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:

Me (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

 

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.

 

 

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

 

Inspection Photo: Leaning Tower of Balcony

When is it time to fix a problem belonging to your condo? Hopefully before this happens!

 

What to expect (and what not to expect) from your Home Inspector.

Having worked in the home inspection industry for over 8 years, I have fielded a few calls from buyers regarding minor issues that they noticed shortly after moving into their new home(s). Issues such as: “the oven doesn’t keep a steady, constant temperature, [or] the carpet is stained where the last owner’s couch was placed.” They wonder why those items were not mentioned in the inspection report. Many buyers and some REALTORS® are not aware of the specific tasks the inspector is required to perform during the property inspection.

There are guidelines in the California Real Estate Inspection Association (CREIA) Standards of Practice, which define a real estate inspection in the following terms:

• … [A] survey and basic operation of the systems and components of a building, which can be reached, entered, or viewed without difficulty, moving obstructions, or requiring any action, which may result in damage to the property or personal injury to the Inspector.
• The purpose of the inspection is to provide the Client with information regarding the general condition of the building(s). Cosmetic and aesthetic conditions shall not be considered.
• [The] inspection report provides written documentation of material defects discovered in the inspected building’s systems and components which, in the opinion of the Inspector, are safety hazards… not functioning properly, or appear to be at the ends of their service lives. The report may include the Inspector’s recommendations for correction or further evaluation.
• Inspections performed in accordance with these Standards of Practice are not technically exhaustive and shall apply to the primary building and its associated primary parking structure.

The standards spell out what items to inspect those not required to be inspected. For instance, in regards to the “Foundation, Basement, and Under-Floor areas” the inspector is required to inspect the “Foundation system, Floor framing system, Under-floor ventilation, Foundation anchoring and cripple wall bracing, Wood separation from soil, and Insulation.” However the “inspector is not required to: Determine size, spacing, location, or adequacy of foundation bolting/bracing components or reinforcing systems, [or] Determine the composition or energy rating of insulation materials.” Standards exist for each system the inspector checks and include a list of 22 limitations, exceptions and exclusions such as:

• Auxiliary features of appliances beyond the appliances basic function
• Determining compliance with manufacturers’ installation guidelines or specifications, building codes, accessibility standards, conservation or energy standards, regulations, ordinances, covenants, [etc]
• Determining adequacy, efficiency, suitability, quality, age, or remaining life of any building, system, or component, or marketability or advisability of purchase.
• Dismantling any system, structure, or component or removing access panels other than those provided for homeowner maintenance.

The CREIA Standards of Practice can be viewed in its entirety and downloaded from www.creia.org 

Typically an inspector will identify a problem and inform his client of the severity of the issue to the best of his ability and responsibility based on the guidelines stated in the above standards.

If the situation is severe, or if special tools are needed such as a camera to look inside a chimney flue, or special knowledge and testing is required to determine if a material on the wall is mold or not, the inspector will recommend that the appropriate specialist be called in to perform a more detailed investigation and evaluation of that specific situation. Having a specialist provide a more detailed evaluation of a specific system protects both the buyer and the seller by correctly identifying the true condition of the system and any related costs of repairs.

April Kass – LaRocca Inspections

 

June’s C.A.R.E. Project at Ocean Park Community Center

This years Beverly Hills/Greater L.A. Association of Realtors president Robin Greenberg launched the C.A.R.E project. C.A.R.E. stands for “compassion-acceptance-respect-empowerment”, The goal is to focus on the needs and efforts of a different charity each month. And the idea is that by providing compassion, acceptance and respect we can empower the less fortunate to overcome the obstacles they may face. June’s charity was the OPCC, also know as the “Ocean Park Community Center” in Santa Monica, CA. (http://bhglaar.com/pdf/OPCC.pdf)

Our newest Marketing Rep, Carrie, joined me and we went to lend our hands as volunteers for the morning of June 24th. Some folks prepped lunches, some gave out clothing from the donation closet, and some checked in lunch recipients.

We arrived around 9am and Carrie was put to work making sack lunches, while I was charged with the job of checking in lunch recipients and giving them a lunch ticket. I asked the folks in line a series of questions; Full name, date of birth, gender, ethnicity, how long they had been homeless in Santa Monica, where they were originally from, and whether they were on disability and/or were a veteran. This was an interesteing exercise. I’ve done quite a bit of volunteer work with the homeless in Los Angeles but rarely found out so much personal information about so many of them in such a short time. There were all ages, ethnicities, and types of folks. Many on disability, many with mental illnesses, and although many of them had not been homeless for very long, there were some who had been homeless for dozens of years. As a humanitarian, it was of interest to learn a little about the people we were serving to, rather than just slap food on their plates.

Once the line slowed to a crawl I went into a kitchen in another area of the community center. This was where the residents of the center ate. We prepared lunch for the residents. Another volunteer (Angel Moser) and I cut up apples, oranges, bananas, and plums and mixed them with canned pineapples for a fruit salad. Then a group of us made tuna sandwiches. Everything was fresh and looked quite tasty. We served the lunch to the residents at noon with a big scoop of ice-cream for each as well.

The best part about this particular volunteer experience was the gratitude that the residents showed us when we were done. A woman who lived there exlaimed how grateful they were for us volunteers and said thank you, followed by a chorus of thank you’s and a large round of applause. It caught me off guard as it’s very unusual to recieve that sort of acknowledgement. It was truly one of the most wonderful volunteer experiences I’ve had.

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Cleaning up the LA River!

Today was LA River day in Los Angeles and tons of folks turned out to help clean up the river with FOLAR (Friends of the LA River). My husband and I, and our good friend Sarah were among the volunteers. We got downright dirty, drenched in river water, and rather sunburned as we spent a few hours wading around in the river and removing all kinds of trash and debris. Amongst our finds: A number of shirts (button down, sweatshirts, t-shirts), 3 blankets, a full skeleton of a foot long dead fish (possibly carp?), a giant advertising banner, a garden hose, rubber tubing, cans, bottles, TP, a hubcap… and tons of other stuff. We collected about 10 giant trash bags full of garbage while we were there.

Despite getting dirty, and sunburned, it was actually a ton of fun and I’d do it again in a heartbeat. I’m looking forward to the next one! For more info check out http://folar.org/?page_id=5

Here are a few photographs taken by my friend Sarah: