I made the call and the appointment is set. Actually I never made a call. I did stop in to see the bank President in person. I happened to be in Roswell, New Mexico. And decided just to stop in and see the bank president. He was very surprised to see me. We had a lot of catching up to do. I was busy, so I kept it to the point. "I need your help", "I have a friend that's a good credit risk, He needs to refi his home , he lost his job (eyebrows raised up a bit) but not t worry, he did get another one a week later but makes a little less than before." "Could you do me a personal favor and review his loan and see if there is any help you and your bank can offer"? "I would have to have our loan department look into this and give you a call back." "I don't want you to call me back, I will giv... 01/03/2012

Avalon Apartments in Carlsbad, New Mexico. These new apartments are located on San Jose Blvd. in Carlsbad New Mexico. They are in phase two of construction. There will be over two hundred unit when completed. Carlsbad department of development was heavily involved in this venture. Have a great day in the Rain my friends. Best, Clint mcKie Desert Sun Home Inspections, Carlsbad, New mexico       01/01/2012

The Active Rain train for 2011. Wow, what a ride. As many of you here in the Active Rain community knows. I just hit the 200,000 point mark. It's been a long time coming for me. Here at Desert Sun Home Inspections, we strive to present the best inspection and best report we can. The reports are usually ready within a couple of hours after the inspection. There are posts that I have posted here for all to see and some were controversial to say the least. But for the most part, I think I have done a pretty good job on keeping things "on point and to the point". This is a post everyone should read. I really liked all the responses from my last post "Is it greed, or is it just me". 165 comments. Another good post was all about being the "best of the best". 88 comments. Then there is a post ... 12/30/2011

Is it greed, or is it just me. Let me get this straight. You buy a home from a seller. You then have a local bank finance the home at a certian percent interest. This loan is for thirty years. So far so good. After ten years of making payments, you find out you are being layed off. Now you have to take a lower paying job and the house payment you could afford is now not a realistic amount. Now what? You contact the bank to talk about the "issues" of not making the same income as before. Refinance he home? What if the bank says no. Then what? My question is this. After making all those payments for all those years, all the interest the bank has made over those years means nothing? What about the large amount of cash the bank has made from your payments? I'm not the best person to ask abo... 12/28/2011

Is it too early to toot my own horn? 2012 is almost here. Now that the Christmas Holiday is over. The next task for my business is to get all the things done for the business plan for the upcoming year of 2012. I hope that Desert Sun Home Inspections has a banner year. I still have a long list of things to do as I try to muddle through the rest of 2011. I still have a long list of "to do's from a lot of advice I have received here in the Rain. As I try to build a better client referral base, set up better page "seo's" and all other things. I can't help but think about getting in better with all the agents here in Carlsbad New Mexico. I hope to have a greater presence in the buying and selling markets with the three counties I serve. Heres to all the Members of the Active Rain Membership... 12/25/2011

Are you the best of the best? Or are you happy with where you are? With 2011 coming to a close I often wonder about being the "best of the best". What exactly do'es that mean? I am not sure if I want to be on a "top one hundred list of the most successful inspectors in the country". It all comes down to what you want from yourself and your business. 1. If money is the only reason you are in business. Then you need to rethink why you are in business. 2. If helping others is a top priority, then I think you are on the right path to success. 3. If you "measure" success with a bank account and not by satisfied customers. Then you might want to rethink the way you do business. If I was to measure my bank account and say I was very successful, then I would be lying to you. I really don't make... 12/22/2011

Over 6,000 comments, and I'm still here playing in the Rain. I joined Active Rain in August 2010. I did'nt know what to do or where to do it. Clint McKie and Desert Sun Home Inspections I started out with a few comments on posts I could understand. Probably leaving comments that did'nt make a lot of sense. Newbies are like that. To date I have made 6,009 comments. Remember when I read your post I "read the post". I generally have a comment that is thought out and usually has a question attached in it somewhere. I rarely post a comment that says "good post" and that's it. I try to leave a joke if possible. Some may think I have a "dry sense of humor". Others get a good laugh out of what I leave in my comments.  I try to get the blogger to get involved in their own blog. Get them thinking... 12/19/2011

Open houses, or just an ambulance chaser? I have been going to a couple of "open houses" when I have the time. I need a little feedback from Realtors who are at open houses. What do you think of inspectors who show up unannounced.  I generally introduce myself and give them my quick little speech about my business, then leave a couple of cards and leave. Do these cards end up in the trash? It's a good question, I have not gotten one call from a card I have dropped off at a "Open house". Is this a good Idea? Or will it seem like I'm just an ambulance chaser?  I don't want to seem pushy, but I would like to "get my company out there for more Realtors to see". Thought's any one who has "Open houses going on". Would I even get a second thought if I was to drop off a card? Or would you consi... 12/17/2011

Home inspection report for Carlsbad New Mexico. Last evening I was at the office reading and commenting on Active Rain posts. That's when the phone rang and it was a client I had completed a home inspection for a couple weeks ago. She is an older widow woman with a desire to sell her home as soon as she could so she could move to Florida to live with her children. When the report was finished I e-mailed it to her. I also sent her a small message to thank her for using Desert sun home Inspections in Carlsbad New Mexico. The report is very easy to use. All you have to do is click on any part of the report and there it is for you to read. This is how the call went. Hi Clint, remember me? This is Ms. "B" from Carlsbad. Yes Ms. "B" how are you doing? "I'm doing fine, but I want my money back... 12/16/2011

Year end sales report for 2011 This is a year end sales report for Desert Sun home inspections. With all the market reports that I see on a quarterly basis and sometimes a monthly basis. I thought it would be nice to see what is up or down in my market of inspecting. I offer all kinds of inspecting. Not just Home Inspections. Home Inspections, up 30% Insurance Inspections, up 26% Site Inspections, steady up 3% Freight Inspections, up 16% Commercial Inspections, up 40% Energy Audit Inspections, Down 35% Foundation Inspections, up 100% Lease Inspections, up 41% Vehicle Inspections, down 28% Health and safety Inspections, down 32% Rental Inspections, down 18% The up side of inspecting is out weighing the down side. We have rocked steady for 2011. I hope to add a couple more inspectors this... 12/15/2011

Home sales stay steady. With all the negative talk on Home sales by the National media's. It's good to see that home sales for Eddy county remains at a steady pace to keep pace with last years numbers. Prices were not really hurt by the current nationwide down turn in home sales and foreclosures. I recieved e-mails requesting a little more detailed information on homes that were inspected by Desert Sun Home Inspections   They are all closing this week or Monday next week. This home is closing Friday at 10:00 A.M. This home is closing this week. Thursday at 9:00 A.M. And there are more homes ready to close. This is really good news for the Realtors. Have a great day everyone.   12/13/2011

Fewer Certified inspectors. Good or bad ? As for me I'm a little worried. I always try to check out all of my competition on the web. Maybe they have an "Idea" I could use to my advantage. But recently when I did a home inspection in Artesia New Mexico, the buyer said he found me through the Internachi site  inspectorseek.com   He looked  for a local inspector who could do a home inspection. A few years back when I was getting certified with the Internachi association, there no less than 6 inspectors within seventy miles of me. Now if you enter the zip codes for Carlsbad 88220 or Artesia 88210 You will find only my name and company as a certified inspector for the area. Is this a sign of the times? Or is this a way to put your competition out of business? I don't want to out anyone out ... 12/11/2011

Is brick and mortar forever? Not really. When prospective buyers are looking at properties, they want a siding that will last forever. Or at least what they think is forever. The less maintenance cost's the better. Here are a couple of examples of not maintaining your property for the buyer. It's the little things you need to pay attention to. This home is for sale. And the home owner say's it's no big deal. Then it should have been reapired before I showed up. This picture is showing the missing mortar from the joints of the brick siding. This is an open hole leading into the wall cavity. This could have let in Rodents or even worse, Bees or termites. Remember when looking at a home with Brick siding. Check out all the joints. It may be in the need of a lot of re "Tuck pointing". There... 12/09/2011

Paying it forward. It's really cold here. This past week has really been cold. We have had a few inches of snow and it's been cold all day. In the last couple of days it's been warming up a little at a time. With that said, The wife had a neice move here from San Antonio Texas. She brought her four kids with her as she wanted to start a new life closer to her family. One of her kids is a big boy. he has not stopped growing and is really out growing all of his clothes. They stopped over or dinner and I asked where his coat was and he said he did'nt have one. His mom said he had "out grown his clothes". After they had left, I told thew wife we are going to Wally world to see if we could get him a jacket or coat. We went there and found a good jacket and bought him a couple of sweat tops a... 12/08/2011

Home inspections. Are they worth the time? I know it's a silly question, but there are still Realtors out there that are dead set against having a home inspection done on a home that is  "for sale" on the market with a realtor as the listing agent. I was talking with a Realtor from an out of town firm Saturday, when the Realtor told me that getting a home inspection was a waste of time. I was a little surprised when he said that because I had just found a lot of issues with the home. He told me that when buying a home you are taking a "risk", and that if you buy a home then you are buying "what ever comes with the home including the issues it may or may not have". I told him he would have a mechanic look at a car he wanted to buy, the same thing here. We as inspectors are trying to see ... 12/06/2011

I can't believe it! Another one. Yes another home I inspected Saturday had a lot of issues with the electrical. And with the venting going into the attic. Notice the Federal Pacfic Panel and breakers. What's with the center of the breakers. The breaker that has leads to nowhere. And they are turned in the "on" position. This unconnected dryer vent into the attic is not the only attic issue. There are two more vents from the utility room and the master bath that are not connected to any thing. This uninsulated duct work is not a good thing. It will help you defeat the purpose of keeping thing warm or cool depending on the seasons. This was a pre sale inspection. Along with other issues, this home has some repairs to do. Even if you own your home. Get a home inspection at least every ten ... 12/05/2011

An apology to all Active rain members. A cry for help. I guess I feel like a politician right now. Having to apologize to a lot of people and hoping they forgive me.  As some of the members know, I have been having all kinds of "server issues" it seems that the over paid Techie guy can't get it figured out. It takes me forever to get onto a post, then even longer to get the comment made, then I need to delete the second comment, yes it comments twice. I am not ignoring all of my members I am subscribed to, simply having all these issues. I will get back to you when the Issues gets fixed.  Is there any one who knows how to get this problem fixed without having to trash the entire system as suggested by my "Techie guy"? As everyone that I know in the Rain, knows full well I like to commen... 12/02/2011

Now that you know everything. Is it time to move on and start your own company? The inspection process is just that "a process" in which I never stop learning about new ways to inspect. Just about every type of business out there has "learning curves. The inspection business is not any different from any other. Every day presents new challenges. Everyone has to find their place in history. Here on the Active Rain network most everyone knows I have been really busy with inspections. I did add a couple of part time inspectors that worked about thirty hours a week each. I would spend a lot of time educating them as to how to "inspect the right way". But now that they have six months of inspecting under their belt. They think they know enough to start their own business. Thus leaving me beh... 11/30/2011

Free air conditioning nobody wants. Sometimes we find things that just don't make any sense. Here we have a very big problem with the ceiling of the furnace room. It has a large vent in it. There is no "fresh" air intake for the furnace or the water heater. Both run on gas.   Notice the vent and the pipe running through it? What a mess. There is not a "fresh air intake" for the water heater or the furnace. With the vent in the ceiling of the furnace room, it will and has caused the "chimney effect". This will cause you to loose heat and cooling through the process of "chimney effect". A fresh air intake needs to be installed and the ceiling needs to be closed. Heat rises. The vent will let all the heat in the home go right out through the ceiling into the attic. This is something that n... 11/27/2011

Roof's out of sight, out of mind? In most cases, yes. As everyone knows there are a lot of roofs out there. Each and every home has at least one on the top of it. It may sound funny talking about what everyone already knows. But the fact is, the roof is one of the most neglected parts of a home. Here is a home that had a new roof installed just five years ago. But the standpipes did'nt get the upgrade. Was this to save money? Unknown. When a new roof is installed, have the boots replaced as well as the roofing components. Everything on the roof should be the same age as the new roof installed.   This boot was not replaced when the new roof was installed. Notice the color of the sealant used on the shingles for a seal, then look at the sealant used on the pipe it's self. A lot older than... 11/25/2011