Nashville, TN

Recently HABITEC Home and Building Inspections, LLC, inspected an apartment building to determine the need for periodic maintenance. During the Inspection several discrepancies were identified and brought to the attention of the landlord. In the photo below was an area of mold-like growth in one of the unit attics.

In the next photo the electrical panel was manufactured by FPE, a known source of fires.

Both of these issues are significant threats to safety and should be dealt with by professionals. Unfortunately the apartment owner and management company chose not to make repairs.

Thank you,

Richard Acree

Comments in this blog posting are the copyrighted intellectual property of Richard Acree, President, HABITEC Home and Building Inspections, LLC, and contributing members of the Active Rain Real Estate network, and are intended to educate and otherwise assist home owners, sellers and buyers, building owners, sellers and buyers, realtors, real estate investors, property managers, and lenders in the process of owning, buying or selling homes or commercial buildings. HABITEC is a residential (home) and commercial building inspection company serving Middle Tennessee including Nashville, Brentwood, Franklin, Murfreesboro, Smyrna, Mt. Juliet, Hendersonville, Dickson, Belle Meade, Columbia, Spring Hill and more! In addition to building inspections HABITEC offers Environmental Services for mold assessments, radon testing and water quality analysis. Additional information about HABITEC can be found on our website at http://habitecinspections.com, or call 615-376-2753.

Richard Acree is the author of the HABITEC Home and Building Inspections Blog and founder of the ActiveRain Group Tennessee Home and Building Inspectors. All are welcome to join and see more blogs like this one.

(Welcome to the HABITEC Blog at Activerain. If you are looking for the HABITEC website please click on http://habitecinspections.com. Thank you!)

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Now onto the blog! Tennessee Construction Contracts Up 5% in June 2010 - Nashville Business Journal

The Nashville Business Journal reports that the total value of construction contracts awarded in Tennessee in June 2010 was 5% greater than that of June 2009. Staff Writer Eric Snyder reports that McGraw-Hill Construction provided the data which indicated that the largest increase was in non-residential construction. The full article can be seen at http://nashville.bizjournals.com/nashville/stories/2010/07/26/daily6.html?s=industry&i=commercial_real_estate .

While 2009 was nothing to write home about, an increase is an increase. This bodes well for Tennessee commercial real estate and the TN economy in general.

Thank you,

Richard Acree

Comments in this blog posting are the copyrighted intellectual property of Richard Acree, President, HABITEC Home and Building Inspections, LLC, and contributing members of the Active Rain Real Estate network, and are intended to educate and otherwise assist home owners, sellers and buyers, building owners, sellers and buyers, realtors, real estate investors, property managers, and lenders in the process of owning, buying or selling homes or commercial buildings. HABITEC is a residential (home) and commercial building inspection company serving Middle Tennessee including Nashville, Brentwood, Franklin, Murfreesboro, Smyrna, Mt. Juliet, Hendersonville, Dickson, Belle Meade, Columbia, Spring Hill and more! In addition to building inspections HABITEC offers Environmental Services for mold assessments, radon testing and water quality analysis. Additional information about HABITEC can be found on our website at http://habitecinspections.com, or call 615-376-2753.

Richard Acree is the author of the HABITEC Home and Building Inspections Blog and founder of the ActiveRain Group Tennessee Home and Building Inspectors. All are welcome to join and see more blogs like this one.

(Welcome to the HABITEC Blog at Activerain. If you are looking for the HABITEC website please click on http://habitecinspections.com. Thank you!)

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Now onto the blog! Second Quarter 2010 GDP Drops When Compared to First Quarter 2010

News reports today on CNBC indicate a 2.4 Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the second quarter of 2010 (Q2/10) versus a revised 3.7 GDP in the first quarter of 2010 (Q1/10). Stock market futures dropped significantly on this news. This is a significant slowdown in GDP when comparing Q1/10 to Q2/10, but consistent with expectations and forecasts for Q2/10. Government stimulus dropped significantly during Q2/10 and it is reasonable to expect the GDP to fall as well.

Expected or not, it is not a good thing when the GDP drops this much, almost 1/3, from one quarter to the next. Especially when comparing the Q2 to Q1. Q2 should be higher than Q1 because you move from the slower first quarter (post Christmas) to the normally busier second quarter. Clearly if this trend continues into Q3 then we can expect the consumer to pull back on fears of a declining economy. This could have a significant effect on the real estate market.

Thank you,

Richard Acree

Comments in this blog posting are the copyrighted intellectual property of Richard Acree, President, HABITEC Home and Building Inspections, LLC, and contributing members of the Active Rain Real Estate network, and are intended to educate and otherwise assist home owners, sellers and buyers, building owners, sellers and buyers, realtors, real estate investors, property managers, and lenders in the process of owning, buying or selling homes or commercial buildings. HABITEC is a residential (home) and commercial building inspection company serving Middle Tennessee including Nashville, Brentwood, Franklin, Murfreesboro, Smyrna, Mt. Juliet, Hendersonville, Dickson, Belle Meade, Columbia, Spring Hill and more! In addition to building inspections HABITEC offers Environmental Services for mold assessments, radon testing and water quality analysis. Additional information about HABITEC can be found on our website at http://habitecinspections.com, or call 615-376-2753.

Richard Acree is the author of the HABITEC Home and Building Inspections Blog and founder of the ActiveRain Group Tennessee Home and Building Inspectors. All are welcome to join and see more blogs like this one.

For years, i've been calling the same guy for my Termite inspections.

I have always liked Hank because he's easy to work with . . . Fairly priced . . . and has saved my butt more than once in one of those occasional closing day panics that follow the question:

"Do you have the termite letter?"

Hank has never let me down when it comes to termites.

It never occurred to me that Hank might know something about other species of bugs until I moved into my new house and discovered it was really just a very nice ant hill . . . ants EVERYWHERE!

I didn't know what to do other than to call Hank.

I got more than I expected as Hank explained to me the phenomenon of changes in barometric pressure and how that affects the mental state of ants . . . They seek the indoors . . . and that there's this cool gel he has that alters their behavior - A few dabs, and they'll leave . . . then there's this stake thing i can plant outside to kill them - so . . . no live OR dead ants in the house.

A few weeks later, we had a few moles take up residence in our yard and literally lifted the grass off the dirt and created a mole village underneath . . . What could I do?

call Hank . . .

Yep! He had an answer . . . Buy these little windmills with bearings in them and plant them around the yard . . . The sound will drive the moles nuts, and they'll leave (to the neighbor's yard).

Sold a house . . . Buyer moved in and discovered there were FLEAS everywhere.

That's right . . . Call Hank!

At this point, I'm asking Hank what these fleas are THINKING coming inside like this.

He knew . . . Extremely hot weather with high humidity - fleas run inside and can go from invisible to full infestation in the matter of a few hours. The treatment can take weeks . . . Kill the adults and spray the larva with a spray that mutates them so they cannot reproduce and CLEAN the place thoroughly.

Hmmm . . . Hank knows more than termites.

Who do know that's a specialist and how deep is your relationship with that person?

I'll just have to say that I never in my life considered this notion of psychology to deal with insect infestations.

How many people know the many ways YOU can serve them in YOUR specialty?

I'm just sayin'

Best,

b

(Welcome to the HABITEC Blog at Activerain. If you are looking for the HABITEC website please click on http://habitecinspections.com. Thank you!)

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Now onto the blog: Municipal Home Inspector Indicted for Criminal Negligent Homocide in Dealths of Family of Four in Colorado

Recently a contractor and municipal Home Inspector were indicted for criminal negligent homocide in the deaths of a family of four in an Aspen area home in Colorado. An article published in the DenverPost.com explains that the four people died from carbon monoxide poisoning caused by a dislodged vent pipe from a boiler water heating system. Reports also indicate there were no carbon monoxide detectors in the house. The complete article can be read at http://www.denverpost.com/frontpage/ci_15609437 .

Thank you,

Richard Acree

Comments in this blog posting are the copyrighted intellectual property of Richard Acree, President, HABITEC Home and Building Inspections, LLC, and contributing members of the Active Rain Real Estate network, and are intended to educate and otherwise assist home owners, sellers and buyers, building owners, sellers and buyers, realtors, real estate investors, property managers, and lenders in the process of owning, buying or selling homes or commercial buildings. HABITEC is a residential (home) and commercial building inspection company serving Middle Tennessee including Nashville, Brentwood, Franklin, Murfreesboro, Smyrna, Mt. Juliet, Hendersonville, Dickson, Belle Meade, Columbia, Spring Hill and more! In addition to building inspections HABITEC offers Environmental Services for mold assessments, radon testing and water quality analysis. Additional information about HABITEC can be found on our website at http://habitecinspections.com, or call 615-376-2753.

Richard Acree is the author of the HABITEC Home and Building Inspections Blog and founder of the ActiveRain Group Tennessee Home and Building Inspectors. All are welcome to join and see more blogs like this one.