For many years I have been a strong proponent of legislation in Washington State that would help regulate the industry and protect consumers. Very (very!) few consumers who call me realize that at the present time anyone could be a home inspector in Washington State in less than a month without ever stepping into a house, and without ever taking any course work. When consumers call me, the only thing that they ask for is the price.
So, after a lot of struggle, they finally got legislation passed in Washington State, which goes into affect this year. But it has at least one major "defect": the law does not require that home inspectors carry Errors and Omissions Insurance, a standard insurance for home inspectors, which protects consumers. Failing to include this requirement in the law has subsequently left consumers in pretty much the same position that they were in before. Why? If the home inspector blinks and misses something that he/she was required to include in the inspection, and it costs the consumer $30,000 to fix, what is the consumer going to do if the inspector has no insurance? Well, they could sue them... sure. But what if the home inspector files for Bankruptsy? As you can see, the consumer will get nowhere, and they are STILL not protected.
It is a MAJOR (!) "defect" and glaring oversight that the Washington State government who helped press for this legistlation for the purpose of protecting consumers has missed, perhaps, the single most important thing needed for such a protection: an insurance requirement.
Please find more information about this subject at the blog of Steven Smith (King of the House, Inc).
If this is a concerning issue to you as a consumer, or as real estate professionals, I encourage you to take your concern and turn it into a bit of action: spend 10 minutes writing a brief letter to those who are in charge of this inspection legislation and tell them that their SHOULD be an insurance requirement for home inspectors!
Justin Nickelsen, Nickelsen Home Inspections, LLC
Vancouver, WA - 360.907.9648
J and A Poe, Inspection Performed in Vancouver WA in February of 2009
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Justin Nickelsen
Nickelsen Home Inspections, LLc
Vancouver, WA
360.907.9648
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NICKELSEN HOME INSPECTIONS, locally owned and operated firm of Vancouver WA Home Inspectors. Serving all of Clark County, Cowlitz County and the entire Portland Metro Area. CALL: 1.866.284.3151
YOUR VANCOUVER WA HOME INSPECTOR
CALL TO SCHEDULE: 360.907.9648
MARCH DISCOUNT: MENTION YOU FOUND ME ON ACTIVE RAIN AND RECIEVE $75 OFF YOUR HOME INSPECTION!!!
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Nickelsen Home Inspections, LLC
A Conduit for Educated Real Estate Transactions
Nickelsen Home Inspections is proud to be serving the Western Washington and Northwestern Oregon consumers as a "conduit for educated real estate transactions".
Performing residential home inspections in Western Washington from Vancouver to Olympia, the Coast to Hood River and The Dalles, and Long Beach to Clark County and Skamania Counties, Nickelsen Home Inspections brings over two decades of combined home inspection and construction experience into each and every home that we inspect.
Performing residential inspections in Northwestern Oregon, from Salem to Portland, and Astoria to Hood River, Nickelsen Home Inspections knows first hand what it is like to purchase a home and we will be there even afterwards to answer any questions that you may have.
My Services in Brief
About Justin Nickelsen - Home Inspector
Justin Nickelsen is a member of ASHI (The American Society of Home Inspectors), NACHI (The National Association of Certified Home Inspectors), OAHI (The Oregon Association of Home Inspectors), WSPMA (The Washington State Pest Management Association), and is licensed as a Structural Pest Inspector through the Washington State Department of Agriculture. Performing hundreds of home inspections, pre-listing inspections, pest and dryrot inspections and other inspections a year, Justin has found success in Clark County and the entire Pacific Northwest on the basis of referrals from happy clients and real estate professionals who continue to recommend the best--Nickelsen Home Inspections, LLC.
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Home Buyers - Prepurchase Home Inspection
One of the most important moments in your life is the purchase of a home. It is a decision that demands your emotions, demands your time and demands your financial involvement.
Nickelsen Home Inspections, LLC would like the opportunity to ease your concerns and make sure that your time is for leisure and your finances are secure.
How?
What you can't see, or don't understand... can hurt you...
Buyers that forego the services of a professionally trained, certified and insured home inspector can be asking for problems down the road... even tomorrow.
Instead of solving serious problems, like a possible termite infestation in the crawl space, prior to the purchase of a home, there are still some buyers that that forego the home inspection process only to be left with the possibility of hundreds, if not thousands of dollars worth of repairs and wasted time that could be solved at the time of the transaction.
"But, my house was built just last year," someone says. "Why a home inspection?"
It may surprise you, but homes that were built "just last year" can have as many problems-sometimes more-than houses built two or three decades ago.
Whether it be pools of water flowing into the crawl space from plumbing that was accidentally not hooked up, electrical panels that pose a fire hazard, or conditions that are conducive to wood destroying organisms (like carpenter ants, or mold), we have seen it all.
The professionals at Nickelsen Home Inspections, LLC are here to serve as a "conduit for educated real estate purchases". Whether your house a year old, or a hundred years old, call us and we will offer you buying power, save you time and money, and offer you the peace of mind that only a Nickelsen Home Inspection can offer.
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Home Sellers - Prelisting and Seller's Inspections
With over 80% of homes being sold with contractual contingencies requiring a home inspection, it is incumbent upon the seller to involve the professional help of a Nickelsen Home Inspections professional.
The popularity of pre-listing inspections has grown in the last many years, and for good reason.
Consider the article that appeared on January 13, 2006 in the USA Today, titled "Seller Paying for Home Inspection".
"Now that the lift is starting to dissipate from the real estate bubble, home sellers are turning to new strategies to sell quickly and at the right price. Thus the boomlet in homeowners hiring inspectors before they put their homes on the market," the article said.
Why the sudden surge?
"The major motivation is to head off demands for costly price reductions from buyers. It's cheaper to fix it than to negotiate the price down..."
Does it help the homes sell?
Liz Moore, a broker in Newport News, Virginia says that "It's fair to say that [pre-listing home inspections are] the reason our listings sell 30% faster than the market average," and that inspected houses "consistently sell for a few thousand dollars more" {1}.
What you can't see, or don't understand... can hurt you...
When you decide to sell your home you need to know what things may be brought to the table when a home inspection is inevitably done for the buyer.
Besides the obvious fact that most home owners don't venture into crawl spaces or attics, and probably wouldn't know what to look for if they did, serious problems may be present in your home that you are unaware of... Problems that may take your time and your money when a potential buyer comes along and their home inspector finds them.
Find and solve the problems before hand!
Save your time, save your money and do what you can to make sure that the sale of your home goes through smoothly!
Have a Nickelsen Home Inspection done before you list your house!
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Real Estate Professionals - Why Refer Nickelsen?
The Trust of Your Client, A Professional Referral
Real estate professionals, from lenders to realtors and appraisers to brokers, your clients rely on your expert help in making real estate decisions. Often you are asked to recommend an inspection firm for the purchase of a home. When the question inevitably comes, make that referral local, make it personal and make it a company that you can trust to offer your client peace of mind-refer them to one of the professionals at Nickelsen Home Inspections, LLC. When referred by you, we know that we serve as a reflection of your expertise-a fact that we take very seriously. Be confident that we will work to make sure that "reflection" is a good one!
A Conduit for Educated Real Estate Transactions
Based out of the Vancouver/Camas area in Clark County, Washington, and serving SW Washington "from the mountains to the coast", Nickelsen Home Inspections, LLC is there to serve as a conduit for educated real estate purchases. With computer generated reports, featuring Palm Tech technology and digital pictures upon request, your clients will be left with tools to make informed decisions and they will thank you for recommending them to the best: a Nickelsen Home Inspections professional.
We don't speak Greek, and neither do most clients. While professional, our reports are presented in an easy to read and understandable format-reports that we will personally go over with the client on site.
And with all of that, we are still able to finish our inspections in a timely fashion, typically taking two hours to complete the entire process.
Flexible, Available
Though we perform hundreds of inspections a year, our schedule is always flexible and we are available, more often than not, for those last minute requests and re-inspections in time for closing. We will answer our phone and we will call back!We have personally witnessed inspections performed that could be aptly described as "alarmist" and "exaggerated". As home inspectors, our duty is to educate the client, not frighten them.When your client needs a professional home inspection executed the right way, give us a call...
We will earn your trust the first time!
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{1} "Sellers Paying for Home Inspection", USA Today (January 13, 2006). Available on the internet, please click here (Feb. 1, 2006). Also, while we tend to emphasize the benefits of including a real estate agent in the purchase and sale of a home, www.soldbyowner.com recommends a pre-listing inspection as the #1 tip to save the seller money!
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Justin's Message
A Great Place to Live, Rewarding Work
Southwest Washington State was a great place to grow up, and I am proud to be serving this community with my parents, Kurt and Tracy Nickelsen, and the other home inspectors that make up our locally owned and operated company: Nickelsen Home Inspections, LLC. In cooperation with the other real estate professionals that compliment our work in so many ways, serving you-home buyers and sellers-is a stimulating and rewarding profession.
SW Washington/NW Oregon-The Right Choice
Whether you are looking to invest in real estate, or if you are in the market for that perfect home to settle down in for many years to come, SW Washington and the Greater Portland, OR Metro Area is the right choice.
To the Investor
The economy may be down, but the number of foreclosed homes is up. If you are an investor, this can be a great time to buy! Interest rates are low, and the prices are set to sell. The Greater Portland Oregon Metro area and SW Washington can be a solid move for you!
To the Family
And with excellent public school systems and employment opportunities, combined with the visual delight of mountains, waterfalls and rivers that make the Northwest so beautiful, this is an exceptional place to raise a family.
Helping You in Your Next Move
If you are in the market for a new home, or if you are looking to sell, I would love the opportunity to help in making your next real estate move a smooth and memorable experience.
You will be pleased with my exceptional service!
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More About Nickelsen Home Inspections
Serving over seventeen counties, and able to satisfy your inspection needs seven days a week, our home inspection professionals bring almost two decades of home inspection, fire safety and playground inspection experience, over two decades of contracting and construction expertise and the constant education it takes to stay on top of this field into each and every home we examine.
Licensed, insured and bonded, Nickelsen Home Inspections, LLC understands the decisions which go into purchasing or selling real estate first hand and offers to join in helping make your experience a positive one.
We believe that our client's real estate decisions are very personal and we wish to accent that sentiment with the personal touch of our locally owned and operated business.
As long established residents of SW Washington, and proud home owners ourselves, we offer the personal touch of understanding the emotional and financial decisions that go into purchasing a home. We, along with the real estate professionals you are working with, will be there even after our initial service is over to answer any questions or concerns you may have.
The personal touch of computer generated reports delivered on site in an understandable format, which we will go over with you, face to face, will better acquaint you with your home-we will inspect your house as if we were purchasing the home ourselves!
Nickelsen Home Inspections, LLC has found success in SW Washington on the firm ground of our personal touch and a history of trust-trust which we want to earn from you! We would like to thank you for choosing Nickelsen Home Inspections, LLC when you make that next real estate move. And to the thousands of people we have worked with in the last many years: thank you for the greatest compliment that we have received-a referral of our services to your family, friends and clients.
We are grateful for your trust!
- From all of us at Nickelsen Home Inspections, LLC
www.nickelsenhomeinspections.com
www.nickelsenhomeinspections.com/justin.htm
www.inspectorpages.com/jnickelsen
http://www.homeinspections-usa.com/inspector/2187
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Areas Served
We Literally Go the EXTRA MILE!
We get a lot of requests to travel far and wide for our inspection services. New clients, past clients, and the family and friends of our past clients have asked us to travel over 300 miles for an inspection-and we are happy to do it. If you want our exceptional services, we will work with you on the price and we will make sure that you get the inspection done in a timely manner!
Nickelsen Home Inspections is proud to be serving all of western Washington and northwestern Oregon as "conduits for educated real estate transactions". We perform residential home inspections in more areas than any other home inspection firm in the Northwest, including all of the following counties and cities: Clark County, Cowlitz County, Pacific County, Skamania County, Klickitat County, Yakima County, Thurston County, Pierce County, Lewis County, Kittitas County, Chelan County, Multnomah County, and more! Our Home Inspectors also perform home inspection services in Vancouver, WA; Kelso, WA; Longview, WA; Camas, WA; Battle Ground, WA; Washougal, WA; Carson, WA; Kalama, WA; LaCenter, WA; Ridgefield, WA; Long Beach, WA; Portland, OR; Hood River, OR; The Dalles, OR; Gresham, OR; Woodland, WA; Ridgefield, WA and more!
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Give Justin Nickelsen a Call!
Schedule a Home Inspection
WA: 360.907.9648
OR: 503.502.1495
Toll Free: 1.866.284.3151
Professional Information
Associations
Justin Nickelsen is a member of many nationally and locally recognized home inspection associations, including ASHI - The American Society of Home Inspectors, NACHI - T
he National Association of Certified Home Inspectors, WSPMA - The Washington State Pest Management Association, and is licensed with the WSDA (Washington State Department of Agriculture) as a Structural Pest Inspector.
Areas of Expertise
Areas of expertise include the identification of structural wood destorying organisms and insects based on damage and/or visual observation of pest, including, but not limited to all different types of termites, carpenter ants, moisture ants and other wood destorying insects. Justin also specializes in prelisting home inspections or seller's inspections (inspections that are done for the seller before they put their house up on the market). With a long background in construction, Justin also specializes in Construction Draw inspections and rehabilitation bids (inspections for people who are getting a loan to do work on their home and need an accurate estimate of the costs involved). Justin also does many of the standard home inspections for the buyer as a contingency for the transaction. To read more about Justin, visit his personal page: www.nickelsenhomeinspections.com/justin.htm
Proudly Serving All of SW Washington State and Northwestern Oregon
Nickelsen Home Inspections,
Vancouver, WA / Portland, OR
Nickelsen Home Inspections is proud to be serving all of western Washington and northwestern Oregon as conduits for educated real estate transactions. We perform residential home inspections in more areas than any other home inspection firm in the Northwest, including all of the following counties and cities: Clark County, Cowlitz County, Pacific County, Skamania County, Klickitat County, Yakima County, Thurston County, Pierce County, Lewis County, Kittitas County, Chelan County, Multnomah County, and more! Our Home Inspectors also perform home inspection services in Vancouver, Washington, Kelso, Longview, Camas, Battle Ground, Washougal, Carson, Kalama, LaCenter, Ridgefield, Long Beach, Portland Oregon, Hood River, The Dalles. Gresham, Wenatchee, Brush Prairie, Centrailia, Olympia, Seattle, Woodland, Stevenson, and more! We also provide pest and dryrot or “termite” inspections, prelisting or seller’s inspections, radon inspections, construction draw inspections, lender required inspections, siding or roof inspections, commercial building inspections, and other inspection services. All our inspectors are licensed by the Washington State Department of Agriculture, and all are candidates or members of ASHI - American Society of Home Inspectors and some are also certified by NACHI - National Association of Certified Home Inspectors.
Testimonials
Justin worked with me for a couple of years, and I greatly appreciated his attention to detail, promptness, and understanding of residential construction. With a background in home inspections—the family business—he increased his knowledge of homes during his time with Nelligan Carpentry—knowledge that he will bring into your home at the time of inspection. He is a fun, kind, and honest man and I warmly recommend him for your home inspection needs.
—Brian Nelligan, Nelligan Carpentry, Keene, New Hampshire
The best decision I ever made!
Prompt, personal, reliable, professional, helpful. These are the words that come to mind when I finished my inspection today. The inspectors at Nickelsen Home Inspections, based out of Vancouver Washington and serving all of Western Washington and Northwestern Oregon, were wonderful! Even the realtor, who had never referred them before, said that she was going to continue to use them and that she had never seen one of her clients treated so well before. Kurt Nickelsen and his son (Justin Nickelsen) were the ones that did the inspection. I highly recommend them when you need a home inspection done!
- Teresa Vallarez, Vancouver Washington.
Down to Earth
AllAboutVirtualTours.com is associated with Kurt and Justin Nickelsen, of Nickelsen Home Inspections, through a referral group we belong to in Battle Ground (Clark County, Washington). If you need an inspector in Clark County, or anywhere in Western Washington and Northwestern Oregon, you can trust Nickelsen Home Inspections to make the process informative and reassuring. They are down-to-earth and explain things using words the rest of us can understand. I highly recommend them when you need a home inspection or any other inspection service!
- Dawn, All About Virtual Tours - www.allaboutvirtualtours.com
All the Way to Wenatchee for Me!
I needed a "real" home inspector when buying my house earlier this spring and after calling all of the home inspectors in Wenatchee, I felt that I needed somebody with more experience. I came upon Justin Nickelsen of Nickelsen Home Inspections when doing a search for home inspectors and learned that he does inspections in Wenatchee on a weekly basis.
I can not say how grateful I was with his service. I was floored that he would come all the way to Wenatchee to do the inspection. He was very thourough during the inspection, printed the entire report on site and went over it with me. All that, and it still only took a little over two hours. My Realtor said she would continue to use him. When you need a home inspector in Wenatchee or any other area that Nickelsen Home Inspections covers, don't hesitate to give Justin Nickelsen a call: 360.907.9648. He will take care of you!
- Rod B. Andersen, Wenatchee Washington
Nickelsen Home Inspections is proud to be serving all of western Washington and northwestern Oregon as conduits for educated real estate transactions. We perform residential home inspections in more areas than any other home inspection firm in the Northwest, including all of the following counties and cities: Clark County, Cowlitz County, Pacific County, Skamania County, Klickitat County, Yakima County, Thurston County, Pierce County, Lewis County, Kittitas County, Chelan County, Multnomah County, and more! Our Home Inspectors also perform home inspection services in Vancouver, Washington, Kelso, Longview, Camas, Battle Ground, Washougal, Carson, Kalama, LaCenter, Ridgefield, Long Beach, Portland Oregon, Hood River, The Dalles. Gresham, Wenatchee, Brush Prairie, Centrailia, Olympia, Seattle, Woodland, Stevenson, and more! We also provide pest and dryrot or “termite” inspections, prelisting or seller’s inspections, radon inspections, construction draw inspections, lender required inspections, siding or roof inspections, commercial building inspections, and other inspection services. All our inspectors are licensed by the Washington State Department of Agriculture, and all are candidates or members of ASHI - American Society of Home Inspectors and some are also certified by NACHI - National Association of Certified Home Inspectors. CHECK OUT OUR MAIN WEBSITE: www.NickelsenHomeInspections.com www.nickelsenhomeinspections.com/justin.htm www.inspectorpages.com/jnickelsen Nickelsen Home Inspections - Vancouver, Washington / Portland, Oregon / Clark County
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