Category: Uncategorized
5 Benefits of buying a home when interest rates are high
Sure, purchasing a home when interest rates are high might seem counterintuitive, but there are still several potential benefits: Negotiation Power: In a high-interest-rate environment, there might be fewer buyers, which could give you more negotiating power. Sellers may be more inclined to entertain lower offers or offer other concessions to close the deal. Fixed-Rate […]
5 Mistakes To Avoid During a Home Inspection
When it comes to buying a new home, a thorough home inspection is an essential step in the process. A home inspection can uncover potential issues with the property that may not be immediately apparent to the buyer. However, there are some common mistakes that buyers make during a home inspection that can lead to […]
A-Pro Winter Newsletter 2023
A-Pro at Your Service Welcome to our winter edition of From the Rafters. Today’s newsletter is all about looking forward…moving ahead…keeping our eyes on the prize rather than looking over our shoulders. It can be too easy for any of us to dwell on the past, thinking about what could have been. Obviously, the pandemic […]
From the Home Inspector’s Perspective: Some Common Issues with Flashing Part 3
In the third part of our series on the importance of flashing in a home, we move from the roof to other parts of the structure, where this critical tool for preventing water damage is often neglected. Certified inspectors, like those at A-Pro Home Inspection, will report on lack of flashing in key spots, as […]
From the Home Inspector’s Perspective: Some Common Issues with Flashing Part 2
In Part 1 of our series on the importance of roof flashing, we looked at some general defects (corrosion; and loose, missing, damaged, and misaligned pieces); poor installation practices; and issues with step, headwall, sidewall, and valley flashing. Today, we turn our attention to flashing for a masonry-constructed chimney, one of the most common areas […]
From the Home Inspector’s Perspective: Some Common Issues with Flashing Part 1
Flashing is one of the elements of a well-built house that doesn’t draw much attention until it goes bad, as it’s often known to do (there are a number of reasons for this that we’ll discuss below). If you think you’ve found the right property in your search for a new home, you should be […]
Nine Questions to Ask When Finding a Home Inspector
Hiring a home inspector shouldn’t be a simple matter of doing a Google search and picking the top name that pops up on the screen. You wouldn’t choose a doctor or dentist in this manner—and the same applies to finding the right home inspector, whether you’re a seller in need of a pre-listing inspection or […]
Home Inspection 101: Some Common Areas for Air Leaks
When searching for the perfect home, it is highly unlikely that eager shoppers—especially in this seller’s market—will be asking many questions about air leaks. To a homebuyer more interested in the building’s finished basement, new deck, and proximity to a preferred school district, air leaks may seem like a minor issue. However, home inspectors understand […]
What to Expect from Your Home Inspection Part 1
One of the most common misconceptions about having a traditional home inspection is that the inspector will tell you absolutely everything about the interior and exterior of the property in question, from the new sprinkler system to the roof sheathing hiding under a layer of shingles, from the tool shed in the backyard to the […]
Composite Wood Decking and Siding: Observations from Your Home Inspector
In our previous blog post, we took a hard look at wood rot—one of the more common and costly problems that can affect wood structures in a home, from siding to door trim, window framing to cabinetry and decking. Today we turn our focus to composite wood, another popular choice in home construction that has […]