Real Estate Explained

Why Home Inspections Matter, What Buyers Miss Over Time, & How to Avoid Expensive Surprises with Jamal Hampton

• Nick Bush

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In this week’s episode of Real Estate Explained, host Nick Bush sits down with Jamal Hampton, owner of Sentinel Inspections, to talk all things home inspections—what they really uncover, what most buyers overlook, and why timing matters more than you think.

Jamal breaks down the often-misunderstood role of a home inspector and shares real stories of what he's found behind the walls—from dangerous mold to missing vent connections that could quietly impact your health over time. They dive into:

🛠️ Why home inspections matter long after closing
 🌬️ The truth about air quality, radon, and mold (and how they affect your health)
 🏚️ What to expect during an inspection—and what’s actually worth stressing about
 🏗️ Why even new construction needs a pre-drywall inspection
 💡 The biggest myths about mold, repairs, and those alarming reports

Whether you're buying your first home or just haven’t looked at your HVAC system in five years, this episode will change how you think about inspections—and give you the tools to approach your next one with confidence.

🎧 Tune in now and get the insights most buyers never hear.

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Speaker 1:

All right, we got Jamal on the pod today. We rolling bro, absolutely. I didn't say it for the first time, bronson. I didn't say we start cold like Joe Rogan. You know what I mean. The goal is for me to say we start cold like Joe Rogan and Joe Rogan sees it one day and then invites me on his pod yeah shoot.

Speaker 2:

And then I become like a figure.

Speaker 1:

You know what I mean. That's a lot of work these days, hey man.

Speaker 2:

All right.

Speaker 1:

So we got Jamal on the pod. Tell the people who you are. Introduce yourself real quick.

Speaker 2:

So my name is Jamal Hampton. I'm the owner of Sentinel Inspections. We've been around for about eight years now. I've been an inspector for about 12. We average about 900 to 1,000 inspections a year. We specialize in indoor air quality so we realize that a lot of times when people are becoming sick or have immune issues, sometimes it can be linked back to your home's atmosphere, your environment. So it's very important to know what you're breathing and know what's going on in your home.

Speaker 2:

But I love what I do and yeah, everything with homes and environmental, like mold and asbestos, we can help with that. So just off the intro.

Speaker 1:

I have like seven questions, you know, just based off your you know quote, unquote elevator pitch. You know, but this is an important pod because you know you start this podcast, you're a real estate agent and then the easiest people to interview is like other realtors, lenders. You know these type of people in the industry and I'm like we need to get the real people that are like in the mud with us during the transaction, like home inspectors, appraisals, like you know these type of folks Because I always say this to my lenders.

Speaker 1:

I'm like no one ever walks up to me and is like you know, if I didn't know loans, if I couldn't break down like loan limits and products and debt to income ratio, like that's what buyers come up and talk to me about, right, they never talk about you know the home inspection contingency and what happens at home inspection. That's something we tell them but they don't ask those questions enough right?

Speaker 1:

Because that's like the important thing, and what you just said about air quality matters so much to me right now, because my wife and I own a house in DC. It was our. We lived there. We bought it in 2020, and we lived there for a few years and now we live in Fredericksburg.

Speaker 1:

But we were just getting sick in there, bro, and like we didn't know why, we were just like we would always just make this joke, like why we were just like we will always just make this joke like the house is poisoned somehow and it's a 1942 colonial hillcrest, um. But when we moved out and we were getting ready to rent, um, my contractor painted it and he called me. He painted the trim, um, he painted the whole thing, but he painted the trim and he called me. He's like yo, bro, I just want you to know. Like we painted the trim and it bubbled up and the paint got stripped completely because it was there was lead. You know that's like because of lead and um and uh, and we had to repaint it. It's all good now, but I was like yo, we were getting poison low key in here. So explain that like that, that niche that like like air quality, like how are you even testing for that? What's the process around that? Why do people need to do that?

Speaker 2:

So I would definitely start with the age of the house.

Speaker 2:

If the home was built before 1980, it definitely has a chance of having lead or asbestos. So I would always consider those tests if you're purchasing or living in a property that's older. But outside of that, one of the main contaminants for air quality is mold and all homes have mold in various quantities. But there's really the only controllable aspect with mold is water. So if something stays wet, for like a drywall stays wet for more than 24 hours, mold can begin to grow and mold is like a dandelion it just releases spores in the air. So even if you don't necessarily see stains on the wall, it could be elevated mold spores in the air quality. So I always recommend air quality testing if that hasn't happened.

Speaker 2:

Also, radon gas is a second-ling cause of lung cancer and it's present in all homes, of various quantities as well, but it comes from soil, the dirt. So it's like uranium, radium and then radon. It kind of goes through the whole decay cycle decay cycle, but it basically comes from soil and rocks, um. So definitely, if you have a basement or a sump pump or any cracks or voids in the concrete slab, gas can seep in um. So again, that's a test. That's a two-day test we recommend, but those are very important. Um tests, in my opinion, um definitely start with, like an air quality test, radon measurement, um, if you're older properties, doing a lead and asbestos test yeah to kind of make sure we're good so you say mold.

Speaker 1:

So you know you say things like mold and radon, right, people are terrified, right, and I'm often like mold is not that big of a deal. Right, we could cut it out right, you're professional yeah, but how do you, um, what do you? What's your opinion? Are those? Are those big issues? Mold, radon are those big issues, are they kind of so?

Speaker 2:

um, just like with most things in the home um, it is very important but it may not be very expensive, so it's not necessarily a deal killer or a reason for you to run. So if we were to test a home for radon, the, the the range of pricing that I see for repairing um a radon issue is about $1,200 to maybe $2,500. And that's a one-time fee. They normally do what's called sub-slab depressurization, so they depressurize the area underneath the concrete slab, they make a hole and put a pipe and route the pipe outside and put a fan and that pulls the gas from underneath the house up and away. So that's for the radar.

Speaker 2:

And then mold is kind of case by case basis. Typically mold testing could be $400 to $800 or so and most times if you have a mold remediation company that does it, they'll wrap that testing into the mold remediation costs, because typically you have to have a baseline test to find out the indoor mold sport count and then you'll do the remediation and do your tests at the end to make sure those levels have been reduced. Um, so, like I said, that's a case-by-case basis but that can be.

Speaker 1:

You know that can range from 2,500 to 20 to 30,000 yeah, I've walked in a house with a ton of mold and black mold is you know also, which I know is dangerous, and it's like twenty five thousand dollars to, yeah, to get it straight. Um, so, I know, so it sounds like radon is something that, um, you know is is case is like you can remove that completely, you know to do it again, but mold is more, um, that can happen anytime.

Speaker 1:

So do you, do you suggest people are kind of testing for that every few years or?

Speaker 2:

uh, normally every two years would recommend, but definitely if you have any water event. Like if you have a roof leak, plumbing leaks water into your basement, things like that. Those are all areas, things that could be conducive to mold growth. Like I said, the controllable aspect of mold is water. So if there's anything that stays saturated or staying in water for long enough, mold's going to begin to grow, because the mold spores are already in your house. They're just waiting for water to attack.

Speaker 1:

So you've been doing this for 12 years. So three years you were solo and then you started Sentinel.

Speaker 2:

Well, so I was working for another company before.

Speaker 1:

I started. Sentinel, and you've been Sentinel for nine years.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, so since 2018. 2018.

Speaker 1:

So what made you decide to start your own company and just go the business owner route? And then what, I guess, did you feel like? Well, just tell me that and I'll ask another question.

Speaker 2:

So firstly it was survival. So I majored in business management in college but I had no management experience so I worked for the other company and I learned a lot about the energy, mainly environmental. So that's where I honed my mold. The mold is best is right on the environmental portions. And then, after I left the company, I started teaching. So I taught at the University of Southern Maryland for a while and I kind of honed my home inspection craft and my knowledge base and I was confident I knew I had all the skills that was needed to be successful. So that that pushed me into the right direction. My mom and dad helped me with like getting my insurance and license paid for at that point and, um, you know I was good to go so why were you just like, sitting around, like, like?

Speaker 1:

at what point in your life were you just like? You know what I want to like crawl into houses and roll around and test hvacs and all of that stuff. Where's the interest come from?

Speaker 2:

So, honestly, it was a blessing. So when I was in college, I went to college at Indiana State. Okay, so once I graduated from Indiana State, my whole family my mom's side of the family is from here. My dad's side is from Kentucky. Okay, he was in the Army, so he moved us closer to his side.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, so so he moved us closer to his side, yeah, so that was kind of why we were in Indiana. So once I graduated, my mom moved back and we kind of came back to this area where the family was, and I had a family. Like my aunt's ex-husband owned the company and he was gracious enough to allow me to come in and teach me some things and I worked for him for a while, yeah, and I built a passion. It was something that it didn't really feel like a job. It felt like I was. You know, I was doing something fun every day.

Speaker 2:

You know what I mean it was different and then, after a while, I realized that this is actually this sustained me. You know my future, you know I could actually make a living from this. Yeah, that's what spurred me even more to, uh, try to make it.

Speaker 1:

make it happen bro, I can't fix anything, so I'm always like. I'm always like we gotta get the home inspector in here. Did you feel like when you started your company you were doing something totally different from other home inspection companies? Like, did you have like a specific value proposition, kind of?

Speaker 2:

oh yeah, um. So back then, um, it's completely different. I'll say the last five or six years it kind of changed in this area. But initially, um, our biggest thing was we had thermal cameras. Like thermal cameras was like, yeah, you don't want any inspector, don't have that. That was like 12 years ago, you know I'm saying they were saying that. So now mostly everybody has thermal cameras. But that was a huge value add and, like a lot of other inspection companies, they kind of um, add a lot of different pricing. Uh, I don't know prices for things. So, like they'll say, I'll give you an inspection for 450 and then, or I'll give you a thermal inspection or inspection with the thermal camera for 550, and I just didn't feel like that was necessary. Like if this is something that's going to be a value add and make it better, then make that part of the company, like this is part of the brand like every inspection I do is gonna have this, so it was a lot of that.

Speaker 2:

People were like, oh, this is. They normally charge extra for this, but you don't like. I was like, no, because I mean this is gonna make it better then I want to give you the best inspection I can.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, so that was one the. The second thing is just the multiple inspectors. Um, I've always had at least one. Um, well, I'll say normally it's two of us that come on every home inspection. It's three of us in the company, so typically we'll do twos if we can, and that helps with the speed of the inspection, because most people are used to inspections that take four to five hours, but I didn't think that was necessary all the time. If it's a large house, of course, but if it's below 2,500 square feet, I don't think that should take four to five hours, in my opinion and I think that's just because by experience I know what to look for. I think sometimes inspectors go in a home expecting to find issues. I just go in the house and listen to what it's telling me.

Speaker 2:

You know, what I'm saying. It may be there, it may not. You know, I just I'll look for what's there, not guessing what I'm gonna find, um. So I feel like sometimes that could be an issue. But I think also the speed. And now it's the same day reports, like even you know. I had a client or agent call me yesterday. Like you know, I need inspection to like tomorrow, but I need the report the same day.

Speaker 2:

I was like yeah because, because you know, to make it more competitive, you know, sometimes they'll say, instead of a five-day contingency, I only need to yeah and especially if they know they have somebody that's like a home inspector, they know, and they can kind of make it happen.

Speaker 2:

They, they do, but, um, yeah, so I I think that definitely helps just being able, uh, available and able to handle inspections quickly and turn it over. Um, you know, because it's the deadlines are tough, you know, you gotta make sure you have everything there. Um, on top.

Speaker 1:

So, if we're talking to a consumer right, what is happening at a home inspection? What is the purpose of a home inspection?

Speaker 2:

So, um, some of my clients may not understand this, but I'm there for them. I'm there to make sure the home is safe for the occupant. You know what I mean. Some people, when they are looking for homes, they're so in love with it that anything they hear wrong is like oh, I'm not going to be able to get the house now. Oh, so does it mean it failed?

Speaker 1:

There's no failing normally with home inspection.

Speaker 2:

There's just the real, and if you handle that real then you know it's for you. So we we look at everything. So we look at the foundation, the roof covering the hvac system, the water heater and we run all the appliances that we have access to um. So we're evaluating everything and we're going to give you, um a detailed list of everything that's that we found, and we include pictures and recommendations and, normally, pricings for that. And I always say after the home inspection no home is perfect, but if the seller's agent are willing to do a few things here and there, it's very uncommon for people to fix everything.

Speaker 2:

I would say whatever they don't fix, I will get a quote for it and if that number makes sense for you to move forward and eventually do that on your own, then that's your indication to go forward. So I never tell people well, I can't ever tell anyone to get a house or not but I always just let them know like, in reality, these few things need to be done in the first year. So if you're able to move in after paying your moving costs, buying furniture, whatever else you're trying to do, plus this, if that makes sense and won't put you in a bind, I would say go.

Speaker 1:

Oh. So you're walking through and you're like hey, these are the immediate issues right, I color code my defects. You color code, so you're like these need to happen.

Speaker 1:

This is not something we kick in the can on for a few years. That's actually really valuable so people can know. Because sometimes you get a home inspection report back and you're like, okay, here's everything that's wrong. But it's like I don't know the language, I don't know what that really is going to do, and you can get it and be like, oh, I have 11 items or 15 things that I need to take care of. So it is actually really helpful when it's like I'm just giving a number, three, four things that are important to do, like figure out the cost for that, so you can get it done.

Speaker 2:

Absolutely, and I think that's what makes inspectors valuable. It's just a knowledge base Because, like, for example, I went to a house that had the, so with the water heater and the furnace, they have the older generation, like the mid-officially style. They have metal pipes that come out the top, so as gas is burning, carbon, carbon dioxide is going out of those metal pipes and out the top and out the chimney and that's carbon dioxide going out. There I saw an area that was a gap, it was opening and I could I could pretty much pull it apart and that's gonna release carbon dioxide in the air and potentially kill everybody in the house, right?

Speaker 2:

so that's a huge thing and I let my clients know that, like this is something that needs to happen. Now they're like oh, oh, my gosh, y'all run this a deal killer. No, because it's probably $300 a fix. So you know, that's the difference. I think Some home inspectors are alarmist to a point they're like, oh, this is going to cause issues, it's going to leak everywhere, but how much does it cost to fix? If it's less than $1,000 to fix, you know that should be part of your explanation. Like this is important, very important, but it's $500 or $200. You know, like in the grand scheme of things, that's not extreme enough for you to say I don't want this $500,000 house because I got this $200 fix.

Speaker 1:

Yeah. Even though it's a day one thing, I call home inspection product knowledge day and I encourage all my clients to be there. I'm usually there. I'm usually there. I'm usually there. It's easier when it's not hours, but I'm just like yo. You need to know how your house works. Your home inspector is going to tell you that. So are clients usually kind of walking around the house with you guys, or are you just kind of doing your thing? Are you stopping and explaining what's the process like?

Speaker 2:

So I always, as soon as I get there, I let them know exactly what I'm going to do, like I tell them I start outside, go to the basement, then I'll go bottom to top and I'll say you know, if you want to walk through the house, like say, if they have their parents with them, they just want to walk through and kind of show them the room and stuff like that I was like, yeah, that's fine.

Speaker 2:

You know, do that there, I at least want to-. Hvac water heater yeah, just talk to you about it. Even if it's brand new, I still want to explain the systems to you because typically that's your most expensive unit. Your HVAC and furnace is the most expensive system outside the roof and foundation. Typically, if you have to replace a furnace and an outside condenser it's about $10,000. A water heater could be $15,000 to $3,000 or $4,000. So it's a lot cheaper, but that's your main cost and typically with your AC. I don't know if anybody else has experienced in other areas of the country, but it's been 100 here for a while. So one thing I've noticed about HVAC system is ACs fail on the hottest day of the summer and the heat fails on the coldest day of the winter, it's just one of those things that just happens.

Speaker 2:

So maintenance is very important. We always recommend servicing your systems twice a year. Typically, if you have a service, you know, twice a year have an HVAC contractor evaluate clean systems and make sure condensation lines aren't clogged and things like that. That could really extend the life of your systems. I always explain the systems of your house like the system of your body, like your foundation is, you know, your foundation of your body, your bones or whatever. Your HVAC is like your respiratory system. Your plumbing is like your circulatory system. You know you can kind of break it down in simple ways, like if your filter on your HVAC system is clogged all the time, it makes sure you're going to work too much. If your nose is stuffy, you don't breathe well, you get a headache. You know what I'm saying. If you can find a way to break things down to parts of your body, they all serve similar functions.

Speaker 1:

I just like to dumb it down as much as you can to make things make sense. It's just to give the people a real world experience. Last winter, when we had that cold stretch in December, my furnace broke down. Now I had a 24-year-old system so we knew it was coming. We had a tenant in there and it broke down. And yesterday yesterday morning I woke up. Our tenant texted us and was like yo, the? I woke up, our tenant texted us. She's like yo, the AC is not. We even turned it on, turned it off, and so we had the HVAC guy that replaced the furnace In December. He went back out this morning to look at the AC unit. Hopefully he can put a bandaid on it real quick.

Speaker 2:

I was about to say he probably told you to replace both of them at the same time. Yeah, yeah, he's like replace both. It's coming, but I was like I'm not ready right now, bro.

Speaker 1:

So hopefully he's. So I'm planning to follow up and be like can you just put a band-aid?

Speaker 2:

Give me, like a Charge it up or something.

Speaker 1:

Yeah. So yeah, that is true when you're looking at stuff. And when we moved in our house we needed our home inspector didn't do this, but we bought kind of like a fixed rubber. Our roofer came in and was like yo, this is not about to last, like you need to get this roof done right away, you know. So obviously that was a bigger expense, but some of those things it is important to frame those things for clients so they understand, like what's important, what's not.

Speaker 2:

Like you said, clients, um, so they understand, like for sure, what's important, what's not. Like you say, it's education, it's knowledge. You know, we're just explaining your home to you.

Speaker 1:

You know we're opening the book and reading it to you. So from your exact, so from your perspective, right, because I get people that are like I want a home built, I want a brand new construction home, yeah. Or I don't want a home that's built after 2000, right. I have those like, if the home needs to be built in the 2000s, and my house, my house was built in 1942, all brick, colonial, never moving, right, and and I get some home inspectors that geek out about like certain decades with materials and things like that. So this is a weird question. But from your perspective, when was America building the best homes, like the most sustainable?

Speaker 2:

Obviously you know back then, you know the brick homes. They were solid as rock.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

But so this depends on the type of house I guess that you want, because the brick was nice but it was loose.

Speaker 1:

Okay so energy efficiency.

Speaker 2:

All that out the window.

Speaker 1:

You know what I mean? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2:

So today they build them really tight for energy efficiency, but they don't use the strongest materials.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

But your heat and cool energy is gonna stay in longer, you know, a lot longer than that older house, yeah, so it's just really a give and take. Sometimes, um, I I like newer homes, um, because I like newer technology and stuff. So if I got an older home I will be renovated. You know, I'll be updating a lot of stuff because I won't like the modern exhaust fans yeah stuff like that.

Speaker 2:

You know what I mean. So, um, I like the newer homes for sure, but out as a home inspector, of course I'll be part of that process a lot. So even if I get a house built, I'm gonna be there in the pre-drywall phase, I'll be there in the final phase. So I'm a you know, I'm not just sitting back and just letting it happen. Yeah, you know, I think regardless of if you buy a new house or an older existing house, it's worth getting an inspection. Regardless, even for me as a home inspector, I will get my house inspected. You know what I'm saying.

Speaker 1:

So you just mentioned pre-drywall inspections and I think when people I mean that's not a everybody doesn't know what, that is right. And you get a pre-drywall inspection when you're buying a new house like Orion Homes or something like that. Basically, before the drywall goes up, everything is exposed still, so you can make sure it's done properly, right, and maybe I just gave an explanation of the question I was going to ask you, but I don't think people know that this is possible, right? I don't the you know new new builders are. You know they're like hey, by the way, you can do this right and so, um, you know, I guess, explain from your perspective what a pre-drywall inspection is and why it's important for someone who's building a house, yes, to do so pre-drywall is just um, the, the phase before the drywall.

Speaker 2:

So typically we'll do the pre-drywall inspection maybe a week or so before drywall or like the Friday and they're starting Monday, you know, right before.

Speaker 2:

And basically it's like you said, it's no drywall, it's no major systems, but typically in the phase of construction the first system to go in are like the duct work for the HVAC, and then it's the plumbing and then it's the, you know, the electrical and everything else.

Speaker 2:

So we're looking for, like the plumbing, the HVAC to be set, all the studs to be flushed, none of the plumbing or plumb. Make sure they're plumbed and they're not bowing or anything like that. Make sure it's supported well, make sure the engineered truss are connected, make sure the nails and screws and they're not any missing. There are not any slopes on the concrete slab. It's pretty much everything, everything that once they put finished materials on that we won't be able to see anymore. We want to make sure that we have, you know, we can see what, how it looks behind the wall. Yeah, um, nail place and things like that, because a lot of times when you have plumbing, like in your bathrooms, they'll put nail guards to stop you from nailing through a drain line okay so, um, those are things that are required.

Speaker 2:

So that's what you want to see behind the drywall, um, before you continue construction, that everything is secured, because people move in the house later and, like you know, it's a leak in the house, but it probably didn't happen during the pre-drywall phase, it happened during the finishing phase. You know what I mean, and if you have the proper nail guards and things, you'll be fine. So I think it's extremely important. But it's also important to have a good agent. Sometimes a real estate agent, you know, is the one that recommends the pre-draw wall inspection, and you know the builder may not even want them to do it. But you know, having somebody that knows a little bit about the process is helpful too.

Speaker 1:

And so the pre-draw wall inspection is totally logical to me, right, right. But if I'm building a house, I'm just like why am I doing another home inspection? Shouldn't everything be brand new, right? So what's the purpose of that and like, and what do you usually find um at those that, at those, uh home inspections, um, that people should be aware of man, uh, we find a lot.

Speaker 2:

Oh yeah, I'll be honest with you. We find maybe 30 to 50 defects with every new construction home. And that's not even like little petty stuff like we'll find. Like you know, if we we look, we stand to the side of the wall and look straight down, we use lasers and you'll notice that it's not completely straight or you'll notice, um, there's missing nails, missing screws or flooring, unlevel cabinets, unlevel um, you know, the handles for the dress. So it's like it's a little different than pre-existing because, like pre-existing, you just you know you're either going to take it or you're not.

Speaker 1:

You know it's been there If the wall is curved, it's not going to make a break. Yeah, Because they're not.

Speaker 2:

I mean the seller's more than likely to fix that.

Speaker 2:

But with a builder it has to be perfect. So if I say the walls are wavy, with the builder, normally they'll do it, unless it's out of their standards. And they'll say you know, if this isn't like required by code, then we're not doing it, but some cases they they're they. You know, if it's egregious they'll do it, okay, um. So, like I said, the unleveled cabinets and drawers and light fixtures leaning to the side and exhaust covered ground drains obstructed, I see a lot of, I've been seeing a lot of um ground drains in, like the utility room with drywall, caulk, dirt stuff inside because like it's concrete around it so it seemed like they just sweep it in the sweep it in there, yeah and once it's in there, what do you do about it?

Speaker 2:

you know, you can get it scoped and cleaned, but you know that's going, that's like your main drain yeah so um and in the duct, like, um, in the like the furnace area, I take the filter out and I look inside the duct work for the return, and I'll find a piece of drywall inside the duct work so sometimes it's like tell your builder to clean this up. Yeah, man, it's like ridiculous stuff and pee bottles everywhere.

Speaker 2:

Like you, know stuff like that, you know like the strife and they just put it in your wall, like they'll just close the wall. You just put it in the wall yeah, oh, that's, that's crazy, bro, from pre-drywall they just leave it there, then they drywall over it. So I mean it's like, damn, let's just leave it there.

Speaker 1:

We did a kitchen renovation and they didn't put the drywall back up before they put the cabinets back up and like it was a problem.

Speaker 2:

It was definitely a problem for us. So you said, you do 900 home inspections about that year. Yeah, that's a lot. So last year we're at nine. Something like a few years before that we were above a thousand, but these last few years have been around that yeah, so how does that average?

Speaker 1:

I don't know if you look at the competition at all, but how does that average out with, like a regular home inspector?

Speaker 2:

so right now. So we use a spectra um software software for our reporting and right now in the Prince George area we're the number one home inspection company for the area. So I think that's mainly based off reviews, because we got like 7, 800 reviews or something on the Spector so it ranked us like number one. But honestly, other than that, I don't know how many other I know I have a one of my friend companies is in Minnesota.

Speaker 2:

Uh, marigold inspections. They're doing an awesome job. They're doing more than 3000 inspections a year. So, um, I definitely. I said we're we're doing the most, but we're we're definitely um ahead of most. I guess you could say you know we're we're doing okay, and there's three of y'all, there's three of us, so you're doing about, you know, three a day.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, about that. Two and a half. Three a day, yeah, we try not to do more than three a day, but sometimes it's five.

Speaker 2:

You know, yeah, like again with timelines and deadlines. I have agents that have been knowing me for 10, 15 years, 10, 12 years and they say Jam already full. You know, like, sometimes I'll make that sacrifice. So, yeah, man, I love what I'm doing too.

Speaker 1:

So it's not like a like I'm dreading this every day, you know, but it's kind of cool yeah you nerding out big time over here, you know. So what is, what's the craziest thing you've seen in a home inspection like? What are some of the horror stories?

Speaker 2:

man. To be honest, it's like when I heard an elderly person like passed away in the home and I'll do a home inspection and I'll go in, like the utility room area and the vent like we talked about, that vent for the water unit furnace is completely detached, okay, and I was like dang, how long this is like this. I was like probably for a while because they live there by themselves yeah potential culprit you know Potential culprit for them passing. Or I'll find a home completely hoarded. It's a lot of stuff, a hoarder house.

Speaker 1:

It's like a hoarder house.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and it's just behind all that stuff. It's like mold growth, it's feces, mice and people live there. You know what I mean. So I'm always cautious and very respectful when I'm, when I'm in my house. But it's like a lot of times, you know, we're in a home for so long we we turn a blind eye to things. I guess we don't even see it.

Speaker 1:

I don't, I don't know, but it's like a lot of times your home is killing you so it's like it's literally life or death, sometimes man I was, uh, I sold this house in DC one time. It was a row house. It was like the grandma owned the house, passed it to the daughter and now they're selling it. The granddaughter was also living in the house. And you know, I'm in the house there's like front of the house window there's mold. You could just see it. But then there was like some black mold also and I had a contractor come through right also and I had a contractor come through right, yeah, and the contractor was like yo, that's black mold, you know like that's dangerous. She like put the mask on and so she left, whatever came, she left or whatever.

Speaker 1:

And then I came back in the house and uh, my client was, was was upset, bro, yeah, upset the granddaughter. And she was like I don't, I don't like that contractor, she's disrespectful. I'm like what do you mean? We're just trying to get a bid because this might be a flip for somebody. We're just trying to figure out the numbers. And she said she said that there's mold in the house and it can kill us. And I've been living here and my grandma's been living here, and why would we live in a house that has something that could be killing us Like why would she think that we would do that? And I'm like looking, I'm like I'm dying, right now too, I'm dying right now too.

Speaker 1:

I'm trying to get out of here also, and I remember I had to tell her I was like no, black mold is very dangerous. Mold is very dangerous.

Speaker 2:

Black mold is extremely dangerous, so you it's definitely a lot of different molds out here. The black mold you're talking about is called stachybotrys and it releases mycotoxins. That's what kind of makes you sick. But if you ever heard of penicillium, no, like you know the medicine oh penicillin yeah, yeah, yeah. So it's derived from a mold.

Speaker 1:

Okay, so that's what I thought you were saying, but I was like, all right, there's no way.

Speaker 2:

But yeah so it's a medicine that's derived from a mold. So mold serves a lot of different you know, I guess roles, but you definitely don't want any mold that's not present outside growing in your house. There's certain molds that only grow inside our own drywall and things like that. Stacky botches is one of those that really thrives in wet environments, so if you see that, that means whatever is on the drywall has been saturated.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

You cut the drywall out more than likely behind the wall is saturated.

Speaker 1:

You know what I'm saying Exactly.

Speaker 2:

So it's certain telltale signs.

Speaker 1:

So do you suggest that people kind of get their home inspected on a regular basis?

Speaker 2:

Absolutely, what's that?

Speaker 1:

timeline that you would suggest Annually, annually.

Speaker 2:

Annual maintenance inspection.

Speaker 1:

Okay.

Speaker 2:

If not by every two years or something. But that's not even you know. I would at least try to do it once a year.

Speaker 1:

Okay.

Speaker 2:

Because it's a lot of things that happen over the course of a year that people say, oh well, it stopped. Now it's cool. Yeah, the course of a year that you know people say, oh well, you know it stopped now it's cool. Yeah, but it's been leaking behind the wall.

Speaker 1:

You know what I?

Speaker 2:

mean, or you just it's good to have someone to kind of give you fresh eyes on your property and say, you know, I noticed that this was going on, Like oh yeah, I saw that too, but it's not a big deal, but no, it's actually causing something else.

Speaker 1:

So you know, that's interesting because I would do something like that, like in my mind that like makes sense, like, yeah, let me get somebody coming here every year, make sure everything's still tight. You know, we live in here, right. Kind of like you would do with your car, right. Like let's make sure. It's kind of like you go get a physical and re-enter your doctor, right. It's funny, the things that we assign to be important and things that we let slide right. But I think that, but I say that and people are like that's OD, that's too much right, but I think it's a positive expense.

Speaker 2:

But in reality, to be honest with you, the most annual inspections that I do is for new construction, because you know they have the one-year warranty.

Speaker 1:

Oh yeah, the one-year warranty.

Speaker 2:

So that's you know, we people with older homes too.

Speaker 1:

My 1942 house probably needs an annual inspection.

Speaker 2:

I would recommend it because even with these brand new houses that we're doing, we find things. So you know, I would always recommend it for sure.

Speaker 1:

I was going to ask you. I'm like losing questions. I had like two cups of coffee. It was about the annual inspection, though. Oh, what season of the year is it best to do that inspection?

Speaker 2:

You know, honestly, that doesn doesn't, I'll say, in the summer I don't know. Um, I think, regardless, the you know the environment is it's worth checking out. Okay, if you want to see, like, how snow affects the house and make sure the roof is, you know, draining properly or it's not any damming or anything like that. Um, but definitely in the summertime will probably be good summer, or when it's raining, um, really rain is the best time for inspection?

Speaker 1:

I guess the fall will probably be good. Summer is the best time, or the fall or when it's raining.

Speaker 2:

Really, rain is the best time for inspection. I guess the fall will probably be around the best time.

Speaker 1:

You know, it's funny, like when I have a client and after we had like a big rainstorm, like say, like rain big, and then we do, you know, home inspections the next day and my clients pull up and I'm like this is the best day to do a home inspection, like we really about to find out if everything is good. Yeah, it's no guessing.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, Like I don't have to guess. If the roof's done leaked, I'm like the rain did. If something happened, the rain did it. You know, we know.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I don't know if you guys have like a lot of Mythbusters stuff in your industry but is there kind? Of get debunked. One of the biggest myths is bleach kills mold. Oh, that is a big myth. It does not.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, it does not, it does not okay, but the mold is actually still there. So if you ever have a mold remediator, say like you know, I'm just gonna put some bleach on it. You shouldn't hire them? Yeah, you shouldn't hire them. Oh, that's a gem?

Speaker 2:

not at all so that's probably the biggest myth out here. People still talk about just put some bleach on it. No, no, not for the mold inside the house, drywall and stuff like that. You have to use industrial shrimp stuff. Okay, so it's a lot of different type you can use high, you know um hydrogen peroxide style stuff.

Speaker 2:

It's a lot of different, different types but um, yeah, no, you have to use industrial stuff when you deal with mold, okay, and you and you have to like, contain it normally, like if someone's just going in and painting stuff with mold, that's not necessarily it. You got to seal it off from the rest of the house, use necromancer machines to contain it. You know, you can't just allow all that stuff to because, like I said, it's like a dating line, so it's just spreading in the air.

Speaker 2:

You can't really treat it, you can't fake treat it, you know what I mean, like not talking about the mold in the shower, not with the grout and stuff like that. You could clean that, that's whatever. But I'm talking about the drywall. If you see a big section of your drywall molded and we can't say anything's mold without testing it, without testing it, but if it looks like it could be mold, you know, on the wall, then you want to test it and then you want to treat it properly.

Speaker 1:

I always thought you could just cut it out. I thought that was like the.

Speaker 2:

Sometimes that spreads it. Sometimes cutting it out will spread it. Yeah, that's why you got to contain it. So, there's, like I said, negative air machine. As you're removing it, it could begin to pull through that filter and clean yeah. So if you just remove all the contaminated drywall in the house and never do anything about the air, what you know? It's still everything's still there, you know the mold spores still hanging around.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I think that air quality I mean you guys do everything, but like that air quality is really important. I don't think people realize, like you know, the air you're breathing inside your house.

Speaker 2:

Oh, my God, and sleeping in.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, and all of that is important.

Speaker 2:

So it's mainly we do a lot for immunocompromised. So it's like if we have elderly or somebody that has immune problems, then off the rip they're doing an air quality test, or if I find signs of water, we'll do an air quality test. But I think it'll be worth it being a standard thing. Regardless if you're sick or not, you know, you want to know what you're breathing, especially when you go into a newer environment or older house, newer homes. Okay, you know there's very low chance that it's going to be elevated mold spores in a brand new house. But if you have an older home that may have went through a lot of renovations, changes, sump pumps, stuff more than likely got wet before. So we don't know if when they put these sump pumps in and when they had a water intrusion before, we don't know if they ever did a motor remediation. Yeah, so it may be worth it for you to come in and do a test to make sure.

Speaker 2:

And if it's good it's good, but if not, then that's something you just want to consider prior to you moving into the property.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, it's, you know. It's funny because I said this on the phone yesterday when you called. We were talking and I was like I can get up at 3am out of my sleep and talk real estate and I was like I'm sure you can do the same thing about home inspections. But you've been on here for 40 minutes, 45 minutes, just dropping like cold gems quickly, like just boom, boom, boom. You're just bouncing, you know so you're crushing. Alright, we'll get you out of here.

Speaker 2:

About home inspections, I'll just say we're always open for calls, texts, instagram, you know messages, whatever you need. But I would say, don't be scared of homes. A lot of people say I don't want a house because I don't know how to maintenance. I don't know how to do all this stuff. Most people don't. Most people live in houses for 20 years and still don't know how to do maintenance.

Speaker 2:

So it's like, don't let that be scare you out of um, you know, making a move, uh, for your future.

Speaker 2:

I would just um make sure you surround yourself with the right people. Number one is a great agent, because normally a great agent will be able to connect you with other great professionals, um, and you always want to make sure that you have someone around you that fits your personality type. If you're someone that likes to be more hands-on and want to be part of the process, then you want to make sure you get an agent or somebody that allows you to do that. If you don't, if you want people to just kind of handle it and do the job, you want to hire people for that. So you just want to make sure that, when you start this process, don't get discouraged and surround yourself with, um, good people that know what they're doing and experience matters. You know, if you just you know, I'll say a inspector or a real estate agent that's been the the the market you know been in the industry for 10-15 years is more than likely more skilled than someone that just started. Okay, cool.

Speaker 1:

And then how can people find you, hire you for home inspections? You know everything and you do the air quality test. We do. I keep stressing that. That's important, that's important. So how can people find you, connect with you and get you out there for home inspections?

Speaker 2:

So my personal Instagram is TheHomeInspector, with underscores in between it, and the business page is SentinelHI S-E-N-T-I-N-E-L-H-Icom. Well, that's on the website as well, and pretty much there, and my phone number is 301-832-2682. Feel free to text me, call me, whatever you need. My man got on Instagram and said I'm going to be the home inspector.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, that was intentional. Yeah, he's like, I'm the guy you know if you need anybody 11, 12 years ago, man, before it got too hot. That's great bro. Thanks for joining me. I appreciate you. Happy to be here.

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Nick Bush

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