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Tag Archives: home inspection

Get to Know: Steve Nichols

Brochure 5.5x8.5 - Back - Landscape

Long before working at LaRocca Inspections, Steve grew up in Oregon as a beachcomber, where he found his love for construction by helping his grandfather build his family’s two story house. After 30 years in the construction trades, he joined the LaRocca team and over the last 10 years with nearly 8,000 inspections has been one of our most highly requested inspectors in the history of the company. He’s also the current Treasurer for the local CREIA chapter, and has held the Secretary position in the past.

Steve truly loves what he does and it’s evident by the constant glowing reviews we receive from his clients, like this one from a Real Estate agent in Los Angeles: “I use him every time that his schedule allows. Every time the client has gone against my recommendation and used another inspection service, they have always been disappointed or left unsatisfied and nervous about their purchase. Steve puts repairs in language everyone can understand, he is funny, puts people at ease, and yet calls out every issue that needs attention. I wish he was always available! I even used him for my own house!”

If you’d like to book Steve for your next inspection all you have to do is let our scheduling office know that you would like to specially request him when you are scheduling your next appointment.

818-951-1795
www.laroccainspections.com

 

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Daily News “Best Home Inspection Company” is (drumroll please) …

Daily News “Best Home Inspection Company” is (drumroll please) …

LaRocca Inspections wins Readers Choice “Best Home Inspection Company” 2012 from Daily News!

Every year I get a copy of the Daily News “Readers Choice” edition and every year I wonder how one gets named the “Best.” Well this year I found out! I got a call from Daily News letting us know that we had been nominated and recieved a certain minimum number of votes that entitled us, LaRocca Inspections, to the title “BEST HOME INSPECTION COMPANY” So as it turns out, it’s really a readers choice. And it feel extremely gratifying to have our clients value our company enough to nominate and vote for us!

All of us at LaRocca want to thank the readers who voted for us! We strive daily to provide exemplary service and are committed to delivering the best inspections in the industry. We know that buying a home is a huge investment and our goal is to ensure that our clients have an accurate understanding of the property they’re considering buying.

THANK YOU AGAIN for your votes and your amazing support of LaRocca over the last 18 years. We wouldn’t be able to exist and persist in this industry throughout these tough economic times without clients and friends like the ones we have!

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Another satisfied customer.

 I have mixed feelings about review sites because I find that people with negative opinions are more likely to review than those with positive experiences (particularly if they are not reviewing a restaurant or a bar), so I find it extremely refreshing when someone take the time to post a positive experience about our company. Such was the case recently when I ran across this review from one of our recent clients at LaRocca Inspections:

 

“My wife and I used this inspection company on a house we were renting in Sunland. We were considering possibly buying it, as we heard it was going on the market.

First off, I want to say that the inspectors were very thorough, they checked in the attic and in the crawlspace underneath the house. They were also very helpful and answered all of our questions.

I am very happy how thorough they were, as the inspections turned up toxic mold in the walls, vermin in the attic and water damage to the foundation. The house looked cosmetically in decent condition, so I am glad I got the inspections.

This company, quite possibly saved me a lot of time and money as I was highly considering buying this house. Also, I liked how accommodating they were in scheduling their inspections.”

Thanks Rory F. for the kind words!

April Kass – Marketing Director

 

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Sewer Line video examinations by Sewerline Check Pros.

Some information about Sewerline Check Professionals/Our sister company which performs Sewer Video Inspections

 

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Laboring through Labor day…

Laboring through Labor day…

Has anyone else noticed that Real Estate is a 24 hour a day/7 day a week business? I get emails in the wee hours of the morning, calls on the weekends, texts on the fourth of July for an emergency inspection… and of course Labor day is no different. In fact, in the past 8 years I’ve been involved in the real estate inspection industry, Labor Day has been a very busy day. I assume this is because so many potential home buyers are off of work and thus able to check out homes or schedule their home inspection on Labor day Monday since they already have the day off… whatever the reason, it’s a historically busy holiday for LaRocca Inspections.

So although our office staff will be off enjoying the Labor day festivities, our inspectors will be laboring through Labor day, performing inspections as usual. And our messages will be picked up regularly throughout the day to accomodate any last minute needs you real estate agents or buyers might have!

So let us know if you’d like to spend your holiday with us and have a happy and safe Labor Day!!!

April Kass – LaRocaa Inspections

 

 

 

 

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The new kid in town…

You may have noticed that we have a new marketing representative in our office! Her name is Carrie Crest, she started with us about 2 months ago and we love her! She fits right in like an apple in an orchard and we are delighted to have her. Since she’s begun showing up out in the field, I’ve had an alarming number of people ask if everything’s okay, did I fire Jason, am I leaving LaRocca and “grooming” her to take my place… I’ve even been asked if I’m pregnant!!!

I PROMISE YOU GUYS, I’m not going anywhere and neither is Jason (and neither of us have a bun in the oven)! I love my job at LaRocca Inspections and they love me. I was just spreadng myself too thin and needed a little help! So this is how I’ve structured our Marketing department:

April KassMe (April Kass): I am still our Marketing Director and handle our marketing department’s strategic planning and annual budget. Jason and Carrie report to me and I give them their “marching orders” so to speak. I will be spending the majority of my time working on planning, public relations, and networking. This means I may contact you to ask you some marketing research question, get a testimonial from you, etc. I will spend time at our local associations, on various committees, in the field (delivering presentations at sales meetings, going on weekly caravans, etc.) writing articles, blogs, and keeping up on social media.

Jason Wrightsman: Jason will be taking over the promotional design section at LaRocca Inspections. With the four companies that we represent it really takes a full time employee to do all of the concepting, inventory, printing, ordering (and reordering) of promotional brochures, cards, pens, and other items that we order on a regular basis, basic layout and graphic design, keeping our websites current, sending out email deals, and posting those photo blogs that everyone loves! As part of his new position here, he will also be attending school part time for graphic design which he is already talented at and this will make him just invaluable to me in the marketing department!

Carrie will be taking over a number of the functions Jason and I were previously doing. Her main focus is promotional activities. She will be scheduling office presentations and educational classes and she will prepare what is needed for those presentations (bring the food and goodies everyone loves so much!). She will also be doing the rounds visiting the offices around town, keeping our brochure stands stocked, droping off fliers, sending direct mail, and assisting me when needed at networking events, trade shows, etc. If you see her out in the field, say HELLO!

I know that we are structured a little differently than other companies that service te real estate industry and I hope that this clears up some of the confusion out there. We feel that this structure allows us to get the most efficient use of our time and energy to best serve our clients!

April Kass – Marketing Director

 

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Inspection Photo: Too Wired

Being too wired can be a shocking experience! This water heater has exposed wires, which is never good when electricity is involved.

This is a good example of a dangerous find on an inspection with an easy fix.

 

 
 

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2011 SRAR Charity Golf Tournament

On August 16th the Southland Regioanl Association of REALTORS (SRAR) had their annual charity golf tournament. This year it was held at Wood Ranch Country Club in Simi Valley, which was a very nice course situated between beautiful sprawling homes and the neighboring mountains. The tournament format turned out to be what is referred to as a “shamble,” which in case you don’t know (we didn’t until we got there) is where you take the best drive off the tee, and from there each person plays their OWN ball in, unlike a scramble where the best ball is continued to be played in until the hole is finished.

Each foursome was also paired with a professional golfer, which was a lot of fun to see someone so good right in front of you. TEAM LAROCCA was a couple players short for the tournament so we were fortunate enough to get Scott Shimamoto, and Mike Ojeda to agree to play with our team, who though not quite as good as the pro, definitely graced our team with their talent. As a whole, we thought we did pretty good and we definitley had a good time!

April Kass and Jason Wrightsman

Below are some of the photos of our adventures around the course:

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Inspection Photo: This home appears to be retaining “Water Weight” ;)

Uh oh, perhaps the water should cut down on fast food!

All kidding aside, the water pressure in this house is at almost 130 and it should be half that. This high pressure can cause leaks and pipes to burst.

Your home inspector should be able to catch these items (like our home inspector did in this case) to help your buyers find out about issues like this in escorw and ensure that you avoid having to deal with a problem like this after the close of escroe when the buyers are all moved in and settled!

 
 

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Inspection Photo: Ever Feel Rusty?

Yikes! This pipe sure does!

This was found under a house on a recent inspection…I don’t even want to know what the water looks like, I’m assuming it looks like iced tea!

Rusty Pipe

 
 

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