Our inspectors receive extensive training all over the Houston, Dallas-Fort Worth, Austin, and San Antonio markets. During their training, they encounter a wide variety of homes. They gain knowledge and experience in inspecting different foundation types, older homes, newer homes, homes on waterfront property, homes in planned communities... One of the by-products of the experience that this provides them, is that they sometimes encounter surprising things. A few of our inspectors have been kind enough to share some of their quirkiest finds with us:
A couch that upon first sight appeared to be upholstered in green fabric. After being in the home for some time, the realization was made that the couch was actually maroon and the green color was the result of mold growth on the couch covering.
It’s important to check a crawl space, for safety reasons, before crawling under the home. One of our inspectors found a machete hanging down into the crawlspace between the floorboards of a deck. Yikes!
While in an attic space, one inspector came across what looked like a mummy. While it was likely a holiday decoration, coming across that unexpected prop was probably a bit startling.
Snakes! More than one inspector has shared a story of having a close encounter with a snake while inspecting the exterior of a home. My personal favorite was finding out that a home we were scheduled to inspect belonged to a snake breeder. Thankfully, we found this out ahead of time and we were able to prepare the inspector to encounter hundreds of contained snakes once he entered the home. We have not *yet* heard of an inspector finding a snake hiding under the toilet lid.
Another crawlspace story - one of our inspectors entered a crawl space to inspect the foundation and when he shined his flashlight across the space to begin documenting his findings, he found coyotes resting under the home. It’s safe to say he got out of there as quickly as possible.
When confirming an appointment, our scheduling staff was told recently that there would be a robot in the closet under the stairs of the home that wouldn’t bother the inspector.
We highly value our inspectors’ safety, so we do our best to ensure that they have all the information that they need prior to entering a home. There is always the possibility of encountering surprises along the way, but thankfully, most of what we hear are amusing anecdotes.