HOME INSPECTIONS
A MUST DURING 2006

Buyer’s Agents have no more excuses for any client not having a home inspection. Since the market is now better balanced between buyers and sellers, every offer should contain a home inspection contingency.
A home inspection protects all four parties in a real estate transaction. Let me repeat what I wrote a year ago. “Talking about feeling vulnerable. Have you seen the TV ad for USA Today Newspapers? A gentleman steps naked out of his hotel room to pick up the newspaper and the door closes behind him. No key. No clothes. Oops! The look of vulnerability at that very moment defines the feeling of vulnerability. Realtors practice naked if any sale transaction has no home inspection.” Realtor liability is a potential, but real possibility in any transaction that closes with no home inspection.
The benefit to sellers and their listing Realtors is obvious. I cannot remember how many times I have heard a Realtor say to a purchaser after settlement: “You had a home inspector, call your inspector.” With the new seller disclosure obligation in Maryland, no one knows yet what “health and safety” or “latent” will mean in court. Err on the side of caution; encourage your client purchasing a home to schedule a home inspection. Home inspection fees are generally less than one percent of the sales price, so cost should never be a detriment.
In that rare case that a home is “hot” due to its individual features or location and multiple offers are possible, call for a pre-offer home inspection. Do something to protect your client and to protect yourself.
And needless to say, CALL ALBAN for your client’s home inspection and environmental testing needs.

Testing, One Two
Can Your Electric Outlets Meet The Challenge?

The ground fault circuit interrupters — or GFCIs — are electrical outlets which are usually installed wherever water may come in contact with electrical appliances. Homeowners should notice GFCIs in their bathrooms, kitchens, laundry rooms and any other room where water runs. GFCIs are designed to prevent electrocution if a body comes in contact with water and electrical current, which could come directly from an outlet or through a conductor, such as metal piping.
Picture it this way — the ground fault, or circuit, is a loop. If the current flowing out of an outlet is greater than the current returning back to it, the circuit is imbalanced. So if an imbalance is created — such as what happens when a plugged-in blender falls into a kitchen sink — the GFCI would kick in to prevent the

imbalanced current from electrocuting a person coming in contact with it. The current, which usually flows between the blender motor and the outlet, would be interrupted. If plugged into a GFCI, the imbalance would be recognized and the current would be shut off. If the blender was plugged into a regular outlet, the current would continue — setting up a potentially dangerous situation for the homeowner.
A recent study by The National Electrical Safety Foundation states that ten percent of the 400 million GFCIs in use are so worn-out and damaged they may be considered unreliable. They are not suitable protection against electrocution.
A GFCI has two small buttons on the front, marked “test” and “reset.” To

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