Most expensive zip code areas for houseing

[Marcel R. Cyr]

Do you think inspecting some of these houses for $400 dollars would make any sense?

http://www.forbes.com/2007/09/10/zip...artner=yahoore

I don't think some of these houses exist in the State of Maine. ha. ha.

Marcel

[Larry D. Kage]

Quite the homes, Marcel.

The most expensive one that I have inspected was $9,000,000. It had four sections. One section was contemporary and included the garage. One section was like an old farm house and included the kitchen area and dining, etc. The third section was designed and built like an old barn. In fact, it was an old barn that was dismantled elsewhere, cleaned and rebuilt attached to the new home. It included the great room, fireplaces, grand stairs, some bedrooms up, etc. And the fourth section was fashioned after a chicken coop and incorporated additional bedrooms, baths, sitting rooms, etc. Then there was a large basement and 3 concrete slabbed crawlspaces. (I used a mechanics seat on wheels to scoot around...nice!) It had 2 huge German? boilers, four air handlers, four AC units, in floor heat, a 400 amp main panel and a bunch of sub panels. The out building for the gas meter, Condensers, Elec, etc. was a little log home. It was on lake Michigan to boot, of course.

[Marcel R. Cyr]

Originally Posted by lkage

Quite the homes, Marcel.

The most expensive one that I have inspected was $9,000,000. It had four sections. One section was contemporary and included the garage. One section was like an old farm house and included the kitchen area and dining, etc. The third section was designed and built like an old barn. In fact, it was an old barn that was dismantled elsewhere, cleaned and rebuilt attached to the new home. It included the great room, fireplaces, grand stairs, some bedrooms up, etc. And the fourth section was fashioned after a chicken coop and incorporated additional bedrooms, baths, sitting rooms, etc. Then there was a large basement and 3 concrete slabbed crawlspaces. (I used a mechanics seat on wheels to scoot around...nice!) It had 2 huge German? boilers, four air handlers, four AC units, in floor heat, a 400 amp main panel and a bunch of sub panels. The out building for the gas meter, Condensers, Elec, etc. was a little log home. It was on lake Michigan to boot, of course.

Larry, and now you are going to tell me that since it was such in good shape, you only charged them $299, right. ha. ha.

Marcel

P.S. Can't even think of a home that size.

[Larry D. Kage]

Originally Posted by mcyr

Larry, and now you are going to tell me that since it was such in good shape, you only charged them $299, right. ha. ha.

Marcel

P.S. Can't even think of a home that size.

It cost them a little more than that but I really enjoyed inspecting it. The movers were there at the same time but otherwise I had the run of the place.

Oh yea! The builder was there and we chatted throughout the day. He said he started physically building it in late 1999 and finished it in early 2003. How's that for a project, Marcel?

[Bob Elliott]

Larry I want to hear more.
How many hours did you spend there?
Were there componants so different that you needed to spend a long time researching?
How much did you charge?
Sounds cool ,yet intimidating.

[William J. Decker]

Bob;

A house is a house. Some are just bigger than others, but the inspection process is the same.

Here is one I did this morning (still under construction) in Winettka (Front and Rear views). They just took down three 100 year old plus trees in the front (sad, but hey, they own the place).

6 bedrooms, 7 bathrooms (2 half baths) with a set off "Guest House" connected to the main house through the center walkway and through the basement. The guest house is over the 6 car garage. 4 furnaces, 4 A/C compressors and 2 boilers (for the 2 basements radient heat flooring). Being custom bilt for 3.2 Mil. And that is not counting the 3 "bonus rooms" ion the 3rd floor of the main house.

For anything over 6000 SF, I charge 1/10 of 1 % of the sale price.

But I write a KICK A** report.

This one, I was called in by the buyers to do a phased construction inspection and have been going out there every two weeks or so to check on things. $150 per visit and a 2 page e-mail with the progress report. When it is done, I will do a full inspection at a 25% discpount from my usual price.

Get the buyers to trust you and do a good job for them. Their just laymen and don't know about the "details" and don't want to know (unless something goes wrong).

BTW: Found a painter, today, using Behr paint. The contract calls for Benny Moore. Let the GC know and he fired the sub, right on the spot. This is the kind of stuff that goes on with these big projects.

Hope this helps;

[Bob Elliott]

Yeah ..you get all the high end where you operate Will.
Any home or building has the same basic systems and componants I understand.
What Larry was referring to however sounded a little intimidating due to the fact he may have been dealing with some exotic looking items that he may have not have dealt dealt with in the past.
I look forward to his response.
Nice picture though.Guess I will get back to my TV dinner and dream some more.

[Scott Schultz]

Will,

For houses over 6,000 sq.ft, you charge 1/10 of 1% of sales price. So, if you are in an affulent area where the house is 7,000 sq. ft going for $5,000,000, you'll charge them $5,000 for an inspection?! I realize it's all relative in regards to price but that seems a little steep. How about the same size house in a not so affulent area that sells for 900,000? Same size house but you just inspected it for $4,600 less. Doesn't seem right to me.

[Larry D. Kage]

Originally Posted by relliott

Larry I want to hear more.
How many hours did you spend there?
Were there componants so different that you needed to spend a long time researching?
How much did you charge?
Sounds cool ,yet intimidating.

Hi Robert,

If I remember correctly I was there for about 9 hours...charged maybe 1,200.

When I did my first "large" home, it was intimidating upon first view. I have a routine that I use that doesn't vary no matter the size so it helps relax me.

The odd components were a elevator and a dumb waiter, both of which I deferred. Other than that, Will is correct that a house is a house...only bigger.

It really helped with the builder there because he would turn systems on and off for me as I inspected them from the basement or crawlspace. We communicated throught the intercom system and cell phone. I think that was the biggest thing I learned about time for inspecting the larger homes...have an extra person to run up and down and around for you...or maybe it's just me. as I get older.

[Bob Elliott]

Larry ..thanks for the extra info.One of these days I will learn to spell component. and I agree that on a big job a second inspector might be useful.

[William R. DeVries, CMHI]

7000 sq ft = 769.00 dollars, gets the same inspection as a 2000 sqft= 379.00 inspection.
either way my name is on the line and each client deserves my level best.
and I deliver to quality.
the only difference would be 7000 sqft will have a few more pics to identify the extra rooms and or added heating source and such.