Ensure the Lawfulness of Online Signatures for Property Inspection Report in India

How to eSign a document: online signature lawfulness for Property Inspection Report in India

[Music] well welcome everyone uh it is my first time doing a webinar so uh it might not be uh perfect but I always aim uh to be as close to Perfection as possible um thank you for writing who is a home inspector and some uh and who is real or homeowner that's a class that I want to have for uh everyone uh mainly for realtors but everyone can have some can get some tips from here and um hopefully apply them to real life um so as a home inspectors you can maybe keep some notes for things you might apply in your business um and I will ask with one one question so what did you study as kids what was your major um for some could be biology chemistry math that they wanted to follow they wanted to be instructors mathematicians who knows um but but looking where you are now we are all sitting in this room and you know where life brought you um did you follow what you study did you you follow what you needed did you become a home inspector because that's what you wanted always some yes some no um but I'm from I'm from Greece and allow me to bring Socrates as as an example he was a philosopher and he said one thing that I love he said I know one thing that I know nothing and what does that mean um that whatever I do I go with the mindset that I don't know anything and what that allows me to do is to learn new things so here we are this webinar we aim it to be a real life Tool uh for the inspectors but for realtors mainly but um as I said everybody can learn and hopefully we will get some education all together um and from that education that I may transfer to you then you can actually educate your Realtors your inspectors your family um this is my view and you know maybe another inspector in another state not do the things or the way that I do it so that's perfectly fine there's no right or wrong um feel free to keep notes and I would love to ask any questions of yours in the end just because I like to have a process um but um yeah so let's dive into the decoding home inspection report all right so first of all who am I like who is this guy with a thick accent that is here to teach you right uh well I I am uh as I said from Greece uh I was born in Athens and met my wife that she's from Athens too but Athens Georgia not Athens Greece um it's a nice thing though that we have uh we started with something common for when we first met Icebreaker but um then I went from uh construction to home inspections I came in USA in 2012 and actually as of last year I have my dual citizenship uh um but um I went uh to construction management uh I got my construction management degree and then I was working in construction at the same time and from that my boss was like ah you annoy me uh because we were going for one project and I was like but that's wrong and that's wrong from what we learned that's wrong too did you say something to the owner maybe you know you can get more business so he's like you know you know what you need to become a home inspector how that's how I started I was working under someone else and after that I open my own um 's eye Home Inspections so yeah with all these I have like eight and a half years of experience and after that I became a certified Master inspector by interi I really think that I owe a lot to interi because I learned everything um and the continuous education is perfect for some certified Master inspector is just a title um I don't say it like uh something that you all have to be uh for me it actually I saw that it shows some credibility to the Realtors to the owners that they call me and they want an inspection and I say hey what what it means what that title means to you is that I have at least 1,000 inspections under my tool belt that means I have some kind of experience because let's be real they see our face as inspectors only when we arrive to the property sometimes they see our uh our website and they see who we are and how we look like but other than that they probably just call us and they say Okay arrive that day that time and we'll we'll see you there so it's nice to give them some kind of U backstory of who you are and why you are good for them keep that in mind um you can talk to them about experience you can talk to them about uh uh the certified Master inspector something that makes you unique now Let's uh let's continue just so you could have a backstory that's what I wanted okay so what do expect from a home inspector and as I saw here you are a lot of you are already inspectors so um we want to give the minimum right but the minimum should be the best so the minimum should be the best stand that you can provide um you don't want to give to them um to to know that you are not experienced you you you you are new you might be new but you still can be good because you learned your things you you you went to your classes you did your uh um inspections so you want to explain all these um now as I said this PowerPoint is u mainly for like the Realtors so I want to explain um how do how do they find a great home inspector uh how do they judge to see a home inspector if he's good not uh and before we dive into the uh to decode a report allow me to explain a few things that I at least apply and maybe it can help you as as a home inspectors or as a realtor to know what you want to look for all right so I know I know it can be about it but we we all know that some uh Realtors call some of the inspectors deal Killers but what is a deal killer uh is it the one that just does a good job is it the one that does too good job too good of a job um too thorough but but what are we supposed to be we supposed to be detailed we supposed to be honest and that's what you want from your inspector thorough inspection is important for you as uh Realtors as homeowners as my clients as everybody every inspector's clients um detailed report is even more um important to me at least um if we miss deficiencies there is a problem right of course you don't want to miss deficiencies but if we cannot communicate the deficiencies we did find properly to the clients um then there is a big problem again we need to find that fine line and walk on that line it can be um the difference between like ignorance and knowledge or not caring enough to to mention something or to be too scary with what we say it's not only only what you find it's how you communicate that to your uh clients Realtors everybody um so how how do we do that how do we walk to that fine line well let's see two two ways we have the verbal and the written you need to find out is the uh things that the inspector can do well and you know that okay this is a good inspector um does he prepare the client on the phone uh when the client first calls and says um hey I want an inspection okay well this is what's included with my inspection and this is what's not included information that's very important I also give 30 minutes on average um after the inspection and I explain to the client that is there my major findings things that could be very important for him safety or his pocket um if they are not there I might call them on the way to the office and be like hey I'm done with the inspection um can uh can I tell you what what I found so things like that will make uh the Realtors trust you the Realtors will be happy the clients will be happy because they know what's going on you keep them updated um and then you have the written the written is of course the report but is the report going to be delivered the same day did we say that the in the beginning when we talk with a client um is the report detailed like do you have different sections do you not have different sections and just say I will only report major things you know I don't do that I I try to be detailed to be honest some people like that some people not uh my clients so far are super happy so and key for those by saying detailed and report I I I don't mean that you have to write an essay for every deficiency but uh short sentences is a key I don't see um I don't see us really need a full paragraph until something is connected with something else that interior wall with uh uh we saw a stain or discoloration and what's going on should we check the exterior oh we check the exterior is it a flashing is it's something wrong then you might need to explain more um but that's the only time that I think you need to write more than two sentences and again that's what I believe now let me give you a real life example someone called um called me and he told me that he had an inspector and that inspector uh report um that he reported that he found moisture in the basement that he found all this Floren and discoloration and all the levels of the moisture being excessive and things like that where did he go wrong he didn't put any illustrations no pictures no videos no nothing the homeowner goes there he doesn't see anything he calls uh contractors they don't see anything so I wasn't there I didn't go um to see if there was an issue or not but from that I grab this and I remember it now that you have to have illustrations you have to show and support what you say it's Visual and it's easy for them to um to and clarify what are you talking about um so communication again that's very important um now another uh factor is that you have to be unbiased to um give just just the facts and sometimes sometimes this means that you have to eliminate emotions as sympathetic as we want to be uh to the client because he might really want that house but we might find an issue then we might need to eliminate emotions and say all right so these are the this is the problem and this is this is what I have to report and uh I understand your pain but I can't do anything because they will ask you there will be one or two that will ask you can you change what you write in the report especially coming from realitors it happened to me more than two times but it happened to me um and the answer is no um we are there to observe and report all right now full service uh is another thing you the more you give to the Realtors and the clients the more happy they are and the Morey happy you are but um you know you become your One-Stop shop uh Home Inspection r on test sewer uh mold and uh air quality all of these will uh will help you show that you are there for your client no matter what so the more you learn the more you can apply in your business and the more business you will get but also as a Realtors you know that you found a a great inspector not only of how thorough he is and how detailed his report is but how good can he do the whole Services how much can he provide to your client [Music] um so followup and availability all right to me one of the most important things because a lot of people are 9 to5 guys and and they disappear and actually the client is scared after reading the report and after work let's say they go home they read the report they're scared done so I try to be 10 11:00 it's 10 minutes to send an answer and that's it they go to sleep happy and you everybody's happy and last uh here for this list uh it's not not ethical to do work to the houses that you inspect that's a big conversation to me it's not ethical uh I cannot go and say ah your pling is bad um it's 300 more and I can fix it except if you have start having uh different companies with different like you get into too much but as a home inspector as outside home inspections I can not come and do work but we have Network a network that we have people that we work together all the time we we trust we um we really put our name out there when I refer this this people to my clients so do you want a plumber okay you know what I have someone that I know that he's doing great job I don't know his pricing he might be expensive for you but I know that he's doing good job and that makes Realtors happy that makes makes uh the clients happy and of course that makes me happy so inspectors is ideal to have not any but great trusted connections all right now sorry as I said I'm I'm Greek I will throw some Greek on you and uh Zenon Zeno as you might know him uh he was a Greek philosopher that he that he said we have two ears and one mouth so we should uh listen more than uh than we say and that's kind of funny because I said that to you while you are listening and I'm the one that is talking okay but this is uh this is very important why because now we go to the really important things uh the most important part of this webinar for all the agent the Realtors the uh clients the inspectors um when they receive the clients uh 50 pages of uh inspection 50 800 800 I'm sorry 80 Pages um they are overwhelmed uh the reports might be really overwhelmed so um then the clients are stressed they make their realtor stressed and the Realtors put pressure on us so softwares have uh links now for online report uh and that looks better but still the pdf version can be pretty bad because you might have one picture in one uh page and that's it so yeah you have 50 pages but 10 of them might be pretty much nothing and we can't do anything as home inspectors because it's the software but in the end of the day everything will fall in place as long as we use easy words and explain uh like like we talk to little kids with with respect of course but to explain to them what we found what's the issue and that is where we going now that's why you all came here all right so what does it mean these are words that you see in the report these are words that the inspector use uh the inspectors use and uh and some uh some of these are very important but may be blend in there in the report um and uh especially when you have 50 to 80 Pages you might skip something as um a client as a realtor so you want you want to pay attention to this but but also you want to understand what do they mean because they will be repeated again and again and again so I will try to translate them for you um and yeah let's dive to see what do they really mean all right so let's say that some uh that an inspector says there is adequate or inadequate uh insulation on in the Artic what does that mean it means that uh in the Artic you might have enough or not enough insulation um usually with a um not enough might be a problem and there is a recommendation I recommend you or to to add some insulation but um the air flow in a closet when the HB is uh in a closet you might uh see that it doesn't have enough airflow there you can use that word so as a realtor and as a client that's what you want to read uh enough or not enough pretty much more is need it um now and again some people might be like oh no I don't say that word and I am one of those uh I don't say the m world world substance growth you can have any other thing but not not mold in the report why yes we see it we it might be mold yes but not only it's liability but it's also educational educational issue for us to say that it's something without having tested it and got lab results okay uh it's more yeah what kind of more how dangerous um how was it there uh how to solve the issue all these are questions that you can answer for you from your experience as home inspector but in the report in order to use the word mold I strongly suggest you to have it tested and know exactly like details of what kind and what is it and things like that so when you see in the in the report substance growth that kind of means mold some they say discoloration some they say growth things like that so that's very important now hydrostatic sorry can talk hydrostatic pressure uh I don't have it uh I don't usually I use it in the report I if I do I put it in parenthesis because again I try to talk to the clients as uh like little kids I try to explain if I say to them hydrostatic pressure they would be like okay what's that they're not professionals they are there to they're there to just hire us and listen to us what we have to say so so I started to to explain you know that's when soil pressure uh is on the foundation of your house and uh that crack that we see there probably is connected to that and and once you start explaining they're like oh okay so save yourselves as home inspectors um and also as Realtors now you know you can um I I write in the report as like simple words of what the problem is and not the actual technical World saves time later for questions and also explains better [Music] um all right this is a very important thing in the report you will uh see past tense you will see at the time of inspect ction um observed appeared was I don't say I see now I don't say uh there is now why because who knows uh how many people went to that property after I left who knows what will happen after I left there are contractors other buyers agents sellers movers uh things that happen either way let's say that we have cold weather and after I leave something burst and boom you have a leak so at the time of inspection I saw this I saw that past tense it's important keep that in in mind I saw that you we have some new inspectors here keep that in mind it's very important uh Realtors please uh now you understand why the past tense so discoloration or deterioration well that's evidence of an issue let me say this sometimes I've been asked uh on the phone like we arrange an inspection and they call me and they say hey George like should we cancel the inspection because it's a rainy day you won't be able to go to the roof to to inspect it uh let me see if you if if we take a minute would you mind writing on the chat should we skip an inspection in a rainy day yes or no I will just give you like 30 seconds to see if I I'd like some interaction here all right there we are see you don't need me ah we got it yes no all right so uh again I guess there is not right or wrong um but keep that in mind I will give you a different perspective uh what pron said exactly so um let's say that uh it's a sunny day and I go to the attic and uh I will see a stain I will see a discoloration I will put my moisture meter there it's dry what will I write in the report I will go in the report and I will say okay hey I saw that and I put my moer meter and it's dry at time of the inspection right okay the next day let's say they will close they will go to the house start training there is a leak H let's take the other way around let's say that we we go on a rainy day it's true I won't be able to walk on the roof I won't be able to fly the Drone but what will I be able to see active leaks if something is active I will get it I will catch it and that's really important um I can go another day really quick and see if the singles how they look from the outside like I don't have to have access to the house right I can arrange again and go on the top but the main thing is that I went to the attic in a rainy day and I didn't find any leaks in the report I also would write that I did not inspect the singles or the roof on the exterior because of the weather high winds uh snow rain all these count okay as long as we report it we have to report everything that we inspect or we do not inspect and why why we did not inspect it so discoloration deterioration um it can be as I said evidence or it can be something active that I see discoloration will be something like a stain and deterioration would be something that it's broken something that it's uh damaged right um thank you for participating in the chat I like that now suspect I know a lot of inspectors will say now that suspect actually is not recommended for inspection reports but in right in in real life there is there is uh a point that you can actually use it now why it's not allowed because usually you are there to as we said Observe and Report not to suspect you cannot imagine you cannot uh assume things but there is a point that only like with evidence of like two plus points uh you can make connections let's say okay let's say that um inspection is like a puzzle that we put together all the pieces right so we go to inspect and a wall and we see a a stain discoloration is it wet yes okay why what happened there is there a line in behind the drywall that runs and leaks is it uh is it uh on near the window and there is a flashing that is leaking um so you go to the interior you check click okay you go to the exterior you check click okay hm you go to the attic might be the at least here in Georgia we have them uh the um the fairness up there um in the Artic so maybe that's leaking and it goes in the behind the drywall and you see the stain in one spot on the on the drywall on the wall so all these you have to not just see one area you have to see all the surrounding area and figure out where is it coming from a lot of times you can a lot of times you can't and if I go in the interior wall and I say a stain but on the exterior I see that it's missing the flashing or some or there is a gap then I will put both in the report and I will say I found this stain that it's wet and excessive moisture or so or something and then this is the view on the exterior s suspect connection then you in my opinion at least you allowed to say you suspect that but of course you have to recommend further review evaluation and you know repair as needed by a licensed contractor now we go to the last one review repair replace by a licensed contractor or qualified contractor in a lot of situations a home inspector has to be either licensed or certified um if you are not if you if you are in Georgia the home inspectors uh they are not expected to be licensed they don't need to they are not required but that's why we go through interi we get our certificate and we become Master inspectors and we in general we try to provide information to the clients and the realtors that hey we know what we are doing well similar to that I cannot suggest a handyman that he just knows things to go to repair something in a house that I inspect I recommend a licensed contractor I recommend a licens roofer a licensed plumber uh someone that can support his uh repairs and have liability and someone that he will not disappear um after he repairs something and do a handyman job meaning a nonprofessional job of it works it works it's not technically correct but practically it works I don't like that I want everything to to be right so these are the main things that you will see in a report I know that I might skip some but also we have limited time here so these are the main things that you will see as a realtor in the report again and again and especially when you use the same home inspector it's good to know what what exactly does he mean with what he says and what he writes uh and make it easy for you and your client when they call you and they ask hey like what does he mean there um so I will have a couple of things to say a few more things to say and then uh we will be done but um key sections of the report again not all the inspectors around us will have the same categories I think that most do but keep in mind we are not all in the same po we are not doing the same thing and we do not uh use the same softwares either way all right I will start with the summary in my report the summary is listed last um but it's something that I recommend verbally to the realtor and to the client that uses me to read first um it's like a blurb like a summary on the back of the book that explains the plot and makes makes you buy the book or not um that's what my summary is uh by listing the summary last also motivates hopefully the clients to review the whole report until the read the summary um but it's the most important things that I found now follow because we have a few things here to say um first of all my report goes as a go like roof exterior interior attic and things like that um but then it splits to major minor and tips the major are the most important issues deficiencies things that I see per inspector per me because the client might consider something else important for example I go to the Cross space and I find substance growth um yeah that m word that we don't say mold uh everywhere in the cross space well some will say this is the house I want I don't care I will spend 10K 10,000 extra to fix it some will walk away they will be like no I don't deal with that I have it in the summary I have it in the major I have it like hey this is a health issue this is a problem this is expensive too for some though it's not for some they're like no I don't care so again the major are important issues per inspector um it's all in the eye of the beholder um and his pocket a lot of times now minor things I put them there because uh also it eliminates uh questions it uh I say you see that patch you see that uh dry stain in the uh in the kitchen ceiling well I saw it too and it's dry I put my moisture meter it's dry nothing to worry but I want you to know that I saw it it's there it's in the report instead of them calling me when they move in and they say hey you didn't say anything about the Pats is it a problem can you come back to see it what's going on great communication is a key um and then you have the tips that it tips uh you know um for for for maintenance uh some uh Sant cook around windows uh openings things like that and after you P the client purchase the the house they will know that oh okay I can go to my report and see a list of things that uh I can do to maintain my house yearly and I like to provide that to my clients takes more time but when they leave that nice five star review you know that you did the right thing um and last but not least privacy I talked earlier about the softwares that all the inspectors might use different softwares privacy is something very important to me and it should be to you as a realtor to you as an inspector to you as a homeowner seller buyer to everyone um how much uh an inspector cares about you as a as the client or the realtor and the safety um and your safety is very important um how how would you all feel here for example if I get the email or your login information and um I sell them or I give them to someone else that can use them to sell your stuff that that's exactly what's happening with a lot of softwares they take the information that we type in their the clients email name phone number sometimes even credit card stuff that's why you have to have really good secure uh protocols uh and what do they do they take them and either they use them to call the our our clients for uh to sell stuff like internet connection uh Security Programs warranties and things like that or they sell them to other companies and then they get money there are some inspectors that they know these things and from those inspectors some that they care and some that they don't I care I that's why the software that I use I made sure from the beginning to ask and the owner said that he does not give any information they are private um so yeah and there are some other inspectors that they don't know these things they don't know that their own software does that so it's a good opportunity if you are one of them to know to get to know it now so maybe a good question maybe a good question would be to ask your uh your inspector am I secure with you is my privacy secure am I still keeping everything private when I choose you so keep that in mind um I do see one question I do I see it I will answer soon uh Tom um now do me a favor write in the chat as well or please let me know uh verbally uh if you enjoyed the webinar if you learned something even if it was one thing new that would be great I would love that uh some of you might agree and some of you might not agree with uh with some things that I said but um for inspectors I hope that I said something that really worth to consider it to use it in your business for the Realtors and agents that we have here I hope that you can uh read between the lines now of the report and or understand the report better for the homeowners buyer sellers I hope now that you understand how you can ask what you can ask and how you can choose a good inspector and I hope you will read the whole report and understand better now and um this might not be all uh like U all written the same way from all the inspectors around us say again but it's a good template to have for now I would love to hear any questions I think we have a few minutes to to answer and uh I like all right as I said this is my first webinar so I will try to take the to answer all the questions from the beginning that I see uh I appreciate that you all got some good information here now Tom Tom asks which software do I use um I'm not trying to sell anything I I personally use inspector tool belt um Ian Robinson is the owner and uh one thing that I love about them is that even on a Sunday when I had a question that I had the problem they solved it within literally 10 minutes their customer service is amazing I don't know how they do it and then um the Privacy is important and the great communication I made my own template and honestly I recommend them but yeah not trying to sell it just answer the question all right I think uh I appreciate uh all the good comments do we have any other questions all right well well if you if you don't have any other questions uh yeah that would be it you can feel free to to exit [Music]