn
14:23 quickly turn a dream home into a house of horrors. Right. Right.
14:28 Of course, we're even with new construction, we're going through the home and we are trusting a set process of thoroughly inspecting it.
14:37 We do not rush anything just because something is new or something is wellmaintained. You know, one of my favorite lines is when listing agents are like, "Oh, this is a beautifully
14:44 maintained home. You'll be in and out." It's like, not the way I work, right?
14:47 Because I'm not there to be fast for anyone, you know, keeping score of how quickly I get it done. My job is to thoroughly inspect the home from A to Z.
14:56 And we have a process to ensure that that gets replicated regardless of age, size, condition, accessibility.
15:04 Our process is our process. But when it comes to really wanting, you know, buyers and sellers to focus on
15:11 what matters, to me, those are the fundamentals. So obviously anything that can potentially have a negative health or safety impact, mold, you know,
15:20 environmental um products such as lead, asbestous, um anything that could result in a fall hazard, structural inefficiencies,
15:29 definitely top of my list in terms of those are the things that I want my clients focused on because if you know the beautiful thing about construction is that anything can be
15:38 fixed. It just boils down to how much does that fix cost and is that buyer willing to pay it? And there's no right or wrong answer. It's all subjective to
15:45 everyone's specific life conditions, right?
15:49 But beyond that, those generational components, things of the home that are designed to last multiple decades, things such as your roof, siding,
15:57 window, structure, mechanical components, if any of those items appear to be either at or beyond a typical lifespan, or just simply not in the condition that we would expect to find
16:05 them on the day of the inspection, that's where I want my client's main focus to be applied. Because
16:13 in besides in this market paying the prices that they're paying, These are costs that are just part and parcel of
16:21 being a homeowner. Like there's no way that you can kind of skirt these things if they need to be replaced. You can't live in a roof in a home without a properly functioning roof. You can't
16:29 live in a home if the foundation is not properly, you know, supported. Um it's going to be tough to stay in a home that has central air conditioning that
16:36 doesn't work. And you definitely can't stay in a home that's not heated, right?
16:40 So those are the things that make a house a home. And because those systems are built in many cases to last more
16:46 than 20 years, if and when they need to be replaced, that's where the heftiest price tags are typically dangling for home owners. Right?
16:56 So, those are the main focuses that every one of my clients that I immediately start off with in my little driveway chat before we even
17:04 [clears throat] take the first picture of the inspection process, I set those expectations as to what my focus is. I don't I've had clients tell me like, "We
17:12 really love to hear your opinion on the color of the walls in the dining room." And I was just like, "Well, I'm an inspector. I'm not an interior designer, so you're not going to like what I have to say because doesn't matter, right?
17:23 What I am interested in are the things and the conditions that do matter, that do make a house a home." And that's
17:30 really where so many of my clients at the end of the inspection process feel so thankful that I take the time to speak
17:39 to those items in the level of detail that I do because then everything else that is in the report. It's not that it's inconsequential. It just doesn't
17:48 it's it they now have a better understanding of the hierarchy of concerns when it comes to home ownership. So to your point, firsttime
17:55 home buyers, everything is nervous is nerve-wracking, right? Everything is terrifying because all they've done up to this point is hop on Google and read
18:03 worst case scenarios on things as complicated as leaking roofs to leaking toilets. Like it it literally everything is catastrophic. Mhm.
18:12 seasoned homeowners uh that are perhaps downsizing or just looking to get closer to the grandchildren and buying, you know, nicer, higherend homes. What I
18:21 like about them is that they've kind of been through the uh the trial by fire, so to speak, and are not really going to be concerned with the nitty-gritty. So,
18:29 they're already coming in with a much more executive level focus where they're just like, "Just tell me the things that I know you need to tell me about and
18:38 that's it." And ultimately, they're still the same things that I would focus my attention on for the first-time home buyers, but I'm definitely not going
18:45 into that depth of 101 explanation to make sure that I still have my
18:53 first-time home buyers by my side and working at my speed because obviously these seasoned homeowners, they've already been through it. They know the
19:00 deal. They just want to know what they need to know. So the reality is that yes, emotionally these differing style of buyers are
19:09 coming into this experience with a whole different set of expectations, but ultimately if the home inspector does their job properly,
19:18 the results are still going to be the same, right?
19:20 That both are going to walk away with a better sense of being educated on what it is that they're buying and understanding things that they didn't know in the beginning of the inspection to now now knowing at the end of it.
19:30 Right. Right. Speaking of things that um people didn't know, I don't always recommend a pre-insspection for sellers, but I do sometimes.
19:41 Tell me how often you find sellers surprised that have been in a home long term and maintained it very well when
19:48 they do a pre-insspection and lots of stuff comes up almost always. Yeah.
19:53 You know, and and I think that the reasoning for that is anyone that's living in a home, they're busy living in it. They're not busy
20:00 looking at it through a set of, you know, discerning eyes that are specifically tuned to look for things wrong. Right?
20:09 So, in many cases, you know, I'll I'll sit down like, "Oh my god, I thought my house was so much in such much better shape." And it is. It's just I'm going
20:17 to that level of detail so that way once you get a buyer's inspector to come out and inspect the home that these things
20:25 are not going to shock you because what can tend to happen is because home inspections are naturally a very pessimistic exercise. It's only there
20:35 home inspectors only brought out to focus on what's wrong. Right. Right.
20:38 Right. So when a document only lists the things that are wrong with the house, it can very easily psychologically be, you
20:45 know, uh, interpreted that like, is there anything good with the house? Like there's like a million things wrong with the house, right? You have to find something.
20:51 You have to, right? But that's where the other side of the home inspection, home inspector's responsibility really comes into play as like establishing that
20:59 trust and education outside of the written report because again, the re report's function is really just to document the defects, right? You don't I
21:08 tell my clients all the time, you're not hiring me to write a fluffy paragraph with flowery language about how wonderful the house is. You are in love with the house. I don't have to tell you
21:16 how great the house is, right? You want me to tell you what's wrong with it. And that's why when you get or any when anyone opens up a home inspection
21:23 report, a lot of the times they're like, "Oh my god, are we crazy? Like there's a million things." [laughter] Exactly. Like what are we doing? And and that's one of the biggest fallacies about home
21:31 inspections. Like it's not the quantity of pages cuz so many times it's just fluff with the photos, right? And and and this is something that has been an
21:38 industry development where back in the day home inspection reports used to be two to four pages, but they were carbon copy checkpoints, right, of is this
21:46 defective, is this not defective? And then they would get that carbon copy and the information would be there.
21:51 But the home inspection reports have now today evolved to be a much more educational document. And I know that many people are just like me where
21:59 they're visual learners. And more importantly, I found that being more detailed with my visual uh aids in the
22:08 report helps to, you know, provide so much clarity for the buyers or or even the sellers in some points. It's like, I
22:15 don't know where what outlet you're talking about, but my photo with the room and the actual, you know, improperly wired outlet or, you know,
22:23 loose electrical wire, they're just like, oh, I know where that is now.
22:26 Okay. Right. So, it really just helps to tell more of a story and to help disseminate that information better just through the visual prompts. But when
22:34 you're like, "Oh my god, it's 80 pages, 120 pages." So much of it is just the backup photos to help better comprehend the information in there. Because if it
22:41 was just, you know, 30 pages of just verbose narratives, it's like reading an owner's manual. You
22:49 know what I mean? You're just like, you're going to glaze over and not even not even know how to get past page five.
22:54 So, when it comes to the way that the home inspections are structured, especially for pre-listing inspections,
23:02 having the ability to, you know, just shine light and, you know, I I like to say like proverbally take the skeletons that are already in the closet out and
23:10 just shine light on them, right?
23:12 It it's designed to help reduce stress in how quickly this current market is requiring everyone to operate with. And
23:21 rather than finding that information out in the 11th hour, then scrambling to call your contractor of choice to get a
23:28 quote of what it would cost to fix this and I didn't even realize that that was a thing. And you go there and try to make sense of it all.
23:35 But having the pre-listing inspection done, you get you offer yourself and and afford yourself the the gift of time of just understanding that, okay, it is
23:44 what it is, right? like I don't want to misrepresent my house, but I also don't want to take the ostrich head in the sand approach and just be oblivious to the things that are naturally there and need to be addressed.
23:54 It's an opportunity to really just put your ducks in a row. And the great thing about pre-listing inspections is that just because you conduct a pre-listing inspection does not mean as a seller you
24:03 are obligated to fix every single little thing because in both Connecticut and New York, the homes are sold in as is condition.
24:10 Right? So the whole thing, you just disclose it, too.
24:12 Just disclose it, right? Right. And especially now in New York with the new disclosure uh law forms that have to be
24:19 um you know uh filled out which in Connecticut have been for a long time.
24:23 You know you don't get to pay $500 to just you know play dumb. Now you have things to disclose which you know there's a legal you know um weight
24:31 that's attached to that right? So, of course, home sellers can still just claim, I don't know. But the reality is that if sellers are really
24:40 going to want to be serious about selling their home for the highest price and minimizing the back and forth and the headaches of negotiation, a
24:48 pre-listing inspection is an amazing tool and frankly a very underutilized tool in my opinion um to just really
24:57 shine light in the dark corners of the home that you are not aware of because you're busy living in it or busy thinking about what your next move is, right?
25:05 and just bring it all to the forefront.
25:07 And then you can take the time uh that you've afforded yourself to do your homework, collect qualified bids, and understand what those negotiation
25:15 average costs would be. So that way you're not leaving money on the table to an overzealous buyer who's like, I want $10,000 off for this condition when
25:24 you've already done your homework and through three qualified bids have an average of $6,000 to fix that, right? Which if that's the case, that
25:32 $800 pre-listing inspection just saved you $4,000. Right. Right. Exactly.
25:36 So that's where so many I I and I think so many realtors are just, you know, just from years of just having it be like, oh,
25:45 that's just how business is done. Little by little, the newer uh younger agents are really also observing the value and
25:53 the benefits that come from performing pre-listing inspections. that I think that little by little the culture is starting to slowly shift and especially
26:01 with how quickly everything is now working in this market. Speed is their is their friend, right?
26:07 The the idea of waiting two days for a roofing contractor to get back to your sellers and understand what the cost would be so that way then they can actually reference a negotiable number,
26:16 they they they just potentially lost that sale. Right.
26:19 Right. So, as a realtor, like you kind of proactively put all of those findings out there and can at least come up with
26:27 a plan of action. So, that way then, you know, we know that we're going to negotiate on this. We know that we're not going to negotiate on this or we know that, you know, we're going
26:36 to actively put our listing price at X because we're adjusting it acknowledging those conditions because why why play
26:45 dumb and why give unnecessary negotiating stress? Ultimately, I think now every transaction, everyone's just like trying to outbeat each other with
26:52 how quickly it can be closed, right? So, the best way to do that is to just reclaim control of that, you know,
26:59 information sharing and, you know, uh, next action step process and just, you know, bringing the fight to the
27:07 negotiation rather than letting the negotiation bring the fight to the transaction.
27:11 So, for me, frankly, this is my soap box. I personally believe that home inspections are in the wrong part of the flowchart. I think instead of once
27:20 offers are accepted to then have buyers do their own due diligence if they still want to conduct their own separate due diligence. I think that's a still a viable understanding. But I frank
27:29 frankly believe that homes should just be pre-inspected and those disclosures should just be a part of it. like I do because it's just one of those things
27:38 where how how many houses do you actually hear about where preexisting defects and major issues with the home don't get found or
27:46 don't get negotiated. You might get a rare one here and there where like wow I can't believe someone bought unseen and didn't even realize that there was a
27:54 buried oil tank sucks for that buyer but okay. But now it's like, you know, I I don't know of many realtors who would
28:00 even recommend to have either a seller sell a home that way or a buyer buy a home that way because again, there's so
28:08 much liability that they expose themselves to by doing it that way. So, in my opinion, like, what are we doing here, guys? Like, there's some weeks
28:15 where over a 3 week span, I inspect the same house two or three times because one buyer's deal didn't move forward. I get the call, I have to reinspect that
28:24 house because I don't know what's happened from the day that I inspected it to seven days later, a pipe could burst, systems could fail. You know what
28:32 I mean? Like, it seems silly and I'm there just like, I know this house, you know what I mean? I literally just inspected it last week. But for my
28:38 liability purposes, I can't sell that existing report. Right. Right.
28:43 I don't think it's fair for a new set of buyers for me to just be like, "Ah, that house is fine. they got this that because that's not doing a professional,
28:52 thorough, um, you know, responsible home inspection for them. Mh.
28:56 And it just seems like, you know, deals break apart all the time, but like that information doesn't really change, right? So, documenting the age of the
29:05 systems or just the, you know, the the the setup of the home. These are all things that can be easily documented auh beforehand, right? Disclosed as a part
29:13 of the selling process. And then if the buyer wants to conduct their own like up-to-date specific inspection just for
29:20 them forformational purposes only, right? Then that really becomes an inspection report as more of justformational purposes only to get
29:27 almost like a refresher on an ex uh on an updated condition of that home. Uh inspecting it
29:34 at that date and calculating the the the differences of defects found from that initial inspection. But right, it's no nowhere near industrially for us
29:43 to change that. So, we're just going to keep doing it the way that we're doing.
29:46 It seems a little crazy to me, but at the same time, it's like it's almost like the uh the way that the car industry put in Carfax for, you know,
29:54 used cars, the car gets sold fully disclosed. you know, if that car was involved in a flood down south and they fixed it up and put a new paint job and shipped it
30:02 up north to sell, you know, like it it helps buyers have a better understanding of what it is that they're buying in
30:09 terms of the historical um nuances of that property and then it's for them to decide whether or not they want to move forward with it.
30:17 Yeah, that's a really interesting take, I have to say. I mean, when I do um when I do offers in this fast market, I find
30:25 that I actually, as part of my offer, I schedule the inspection. So, as part of the actual offer, it says, "We've already penciled in an inspection for
30:32 two, you know, 48 hours at 9:00 a.m. If that works for your sellers,
30:35 [clears throat]
30:36 um I have a lot of buyers who bring inspectors to the viewing, the actual initial viewing, and do just like a quick like a one, a walk and talk." Yeah.
30:44 A walk and talk, which but then I would think they'd want something more thorough after that a lot of times.
30:48 Yeah. I mean, especially I personally don't um I I I never like the idea of walk-in talks just because I feel like it gives buyers a false sense of
30:55 security and be like, "Oh, my inspector was here." And it's like, "Well, you had a in kind of an inspector there, right?" Because they didn't go through the entire standards of practice giving you
31:04 the thoroughess of understanding of what it is that you're buying. Like walking through with a contractor. Exactly.
31:08 Yeah. You haven't knocked down a wall yet. You haven't opened anything up. You don't know yet.
31:11 Exactly. But a lot of good information can be made. It can be uh derived from those walk-in talks. It's just one of those things where I think a lot of the
31:19 times uh buyers are kind of fooled into thinking that, oh well, we had our inspector walk through with us during the showing and we're good with, you
31:27 know, understanding, you know, what it is that we're we're doing and and [clears throat] what offer we're putting in, right?
31:32 And it's just not based they're making a decision not based on the level of information that they otherwise would have gotten had they invested in a full
31:41 inspection. But again, right with this market, I think there's some people where, especially if buyers are contractors and they know that they're cap fully capable of doing the things,
31:49 they just want to have a different set of eyes, you know, separate from their emotional ties to the process.
31:54 There's value there. But especially for first-time home buyers, I think a lot of them are getting that finding that uh that solution online and thinking that
32:02 that's a viable substitution where it's really just like a partial tool rather than having someone show up with the whole tool back.
32:09 Right. Right. I agree. Um, speaking of walking and talking, one of the things I always say that I love about my job is
32:17 the really cool and or unexpected things that I get to see walking through people's houses. Can you tell me what is
32:25 the most unexpected thing or cool thing that you've ever seen during an inspection?
32:30 Well, I I've done already over 3,700 inspections. So, I haven't seen 3,700. Yes. Wow.
32:36 I haven't seen it all, but I've almost seen it all. And frankly, out of all of those inspections, because I do tend to
32:43 focus on higherend construction, I do arguably get to say that I inspect some of the most meticulously maintained and beautifully built homes, which frankly
32:52 doesn't make for good storytelling besides just the opulence and and the level of finishes, right? Uh but it's the ones that are not well-maintained.
33:02 And it's just this one instance that I'm about to tell you because that's clearly what goes straight to the top of my mind. It was an inspection in January,
33:10 uh, Little Lake house in Carmel, New York.
33:15 My buyers who were coming up from Brooklyn, told me, "Hey, listen. The lady has a lot of cats, and I would bring a an N95 mask because, you know,
33:23 the smell of cat urine is pretty strong." I'm like, "Okay, I've inspected homes with cats. Not a big deal." Okay.
33:29 So, I start the inspection outside, and mind you, everything is snow covered. It's like 20° outside. I'm inspecting the
33:38 perimeter. I get to the back of the home where I am actually testing an exterior wall outlet right in front of a glass sliding door. I have 10 cats staring
33:47 back at me. I'm just like, "Oh yeah, that is a lot of cats." Mh.
33:50 And then all of a sudden, I'm I'm on my knee and I'm testing the wall outlet and I start to see what looks like specks of
33:57 dirt like jumping. I'm like, "What? What am I looking at here?" Turns out that the home, because this
34:06 lady was a cat hoarder, was infested with fleas.
34:12 And what I thought were specks of dirt jumping around, were actually fleas escaping the home looking for new hosts because the flea pressure was so great
34:21 that there were no more cats for these fleas to host them. And I I immediately
34:29 got onto my FaceTime with uh JP Male, who's a a wonderful pest control company that I used to have come out and do my termite and wood destroying insect inspections.
34:39 And I get on with one of my most trusted inspectors name is Joe. And I'm like, Joe, what am I looking at here?
34:45 And he's like, does that house have cats? And like I I turned to see the 10 cats just staring at me through the sliding door. Yeah, exactly. And he was
34:54 like, "Man, that house is infested with fleas. Do not walk into that home. Don't walk in." And like my skin immediately
35:03 started crawling. And I actually had to stop that inspection. Oh my gosh. And I was just like, "Guys, I'm sorry.
35:08 We can't proceed forward until this home is fumigated." Yeah.
35:12 Because I mean, it's 20° out here. When have you ever heard bugs leaving warmth of an inside of a home to brave freezing
35:20 conditions and literally like basically commit suicide because they had no better option? Claudio looked sick to his stomach.
35:25 I was sick to my stomach [laughter] to the point where even the realtor was just like like I can't I can't even like I'm going back to my car and I'm immediately going home to shower. So
35:34 what's crazy is that two weeks later we found out that the the woman was arrested because she was actually illegally hoarding cats. There were over 70 cats in the house. Oh my gosh.
35:44 Three of them found dead.
35:46 And what's crazy is the house was fumigated. It was treated. Basically 4 ft of every single interior wall was cut
35:55 down and removed because there was so much cat urine in the walls that it was starting to cause like prime mold growing conditions in the house. So it was a environmental disaster.
36:06 And can you believe it that two weeks later my clients call me back like, "Okay, well they fix all these things.
36:09 We still want you to come back and inspect the house." I'm like, "You still going to buy this thing?" [laughter] Like, torch it. Call it a day. Talk about disclosures.
36:16 Holy moly. It was still, it's still one of these stories when I tell like I can feel it. The discomfort literally just starting to crawl over all of my body.
36:24 So, in terms of the most shocking and surprising finding that absolutely has to take the cake because it was such a unique condition where frankly,
36:32 you know, this was obviously in Putham County, but this was a small lake community, right?
36:36 And when you get into these smaller communities, especially with older retired people, Mhm. Everyone knows everyone else's business.
36:42 So, how this lady got past 60 cats, having all of these cat 70 cats, having
36:49 all of these cats in the home and and no one noticed. I don't know. It was just weird weird. And and she was also a hoarder and that's why they, you know, they found the dead cats because they
36:58 were just underneath like a bunch of stored bags of trash and recycled bottles and just very sad situation,
37:06 frankly. Yeah. Uh obviously the lady who was living in the home was definitely not of you know sound mind and you know
37:13 obviously uh sad to see how it all happened but absolutely in terms of really interesting inspections that one
37:20 probably takes a really interesting um this might be the same question actually then I read on your website
37:27 that you say you um you do every inspection through the lens of your children I'm assuming for safety which I love because I have kids and when I look
37:34 at homes for my clients I often think like would my kids be okay here? Yes.
37:38 Um on the really old swing set and things like that.
37:41 Um tell me about a time when you walked into a house that looked great on the outside, but once you walked in, you immediately thought other than the cats and the fleas.
37:50 Yes.
37:50 Um maybe from a safety perspective, this is not going to fly.
37:54 Well, there was there was one in particular cuz you know, again, I have three children, Olivia, Sophia, and Ethan, 11, 10, and five. Um, Sophia, my
38:04 middle child, is my klutz, right? And she'll tell you straight up. It's not even like a a name calling. She's just naturally clumsy.
38:11 Sophia usually finds wherever someone can potentially trip and fall, she somehow magnet magnetically goes to it and finds it, right?
38:20 Um, me too.
38:21 And it's just one of those things where for me, especially when it comes to the health and safety, I look more like everyone can be clumsy, adults can be
38:29 clumsy. That's not what's going to make me nervous. So, when it comes to the the lens that I uh apply to perform my inspections, you know, obviously my kids are definitely at the forefront of it.
38:40 My three kids, Olivia, Sophia, and Ethan, 11, 10, and five, you know, just like any kid, they're going to find ways to get themselves injured. Sophia especially, she always
38:48 finds a way to magnetically find where people will, you know, in mass trip and fall, right?
38:54 But there was this one house where it was a contractor's house and everything was kind of half done. It wasn't badly done. It just wasn't finished, right?
39:03 And especially this inspection, they showed up with twins and a three-year-old. And the three-year-old was a three-year-old. I mean, this boy
39:12 was full of energy, running everywhere, so excited. The house, you know, it was already partially moved out, so it was a
39:20 lot of room to run and they were coming from a small apartment. So, he was just like, you know, a kid in a castle. Yeah.
39:27 One of the things that I was noticing was because the contractor was a plumber, the baseboard radiators, so
39:34 many of them were missing the protective cases over it. And I don't know if anyone has ever looked behind those protective cases, but it's basically
39:42 just a copper pipe that's running uh in the center of those baseboard radiators.
39:47 And they're surrounded with these fins that, you know, heat up and have more surface area to kick off more heat. And that's how heat is distributed off of
39:54 these units. But the purpose of those covers that go right up against the wall is that those fins are very very sharp.
40:02 And I noticed that right before we um you know I I just usually go through the home and I just take like a general walk
40:11 through to see you know what the lay of the land is, find my thermostats. And as I'm going to turn the heat on, you know, the baseboard radiators once you turn
40:18 them on, they start to kind of like click and make some noises. Mhm.
40:21 Well, the little boy found that and went immediately to like the wall like trying to listen to it.
40:27 And then I saw that he was about to go and touch them and I wasn't concerned about him being um you know uh burned because this was in April or March,
40:36 something like that. Um but I actually grabbed his hand and and specifically stopped him from touching that because I
40:44 mean you can just you know rest your finger on it and then just the removal of it. I mean they're like razor blades.
40:49 Yeah. Right. Yeah. So when I did that, you know, the boy got nervous because I like, you know, he didn't expect me to grab him, but you know, the the father
40:58 instincts kicked in and I was just like, "No, you know, bone deep cuts today, please. Especially while we're doing the inspection."
41:05 So he went over running to the child and I explained it and I was like, "Look, let's talk about this now because it's a great opportunity to educate you as to why this is a concern." Right. Right.
41:14 And I mean, I had a um I had a piece of paper. It was I think it was the uh one of the disclosure sheets and I just
41:22 rubbed the paper on the blade and it cut the paper. I Yeah.
41:26 You know, and and the parents are like, "Oh my god, these have to be covered." I was like, "And that's why they'll be listed in the report." Right.
41:31 So, it's those types of things where especially curious young children, that's usually the the lens that I'm
41:38 looking at uh while I'm inspecting homes because homes are where everyone naturally feels their most relaxed,
41:46 right? Everyone's guard is down once they come back into their home, right?
41:50 Kids especially, right? It's their safe space. It's where they feel the most at home, most comfortable, most secure.
41:56 And it's in those innocent, you know, things that are missing where real, you know, health and bodily harm can occur. Right. Right.
42:05 So, you know, that was just an experience. And again to kind of close the loop on that, I was very sensitive to that because
42:13 Sophia at one of our relatives house cut her finger on one of those exposed things. Wow. So again, it's just like you you have these experiences and
42:21 they're not gone to waste because you're really I'm not expecting it to be everyone's father, right? But at the same time, when I'm in a home and I have those
42:29 fatherly experiences with my own children and see new first-time homeowners who otherwise wouldn't know, that would have learned the hard way the way that so many of us do it. That's
42:38 where the addition in the educational value comes in beyond the cost of the service performed,
42:46 right? Yeah. I can envision you now as when your children are older and they're looking at homes to buy, you're going to be the dad that goes along with them.
42:54 Asks all those questions. And frankly, I'm okay with I call them conigletes that come to the inspection, right? I I know how to handle dads. I know construction.
43:04 In the beginning of my career, it was a very steep uphill battle that I was battling because at the time when I started my business, I was 33, right?
43:12 And you know, dads who are coming with their uh their kids to the inspection, they're like, "Wait, wait, wait. You're going to tell me more about this house?"
43:21 Okay. But they climb up on the roof with you, right? Exactly. It's just like, you know, I've learned that rather than fighting them, I like to include them.
43:29 Most of the dads are just there to protect what matters most to them. And as a father myself, I completely empathize with that. Right.
43:36 Um, but there is a point where I need to do my work, right? Um, so it is one of those things where I always welcome home
43:43 uh families uh family members to come to home inspections. Now, that doesn't mean that I'm just going to let everyone just, you know, control the process, you
43:51 know, like if I see that it's going astray or that people are, you know, kind of not letting the process work
43:58 itself out and, you know, unnecessarily getting nervous about things before I've had the chance to inspect them, then I'll call timeout and res reccalibrate
44:07 everyone's expectations, right? But ultimately, especially for first-time home buyers, they don't know what they're looking at. They want people that they love and trust there with them.
44:16 You know, I've heard stories where inspectors will actually not continue with their inspection until all
44:23 of these people leave the house because they don't want to talk to them. They don't want to be bothered. And it's just like, gosh, can't do that. It's all part of the process.
44:30 It's a part of the process. And you have to have the empathy of understanding that those people are not there to make your job harder. They're there to help
44:37 and support who they love the most and make sure that their best interests are being looked out for. But that's another
44:44 added built-in benefit with my specific background is that I've managed subcontractors. I've worked
44:51 with the gruffest and just most malcontent, you know, contractors that you could ever hope to not deal with.
45:00 Right. Right. And as a project manager, you know, having these guys follow directions from, you know, someone that was my age at the time,
45:08 right, it doesn't phase me, you know what I mean? Like it's just one of those things where it's just like it's just another ego to handle. You know what I mean?
45:15 But it's also important to not just look at them as an ego, but to really understand why they're there and to show that empathy and more importantly to just make them feel a part of the
45:23 process because ultimately that's why they're there, right? You know, I I I I I really do not believe that people come
45:31 looking to be agitators. I really think that they're just coming with good intentions. And some people with the best intentions have strong
45:38 personalities and you just have to be, you know, experienced enough to know how to handle them and more importantly funnel them to still provide the value
45:47 that they're there to provide while still allowing you to thoroughly execute your responsibilities and your job. And that's something that I I can honestly proudly say that I've kind of mastered.
45:58 Yeah. Oh, that's great. Yeah, that's awesome. I personally love it when the parents come, especially, you know, the dads who have their flashlights and they kind of peek in the crawl spaces, too.
46:05 Oh, look. I'll tell dads just like, "Hey, do me a favor." Like, uh, you know, I'm done inspecting the uh the electrical panel. Would you mind putting those four screws up? Man, they are like
46:13 so proud to like pull their their multi-tool out that they came prepared with. And it's great because I think that that's that's what that they came to help. And when they feel like they're
46:22 a part of it, it's not placating. It's literally just, you know, allowing them to feel like they are having the impact
46:29 that they showed up to do in the first place. It's a team. You're all a team.
46:32 You're all a team. And ultimately, that that really is such a vibe that a lot of professionals, especially in my
46:40 industry, they fall short of because they're leading with their ego. They're like, I'm the expert here. I'm going to tell you what's going on with it. You don't tell me. And whatever. And it's
46:48 just like, you know, you're you're kind of you're missing the plot there, bud.
46:52 You know what I mean? Because ultimately, yeah, I get it. No one wants an inspection to take 40 minutes longer because you have to have these
47:00 conversations or seemingly answer the same question over and over again. But that's what you're there for, right? You know, and if some buyers or if some buyer's relatives who they specifically
47:08 ask to be a part of the process because they trust their opinion need and require more handholding, that's your job, bud. Yeah. You know, and that's
47:17 honestly why even for my company, I only structure two inspections a day. Not because I need 4 to 4 and 1/2 hour blocks to conduct my job, but I
47:25 definitely never want to see my clients see me do this, looking at my watch, thinking about where I need to be, and making them feel rushed. Right.
47:32 Right. And I think it's a quality game rather than a quantity game. And I know that some of my competitors operate, you
47:39 know, um, opposite for me, and that's fine. That's just a business decision they've made, right? But I think it's also one of those things where you have to understand where, you know,
47:48 you're not going to get a 53 a 53 day aged porter house at a McDonald's. You know what I mean? You're going to go to
47:56 a place with quality because they don't rush certain components. And if you're just looking for a fast food inspector, there's plenty of them, you know, right?
48:04 But if you want someone who's going to be more thorough and more, you know, um, dedicated to their responsibility and their role in this in this, uh,
48:12 flowchart of so many moving parts just to get someone interested in a piece of property versus, you know, closed and signed and
48:21 moved in. you have to take that responsibility seriously because this is such a small industry that if you if your reputation becomes known as a quick
48:30 guy, you'll be good for some inspe for some you know clients and some realtors.
48:35 Um but that's not the kind of um you know notoriety that I envision for my company and my brand. I know that we
48:43 live in a very affluent part of the country and we inspect very affluent homes and our clients are usually people
48:51 of means to be able to afford such houses. Right? So as a project manager building these high-end homes, I quickly learned that these are very smart
49:00 people, people who are who value their time more than anything. And if you are unable to show up professionally, ready,
49:09 focused, and explain what you're there to explain and help them better understand, if you're not doing so in an efficient manner, they're not going to be happy with you, right?
49:18 And that's something that I didn't even realize I was being well trained to be a home inspector for higherend real estate because so many of my clients are just,
49:26 you know, executive level thinking people. They just they need to know the down and dirty. They need to know what matters. Everything else can be taken care of. Mhm.
49:34 And how are you going to get me that information?
49:36 And that's just something that again that meandering path kind of led me to this position to be well suited with that ability to not just
49:45 not not just be able to comprehensively and competently communicate it, but then to also have the experience where I'm not learning on the job that I've
49:54 already established that that skill set and that knowledge base to be able to speak from a position of experience. And
50:01 there are many other great home inspectors in our market who are able to do the same exact thing. And frankly, I don't even see those inspectors as competitors. I see them as colleagues,
50:10 right? Because there's definitely going to be inspectors who operate at the same caliber as me that have different layers of expertise that I'm still, you know, developing.
50:20 And that's one thing where and I think it's the same thing for real estate. There's room in these markets.
50:26 Oh, yeah. to have compet people that are literally competing against you, but you each can have your own lane as long as
50:33 you're performing your profession with um you know with morals, with dedication and professionalism, right?
50:40 You know, and like people who are out there doing good work, they're not really a threat. They they actually help amplify and almost
50:48 resuscitate what in especially for my industry is known very negatively, right? Because it's so easy for, you
50:56 know, inspectors to be scoffed at as the deal killers or, you know, this the people who will derail months in some cases years of hard work just to justify
51:05 being present and then because they show up like a cowboy and leading with their ego kill the deal. Right.
51:10 Right. Because they don't take the responsibility that is given to them in this transaction to to really execute on on the level that they're supposed to.
51:19 So that's the thing. This is an industry that I think is underserved with really competent professionals and good communicators.
51:29 And that's why whenever you know we come across realtors who know how to properly communicate and know where our home our
51:36 value is um is really appreciated in the real estate transaction. Conversely, home inspectors really appreciate really
51:44 professional and educated realtors. And that's why like when I see a realtor on my inspection that I haven't worked with that doesn't make themsel available to
51:53 listen in or to have, you know, to listen to how I'm explaining how certain things work, that tells me that they're not interested in learning and
52:01 interested in growing and they're just looking like, you're not going to ruin this deal for me, are you? And then it's like, okay, I know what kind of a realtor you are. whereas others are asking questions, you know,
52:09 asking to be a part of the follow-up conversations that we have with clients so that way they can close the the the understanding loop and make sure that
52:17 not only are they up to speed on for that transaction but for future transactions. Right. Of course.
52:22 And it's like a wasted opportunity that I find unfortunately so many realtors just not taking advantage of being able to be educated uh in those moments where
52:31 there's education being shared, right? You know, so I think that as a whole, just these last 15 years,
52:40 I see how our industry has been evolving. And I also think that has to do with how quickly things are starting to move as well because I think that the
52:49 the games of yestery year of, you know, lowballing, slow walking and negotiation, blanking communication in a
52:58 day and age where there's no excuse why you shouldn't be able to get back to someone within a five minute span unless you're in the middle of a meeting or something, right?
53:08 the ones who are adapting to this new pace of information technology and just you know uh work ethic pace I think
53:17 that's why so many of these changes are happening as well right and the reality is that at times it's uncomfortable for all of us but at the
53:25 same time it's also understandable why and then you have AI waiting in the wings and how that's going to impact it where I'm even now seeing stories where
53:34 realtors are complaining where the other realtor that they're negotiating with isn't even formulating their own responses. Like they they're
53:41 they're literally putting what they want to say into AI, copying and pasting it and be like, "Are you even real?" Like, "What what are we doing here?" Like I'm hearing that in every industry now.
53:52 Every industry, right? I I just had a client yesterday. He asked me like, "How dependent are you on AI?" And I was like, honestly, I've been doing this for so long that all of my narratives and my
54:00 and my um my home inspection report templates are all crafted by me, right?
54:05 You know, like I've dabbled in doing it and yeah, it's kind of cool. Like, wow, I did good. But it's probably because of inspectors like me who have been uploading all of that,
54:14 you know, selfexecuted work into these platforms that now they're utilizing that as like a database and understanding what a good narrative
54:21 sounds like. And I've probably been, you know, a direct asset into yeah, slowly making myself obsolete. Who knows? Maybe we all have. I don't know.
54:31 But the reality is that things are not going to slow down anytime soon. They're only going to continue to speed up.
54:38 And I think that the ones that are going to be not just open to, frankly, working harder just to keep up with the pace,
54:46 but more importantly, the people who are going to be leaning into relationships.
54:49 Right. Of course. I think that that's where that connection is really going to be where that's going to go handinhand with the next evolution because I think
54:56 that everything is going to become so automated, so AIcentric that I think it's going to have the potential for a reverse pendulum swing back
55:04 for people to just feel like I just want to talk to a person on the other side and have an empathetic understanding and
55:12 that emotional connection because this is a very emotional transaction. Right. Right. It's not just selling a widget.
55:19 There's so many emotional layers that everyone is literally handling with kit gloves, right?
55:25 And that's one thing that at least for the next decade, maybe maybe more hopefully. Um I think that
55:32 the AI and uh and and robots are going to have a tough time, you know, replicating, right?
55:38 And that's where relationships and accountability and responsibility is going to matter more than ever.
55:44 Yeah. because I think so many people are going to be tempted to not take shortcuts but to rely more heavily on AI rather than on their own prowess. Right?
55:52 And I think that we're going to quickly see a a a pretty substantial separation between those who are only focused on
56:00 letting someone else think for them versus people who actually care. Yeah.
56:04 and think to problem solve and help people rather than just execute uh you
56:11 know um a transaction or or a uh or an exercise.
56:16 Agreed. Stephen, this is amazing. Thank you so much. This has been so helpful.
56:20 Like I said, the inspection and you said too is one of the most emotional parts of the process. Thank you for helping us to walk through and see kind of
56:28 not just what you're walking into, what you're moving into. Tell us where we can find you. So, you can find us on uh Instagram. Um we have two handles. Uh
56:37 Stephvens Silva, which is my um personal one where you'll see a lot of pictures of my kids. Uh but we do also, you know,
56:45 use that as our main. Um we also have a company uh handle at Estate Inspection Group. Um that has more like useful tips
56:54 and tricks and home ownership and maintenance and stuff like that. And then our website which is estate inspectiongroup.com. Um you'll find a
57:01 you know a pretty well done um you know introduction video of us and you know where we came from, why we do what we do
57:10 and a lot of really helpful resources for uh the uh home inspection process, including a bunch of sample reports and
57:18 uh different ways to be able to contact us directly. So you know we're we're always available and on Facebook. So, you know, if you see this, you know,
57:25 drop us a like. Let me know that more people than just my mom is watching me on Instagram. And uh and I promise I'll I'll engage back. [laughter]
57:33 Awesome. Thank you so much. I really appreciate it. Thank you.
