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Tag Archives: property inspection

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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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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Inspection Photo: Leaning Tower of Balcony

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

 
 

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YPN-LA Kick-off party at La Sandia in Santa Monica!

YPN-LA Kick-off party at La Sandia in Santa Monica!

If you’re involved in Real Estate you most likely have heard about YPN.

YPN stands for “Young Professionals Network.” According to http://www.Realtor.org , “YPN is a growing group of young, career-minded real estate professionals who want to stay abreast of the latest tools, resources, and networking opportunities.” If you’d like to read more about YPN check out my previous blog post here: https://laroccainspect.wordpress.com/2011/03/08/i-keep-hearing-about-ypn%e2%80%a6-what-is-that/ 

These groups of young (and young at heart) professionals have been popping up all over the USA (and have even gone International) and in California alone we have over 40 local networks! So it’s no surprise that the Beverly Hills/Greater Los Angeles Board of Realtors has formed their own group entitled YPN-LA!

A couple of weeks ago YPN-LA hosted their official kick-off party at Richard Sandoval’s La Sandia Restaurant at the newly renovated and reopened Santa Monica Place shopping center in Santa Monica, CA. (http://www.richardsandoval.com/lasandiacantina/index.htm)

The event was a huge success. Sponsored by: LaRocca Inspections (of course :), Old Republic Home Protection, AGPIC, Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, Andy’s Termite, Property ID, and Escrow of the West. Guests enjoyed amazing housemade guacamole, empanadas, and a gourmet taco bar, along with tasty margaritas and had a fabulous time mixing and mingling. Raffle tickets were sold to benefit the C.A.R.E. project and sponsor donated raffle prizes were drawn at the end of the evening (Great prizes such as gift cards and certificates to restaurants, salons, gas cards, etc.) Nobody left empty handed though, each guest was given a lovely gift bag on their way out the door.

YPN-LA will be hosting more events, educational classes, and the like. To find out about upcoming events become a fan of their facebook page at: http://www.facebook.com/BHGLAAR.YPN 

 

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Inspection Photo (Do you catch more buyers with honey than vinegar?)

Here’s a photo of a bee hive we found on an inspection recently.

Not exactly what someone would want to find under their new deck!  Maybe it’s not such a “sweet deal” after all!

Silver Lining… maybe they can make a little extra cash selling honey at the local farmers market. 🙂

Sweet!
Do you catch more buyers with honey?
 

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