Just 2 Minutes - Interviews by Kamil Sarji

2-What Should a Real Estate Agent know about Home Inspections with Sam Bianchini from CMS Home Inspection

• Kamil Sarji, Sam Bianchini • Episode 2

Share episode

Send us a text

Welcome to the second episode of "Just 2 Minutes" with your host, Kamil Sarji! In this episode, we sit down with Sam Bianchini from CMS Home Inspection for a fast-paced and enlightening conversation.


Highlights:

  • Rapid-Fire Questions: Get to know Sam with a series of quick, fun questions.
  • Home Inspection Insights: Sam shares his expertise on various home inspection services, including septic and well water inspections, radon testing, sewer scope inspections, and mold testing.
  • Industry Challenges: Discover the common issues found during inspections, such as vermiculite insulation and asbestos, and learn how to handle them.
  • Personal Stories: Hear about Sam’s experiences in the field, from surprising inspection finds to dealing with home buyers' misconceptions.

Whether you're a real estate professional or a homeowner, this episode is packed with valuable information to help you understand the importance of thorough home inspections.

Don't forget to subscribe, like, and share with your network. Let's grow together and make real estate transactions smoother and more informed!


Follow Us:

Stay updated with our latest episodes and insights:

For more information on joining our team or how we can assist you with your real estate needs, reach out to us today!

Whether you're a seasoned agent looking to stay ahead, a newcomer eager to learn, or a client seeking reliable real estate advice, "Just 2 Minutes" offers a wealth of information in a convenient and enjoyable format. Join us as we explore tips, tricks, and insights from industry leaders and professionals that can help you navigate the dynamic world of real estate.

Join Us:

Tune in to "Just 2 Minutes" and elevate your real estate knowledge. Subscribe now and never miss an episode of quick, insightful conversations that make a big impact. https://kamil.buzzsprout.com

Stay Connected:

For more information on joining our team or how we can assist you with your real estate needs, reach out to us today!

Kamil Sarji:

Welcome to Just Two Minutes. I'm your host, Kamil Sarji. This is where I ask someone a bunch of questions for two minutes, And then after that, we talk about, your business and the industry. So let's get started. You got a timer here so we can keep on track. And I'm going to put this here. Okay. Ready?

Speaker 2:

I'm ready. My body is ready.

Speaker:

Oh, by the way. Look at this. I'm promoting you. Very nice. You have the shirt on, I got

Speaker 6:

All right. Ready? Uh, so it's starting the timer now. Okay. Uh, if you were in a store and this, uh, old lady, um, an antique store, if the old lady broke. Something antique in there and you saw her. Would you tell the owner that she broke something?

Speaker 7:

I don't know. Probably not. That's her, the owner. I'd let her deal with it. She should tell the owner herself, right?

Speaker 6:

Yeah, like what's she doing in there? That's what I

Speaker 7:

would do if I broke it. I'd tell the owner like, oops.

Speaker 6:

Okay, good. Uh, all right. So you're visiting, uh, you're, you're a prison Just doing, you know, a tour. Doing a tour on the prison. And, uh, the guard leaves you alone for a second. And there's an inmate in, you know, behind the cage. Um, cage or bars, I don't know. Um, and he's like, Hey, could you do me a solid, man? Could you reach out to my girlfriend and tell her I love her and give her this message? Blah, blah, blah. Would you?

Speaker 7:

I would, but I also have come with burner phones for all the inmates. So he could call her himself.

Speaker 6:

That's nice of you. Um, okay, so, you have gum and you're like, I need to, like, I need to spit this out. Would you spit it out in, uh, from your car in the parking lot? Or would you spit it out uh, you know, leaving the building in the parking lot, walking?

Speaker 7:

I, I would swallow it. You can swallow gum, it's fine. It won't stay in your intestines for seven years. Oof. So that's your only option, but I would have probably had a wrapper with me and just put it in a wrapper and then throw them in a trash like a civilized human being. That's nice.

Speaker 6:

Yeah, I hate, um, that's my pet peeve is like stepping on gum somewhere. Yeah, it's gross. Uh, have you ever eaten a worm? No. Okay.

Speaker 7:

I don't even like those goomy worms. They're too gross looking. They look like worms.

Speaker 6:

Have you seen someone eat a worm in live, like in person?

Speaker 7:

Not that I recall. I wouldn't be surprised if it was a kid in school that I think would have done that.

Speaker 6:

Have you ever, uh, killed a human being? I'm just kidding, you don't have to answer. Every Thursday, every

Speaker 7:

Thursday. It's a ritual for me.

Speaker 6:

Oh my gosh. Sam, Sam.

Speaker 7:

Did I do okay? Did I break the law too much? You

Speaker 6:

did alright. It was just random questions. Just curious. Oh, man. After these, like, two minutes, I'm like, Adrenaline's pumping. How about you?

Speaker 7:

do you. Let me ask

Speaker 6:

you a bunch of questions. Yeah, well, you can make your own show and ask questions. But, Tell us about yourself. Tell us what you do. I'm sorry, I didn't even, I didn't even introduce you. I'm talking about myself. That's Kamil Sarji. Tell us about yourself.

Speaker 7:

I am me. My name is Sam Bianchini. I run and operate CMS Home Inspection.

, Speaker 6:

I've always pronounced your last name wrong, but the way you said it I don't

Speaker 7:

care. No, yeah, it's C H in Italian is supposed to be a K pronunciation. I don't care. Bianchini,

Speaker 6:

Bianchini. Bianchini,

Speaker 7:

Bianchini, Smith, Johnson.

Speaker 6:

That's Italian? Yeah. Yeah. Do you go like that when you say your

Speaker 7:

name?

Speaker 6:

Yeah. Being, being keen. Mario. Luigi. He's marinating his own ragu. Ragu. So you do home inspections. What are the things that you, that you inspect? Cause I know, I mean I know a lot of home inspectors and some do some things, some don't do other things and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. So what do you do?

Speaker 7:

So I do. Home inspections, Rhode Island, Mass in Connecticut. I do septic inspections in Rhode Island and Connecticut. I do well water testing and inspections here in Rhode Island, Mass in Connecticut. Radon testing. Sewer scopes inspections as well. Also offer mold testing, either air samples or surface samples. Either with or without inspections as well.

Speaker 6:

Wow.

Speaker 7:

So kind of anything inspection y related, , basically the only things I don't really test for is lead and asbestos because the licensing for that is a bit of a hassle.

Speaker 6:

But for the

Speaker 7:

lead,

Speaker 6:

don't you need like the pen? You'd be like

Speaker 7:

Um, they use the x ray gun now. They still do scrape tests in Ashley. It's kind of interesting that they do that still. Ashley, The child, , if you adopt a kid, I guess, the, I've had a client where they had to get the, , it tested, the house that they were buying tested prior to buying it because they had a kid in foster care. And the state came out and did it themselves, and the state doesn't use the gun, they still just use scrape and then send it to a lab. It's Okay. Good old government. It's a little work for you.

Speaker 6:

Yeah. No, I've seen the, , I mean, I don't know how long ago this was, but,, they had a, they took out a pen in their pocket and they, like, drew. On the paint and then it turned red. They're like, yup, it's lead. I want to use that.

Speaker 7:

Isn't that

Speaker 6:

easier than using the paying so much for that stupid, , x ray gun?

Speaker 7:

Yeah, , x ray gun penetrates deeper for one and, , they do still make, you can buy stuff for yourself online of like swabs that you'll touch a surface and if it's lead and you put in a color, it changes the color of the swab. But that's all limited because that's just surface only.

Speaker 6:

Because with the pen, like, isn't there a way to, like, trick it to not penetrate through to get to the lead so they can paint something that doesn't. The pen,

Speaker 7:

like I said, I don't see that used anymore. You just say, the industry standard these days is the gun.

Speaker 6:

Well, you know what? I go to Job Lot and I give them a hundred dollars and they take out the pen. And they do nothing on it. Yeah. Yeah. Same thing. They still use it at job lot, but it's, I know it's different, but they should have a gun to know if, like, if the money is real or not. It's money.

Speaker 7:

Lead on your money, you

Speaker 6:

use lead money. That's, that's a heavy wallet., alright, so that, that's with lead. What about asbestos? Besides, like, sniffing it to see if it is asbestos or not.

, Speaker 7:

yeah, I, I like to just chew on it. Yeah. It's got a texture that's very distinctive, and a flavor., you know, asbestos eaters, there's common items we know that are. Contain asbestos, , or that possibly contain it at least like for making lights. There's a chance Aerocell insulation on pipes, you know steam pipes that stuff's pretty obvious But there's a lot of products that had asbestos in it that you wouldn't know without testing So it's always limited anytime you do inspection back in the 70s. I believe there was a product It's sold from China, it was just drywall but it contained asbestos. You would never know your, it just looks like regular drywall. You go into someone's house you wouldn't know if they had it or not without testing it. so that, it's one of those things you can't ever identify during a regular home inspection., You know, it's uncommon though.

Speaker 6:

So vermiculite, not many agents know about that., I mean, they probably not, not have not run into the, into Vermouth. Like, can you talk about that? Because I had this issue a long time ago and , pretty much like broke the deal because the home inspector said, Oh, vermiculite, that means asbestos. So vermiculite

Speaker 7:

is a mineral. First of all, you can go to the home depot by in the garden section, it holds on to water pretty good. So people use it for pot plants. Vermiculite is a mineral. Asbestos is a group of minerals. And there was a brand of vermiculite insulation sold in North America, particularly, mostly, , America, not Canada, but I think it made its way into Canada a little bit too. And it, the quarry that they were mining the vermiculite from had a strip that was contaminated with asbestos minerals., So it got mixed in with the vermiculite, they would sell it in bags, and people would use it to insulate. It's like a loose insulation they'd put up in their attic., so there's a chance that vermiculite, any vermiculite you see in America, is probably sold by Zonalite, and there's a chance it was contaminated. You can test it. And it may or may not contain it, because it depends on where they dug their bag from in the quarry. So you have to take multiple samples in multiple areas. EPA says if you have it in your attic, you should just, you know, one of the things with asbestos is if you don't disturb it, it's not considered a health hazard. So if it's in a non friable condition where you're not breathing particles, it's not a concern. So the EPA's stance on vermiculite is if you see it, assume it likely contains it, unless you do tests and confirm one way or the other. just don't use that attic space. So if you have it in an attic, don't store stuff up there. They tell you not to cut holes in your saline on for your attic, like putting in a bunch of recessed lights and stuff., you know, so you can, you don't have to remove asbestos. If you have it, there's ways to work around it. It's as long as it's just like with asbestos floor tile, you can encapsulate it. You know, there's different ways to deal with it., From my perspective, zonal, , vermiculite, you know, it's something to note, definitely in informing a client. I wouldn't have straight up told them it does contain asbestos. I would say there's a chance and I would have recommended testing. I would inform them too about the EPA stance on it. I always would defer to them. They're experts more so than others., But, you know, I've seen it where it causes issues because people, I did a house where a flipper cut a bunch of recessed lights and now it was coming down the walls and it was in the cabinets of the kitchen and the bathrooms from the plumbing pipes that they ran. And it's a flipper. Didn't know what it was. So you just flipped, you know, flip is going to flip.

Speaker 6:

Wow. That's insane. Yeah, that's really bad. So with your home inspections, like your, The many that you've done, was there ever a time where something really bad happened? Like something blew up?

, Speaker 7:

there was one time I want to remove a panel cover. And, , what was it?, once I got in there, I noticed a wire was loose and, , you know, I always check the wire to see if they're secure and stuff. And it sparked a bit. Which it's not supposed to do, but it identified the issue. It was funny because since it was so loose, I shut off the breaker and removed it so it would be safe until an electrician could fix it. Because you don't want to leave a loose connection there that could overheat at any moment. And the cellar agent was kind of annoyed at me for that. He's like, oh, so you just disconnected one. Prevented the wire from melting. You're welcome.

Speaker 6:

Right. Wow. So speaking of the panel, , I know licensed electricians brought up this big issue with, , with inspectors opening up the panel.

Speaker 7:

Where's the, that, that, that, yep. So nothing, nothing happened with that. The bill died in, in the Senate floor, Congress, or wherever the hell it was., Never got passed, never got enacted. It's still in the licensing laws for home inspectors in Rhode Island to remove the panel cover. It still says that in the SOP, standards of practice. We must remove the panel cover. Only times we don't have to is if it's basically would pose a hazard such as if the panel cover itself is energized. Which I luckily haven't come across because I'd be dead. Because I never checked them like you're supposed to., Yeah, none of us do. It's where you got in a bad habit of that., but yep. You still have to do that. They are trying to do that. They've. Electrician unions have tried to do that in almost every state in America. And every single time, no state has enacted it. I don't see it going anywhere. It would be ridiculous if it did.

Speaker 6:

These electricians are so busy, how can they I mean, you have to pay them to come over, open the panel, yup, it's good, or nope, it's not, pay me a thousand dollars to fix all these things.

Speaker 7:

It would definitely affect,, your ten day contingency windows. It definitely affect the pricing. I mean a home inspection is a hell of a deal at the end of the day the amount of things we're looking at and Reliable for if we miss For the price we're doing is kind of insane So an electrician is going to charge you a good amount just to come out and do that And yeah, good luck finding one in 10 days. Like you said, , The other issue is conflict of interest home inspectors were legally not allowed to do any repairs Even if we're, even if I'm a licensed electrician too, if I owned CMS electrical company, you know, if I find an issue in your house in Rhode Island, I'm not allowed to do any repairs on that for any company I have a vested interest in for a minimum of 12 months after inspection. So I can't come to you and say you have this issue with your electric. hire CMS electric and I'll come out and fix it for you., because for all, you know, as a consumer, I just told you a little lies.

Speaker 6:

Or it could be a company that you invested your half owner of until, you

Speaker 7:

know, so yeah, you're not legally allowed to do that. My concern from that is electrician is someone unscrupulous going to come out and tell you, Oh, your panel needs to be replaced., hire me on a house you're buying, and there was nothing wrong. I actually had that happen one time. I was trying to sell my house, and I needed an electrician to go out there. My first house I was selling for 12 years ago. And I just need a couple of double taps fixed on record. I mean, I should have really opened up and looked at it myself, but whatever. It was just one of those things. First time I sell in a house and think them through. And the guy came out and it's a GE panel with a little tiny mini breakers. You can still go to the store. There's tons of them out there. He told me it was antiquated. You can't get pats for it anymore. And he told me I should replace it. Because he thought I was the buyer, he thought I just bought the house and just moved in. And he thought he could upsell me. I'm like, nope. I'm trying to sell the house, do as little to it as I can because it is what it is at this point. And , if I was a stupider person who didn't know that you can, it's not antiquated, it's not like it's outdated, it's not like a breaker you can't buy, you can just walk into Lowe's and get it. And he tried selling me a whole new panel because he saw money.

Speaker 6:

And that's what drove you, I mean, that and the being in the home inspection, that's what drove you to start your business.

Speaker 7:

Yeah, isn't it? Kind of. Yeah. So some of that, , I've gone through the inspection process myself, buying two houses so far and selling the one, , first home inspector, missed some stuff that I thought was pretty obvious., , You know, it was kind of interesting. It was a Massachusetts licensed inspector. So my guy told me not to use a Rhode Island guy because back then there was no license. And he missed some stuff that was pretty obvious. You know, like the roof, he said, had some damage and needed to be repaired, but he failed to mention it was an asphalt shingle roof on a flat roof, which you can't do. Oh man, yeah. That's common knowledge., if I had walked a roof and I would have known that even though I was an inspector, I was into an inspector back then. Yeah. So first year I moved, living in the house. Water damage all over my roof, all over my bedroom ceiling, I have to replace that whole section because that is a flat roof section. So that's just something I think a home inspector should have caught., wrong material on a wrong roof slope. Doy, pretty obvious., you know, and then when I went to sell that house we had a licensed guy, , well a Rhode Island company here come out and did an inspection and said, A lot of stuff that was kind of interesting, like he said, because I had cloth jacketed, non metallic sheathed wire, and that the whole house was on safe, electrically speaking, that those wires are older, yeah, but they all had grounds, they were all, the jacket and the sheathing was all in good condition. Said some stuff like I was missing a window, like he said I literally didn't have a window, and I did have a window, I tapped on the glass and stuff, it looks like, it looks like the glass is there, yeah. I don't know what happened there. And there's some other stuff that like, I think he could have confirmed, like he wrote, he couldn't confirm with my bathroom exhaust vented to outside, but because there was no attic access in that house, I'm trying to fan on walk outside. You can see the damper of the, of the exhaust open up.

Speaker 6:

Yeah.

Speaker 7:

That's what I do for my clients. It doesn't, it's not hard to do that. You open a door and walk in.

, Speaker 6:

So another question is, , what percentage of homes that have a bathroom fan that it's not connected and not venting outside is actually venting to the, to the attic? What percentage of homes have, have it set up the wrong way?

, Speaker 7:

I mean it's one of the more common things I see, yeah.. What percentage would you throw at it?, you know, 60 percent maybe 60 percent 60 percent are vented outside. Sorry. 40 percent

Speaker 6:

aren't 40%. Yeah.

Speaker 7:

It's

Speaker 6:

holy mackerel. It's pretty

Speaker 7:

common., new construction. You won't see that really because I mean that,

Speaker 6:

you know, you're just, you're a showering. All the steam gets vented and stays in the attic. And what happens after that? Like

Speaker 7:

you'll get a little mold growth just in that location. I see that. So I see mold in the attics a lot. And It's odd because every time I see mold in an attic, , the agents always ask me, is it, is this bathroom venting up in the attic? And I'm like, well, in this case, yes, in this case, no, but the people seem to think like if you vent a bathroom exhaust fan up in an attic, the whole attic's going to turn to mold. In my experience, it's just a little pocket area right where the fan's blown onto. So, I come across a lot of molds in attics because attics aren't, aren't ventilated correctly. You need intake and exhaust vents, and if you don't have the right mixture, your attic's gonna get too hot, too humid, and it'll promote mold growth. So, I've gone in attics where it's mold all throughout, everywhere, and the agent's trying to say it's because the bathroom wasn't vented out, and I'm like, yeah, that's not how this works.

Speaker 6:

Yeah.

Speaker 7:

But, yeah, it's pretty common., my favorite is when they bother to go up there, put a little louver damper on it in the attic to keep like rodents from getting in the duct, I guess, and going in. I don't know. It's interesting stuff. Oh, that's awesome. I'm like, yeah. And I've had flippers do that and they try and argue with me, well, the attic's vented so I can do that. So I'm like, no, you're not supposed to, but okay.

Speaker 6:

So I got two more questions., first, , I asked if there was any,, any crazy blow up that happened, but while you're walking around with a buyer, looking at a home has in your experience, I mean, in your database, have you ever had a buyer touch something or do something they weren't supposed to? And. Mess up No, so bad.

Speaker 7:

No, luckily not. No, I have had buyers when I'm showing them the panel I tell them always keep your hands out I'm gonna put my hands and I know where not to touch and where not to but I've I had one older guy Start reaching in he wasn't gonna he said he wasn't gonna but I got nervous because And I just kind of pushed his arm around and was like, oh, sorry, sir. And I was like, you're calling me sir? Well, that's weird. But, I mean, that's the thing that makes me a little nervous. I want to show the clients what I'm talking about on the panel. You'll see the photos, but sometimes you need to explain and they want to see right there. You know, and sometimes it helps to explain with the agent present so they can see too. Because the report's gonna be brief. I'm gonna, I'm not gonna rattle on my report. Any issue I find is going to be like two sentences to explain it, identify it, and recommend a repair. So it's good to sometimes go over it. But yeah, I just, I just don't understand why some people fail to need to, I'm showing you, you don't need to reach and go, what's that? You're just, just, you know, this, this

Speaker 6:

wire is hot. Touch it. See how hard it is.

Speaker 7:

Yeah. Some people, they don't understand. I've, I've gotten my test done. I've shown them like the spine, the main spine, like, all right, there's a hundred amps right here. If you touch this with my little test, I'm like this part right here. If you touch that, you're gone. Bye. Speaker 6: Yeah. They're like, oh, wow, I didn't know that. Okay. And then they step it back, step back a little further. Yeah., Speaker 6: you know, so I have, I, , I've been on home inspections and I've also like, , been around with contractors or construction or whatever., usually me, it's someone else standing there, but the home inspectors like. Digging down and their butt crack is showing and, you know, we're both staring at it, like me and the buyer or buyers, we're all staring at the butt crack and it takes about like a few seconds to realize, yeah, and then we look at each other and then we look away like all embarrassed. So that happens, that happens. Well here's the thing. You should say thank you to that inspector for the free show. And maybe carry some pens and drop, or pennies and drop

Speaker 6:

them. I don't know, I don't know why we have to like, we look at it and we're processing and then we're like, You can admit. Oh crap, and then we look at each other all embarrassed and look away. No, you're not embarrassed. You like it, it's fine. So how do you prevent that from happening to you?

Speaker 7:

I wear extra long undershirts underneath my work shirts. Okay, nice. Tuck them in. Because I have a very high butt crack myself.

Speaker 6:

I think I've seen your butt crack before. So this must have happened. You'll use this must, this must, this must have happened in the last couple of years or so. Oh goodness. So Sam, awesome. Thank you for. For coming in and getting interviewed by me. What did you think of this whole thing?

Speaker 7:

Very nice, very nice. Awesome. I kind of want to touch your head. Very nice. Finest skull in all of Rhode Island. Thank you. Alright. Have a wonderful life.

Speaker 6:

Over here. Thank you. Point, point at them. Smile. Alright.

People on this episode

Head Shot

Kamil Sarji

Host