Across The Table with Dionysius
Welcome to 'Across the Table with Dionysius,' where your host Dion Williams, a Mortgage Agent from Ottawa, Ontario, takes you on an exciting journey. Our podcast brings you the voices of leaders and professionals from across Canada, providing exclusive insights into trending topics and critical issues. Our mission is clear: to keep Canadian residents informed through the experiences and knowledge of our remarkable guests."
Across The Table with Dionysius
Inside the World of Home Inspections: A Chat with Inspector Nate
In this episode of Across the Table with Dionysius, we sit down with Nathan Boucher, a seasoned home inspector in Ottawa known as Inspector Nate on Instagram. Nate shares his journey from working in electronic sales to becoming a trusted home inspector and discusses the importance of home inspections in the buying process. He emphasizes the need for due diligence when hiring an inspector, shedding light on misconceptions, industry regulations, and tips for homebuyers. From understanding inspection reports to dealing with unexpected surprises, Nate provides valuable insights to help homeowners make informed decisions. Whether you're buying your first home or maintaining an existing one, this episode offers key takeaways that can save you time, money, and stress.
Find Nate Boucher at the following:
Nate Boucher
Phone - 1 613-277-8113
Email - n.boucher@mikeholmesinspections.com
Website - http://www.mikeholmesinspections.com/
Instagram - @inspectornate
Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/@inspectornate
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/ItsInspectorNate?mibextid=LQQJ4d
Find Dion at the following:
DION WILLIAMS
Mortgage Agent
Website - williamsmortgage.ca
Email - dion@williamsmortgage.ca
Phone - 613-902-2313
Welcome to Across the Table with Dionysius, the show that brings you closer to the movers and shakers, while mortgages are his bread and butter. This show isn't just about interest rates and loans. It's all about the conversation. Grab a drink and let's pull up to the table together. Whether you're into finance, tech, art or just fascinated by incredible stories, this is where you'll find a bit of everything, and now here's your host.
Speaker 2:Welcome to Across the Table with Dionysius. I am your host, dionysius, and today we have a special guest, nathan Boucher. He is a home inspector here in Ottawa. To be honest, if you haven't been in Nate's world, really, I highly recommend you check him out. It's Inspector Nate on Instagram. He's got some comical videos about the home inspection process and challenges that you may have, but, most importantly, it's educational. Welcome to the show, nate. Thanks for having me. It's great to be here, thanks. Well, let's jump right into it. Tell me a little bit about yourself and where you're from.
Speaker 3:Well, I'm from Ottawa. I'm born and raised in Ottawa. I grew up in the West End for the most part, and when I first got married, my wife and I actually decided to travel a bit and we ended up moving out of the city. We lived in the GTA for a little while. Then we had some kids and all of a sudden realized we need some support, and so we made the move back home to Ottawa. She's from Ottawa, I'm from Ottawa, so all of our family was here and that we did that in 2019, like six months before COVID hit and the world shut down, so we couldn't have timed it better. If we tried, we got very lucky with that, very, but yeah, happy to be back in Ottawa now. I live in the south end, so I'm out.
Speaker 3:I'm out in Kemphill actually oh nice yeah, nice, that's a growing, uh growing area. It very much is. Yeah, we're just outside of the city, if you want to call it, the town of Kemphill and um, it's nice, we're rural, so you know we've got a little bit of land and we got some chickens and it's, it's fun. It keeps the kids occupied and out of trouble.
Speaker 2:What I'm hearing is you're a type of guy that doesn't want to walk outside and touch their neighbors um, yeah, I mean, I like people, I'm okay.
Speaker 3:Right, my wife's definitely much more like. She likes to be in a quieter spot, um, but we really love it out there too. It's been great, and now, like you said, it's grown so much that you know you. You're only a couple minutes away from anything that you need, so it's still got all the things we need.
Speaker 2:I hear you on that. I'm assuming, as myself, I didn't grow up wanting to be a mortgage agent or a mortgage professional. I'm assuming you didn't grow up dreaming I wanted to be an inspector. How did you get into the home inspection industry? Do you have a specialty or a focus?
Speaker 3:That's a great question actually. Yeah, I mean, you're right, it's something that you know. When you think about, like when you're in school, people are like, oh, what do you want to be when you grow up? Home inspector is probably not something that rolls off the top of most kids tugs right, unless your dad's a home inspector or something like that. But yeah, for me it was basically kind of a series of things. I got into electronic sales when I was younger just as kind of like one of my first jobs and I worked in that field for a while and then I started in the service side of it. So I was doing a lot of AV installs.
Speaker 3:Pre-wiring, low voltage, was my specialty and as I got into that, I got into management there and I was managing a service crew and we started doing some commercial work and we started doing pre-wiring for new construction. And when I was starting to do those pre-wiring jobs is when I started to fall in love with the building process. It kind of exposed me to a different side of it versus the retrofits when the house is there and we're trying to figure out ways to get through it to a different side of it versus the retrofits when the house is there and we're trying to figure out ways to get through it, um, which was a challenge and kind of neat in itself. But seeing it kind of come from foundation up and being part of that process was really interesting. And that's where I thought about, you know, it would be kind of neat to to be involved in this in some shape or form.
Speaker 3:And I thought about various trades um, the the not easiest but the closest transition from low voltage would probably be to be like an electrician, and I almost went that route. And then I changed my mind and life, things happened and whatnot, and then I kind of had an idea to be in the home inspection industry and it just didn't quite work out at the beginning, but it was always something that I thought of. That was neat. And about 10 years after my initial you know, thought about that, I decided to just jump in and start doing some training and and, uh, yeah, I was in a much better spot and had had learned a lot more in those 10 years from working in those fields. And yeah, here I am, um you're wearing the shirt.
Speaker 2:Yeah, mike Holmes inspection yes, um, most people are familiar. If you're not familiar with Mike Holmes, I don't know where you've been yeah, for sure. You know. Tell us a little about how like you've branded yourself as a Mike Holmes certified inspector. Tell us a little bit how you became that and what that really means.
Speaker 3:So the Mike Holmes brand is obviously worldwide known. Yeah, for, for trust is really what he's done over the years Just building trust with his clients, trying to keep people honest, right, and that's something that always resonated with me. I you know, for me, integrity and my client experience is more important than anything. Yes, of course, you have to be able to provide a good product or service or whatnot, of course, but, um, at the end of the day, it really is about the client experience that makes that what it is. For them, it's something they'll remember, something that buying a house, selling a house, those are important things in your life and the more stress I can remove from that the better. So I wanted to align myself with a brand that does those same types of things, and that's something that the Mike Holmes team has always been big on.
Speaker 3:They've been running Mike Holmes inspections for about 10, 15, maybe almost 20 years in the Toronto area. It was originally created to basically support the Holmes Approved Homes Program, which where builders would sign on and build to a higher standard than, like the Ontario building code or wherever they are. They're, they're, they're all throughout North America and basically they set standards and then you know they have their inspectors come through and verify different processes in sorry different stages in that process. I should say so that when they do turn that house over it doesn't necessarily mean it's going to be perfect, but it's a step above what people expect. And then they stand behind their work and so that's kind of how they started.
Speaker 3:And then we decided to expand that and basically go across Canada and possibly in the States in the future and roll it out so that we have that opportunity for everybody, for whether you're a home buyer, seller, a homeowner seller, a homeowner who's looking to just get like a maintenance inspection and check up on what you're doing Maybe you're planning a reno and also, even if you didn't buy a homes approved homes you can always get us in to do a warranty inspection and help us, help you with their uh, the warranty submission to your builder. Okay, okay, that's that's really good.
Speaker 2:Um, in terms of myself and the way I run my business, education is key and that's one of the main reasons I had you on, because your page is really informative in terms of Thank you. It doesn't you cut through the clutter and say, listen, this is what it is, this is what the problem is and how to actually correct it. I wanted to have you on to shed some light with regards to inspections. Can you share something about the home inspection process that you want people to know, or dispel a misconception that's out there about home inspectors or the process?
Speaker 3:Sure. So there's two things. The very first thing, before I get into all of that, I would say is that home inspection as an industry, at least in Ontario, is that home inspection as an industry, at least in Ontario and in Quebec right now as well, is not a regulated profession. Okay, which means that you don't need a license to be a home inspector, unlike a mortgage broker or a realtor or a lot of other professions. And people might think that you do, I do, yeah, a lot of people do. And now a great realtor who's going to refer somebody? Generally, ideally, they've done their due diligence and they know that they're hiring or they're referring proper people. But, having said that, you can just slap a sticker on the side of your truck, call yourself a home inspector and away you go, and there's not a governing body that is checking that stuff. There are some provinces and some states that do have licensing. Alberta and BC in Canada are the only states that sorry, the only provinces that have licensing, and it seems like Quebec might be on on the bubble of of leaning that direction too, which is exciting to see, and I'd like, I would really like to see Ontario follow suit. We've had some legislation sitting there and it just has been kind of tabled for a while. So we'll see if we get there, um, but yeah, that's the thing. So you want to make sure you're getting someone who's qualified. And there are other um uh associations. They're not technically governing bodies, but there are associations such as, like CAPI the Canadian Association of Home and Property Inspectors, or OHI, in in Ontario, ontario Home Inspection. Basically, they set out standards and those are what we inspect to. So for us at Mike Homes Inspections, we are using the CAPI standards because we're Canada-wide, and then we have our set of standards that are just over and above that. But yeah, you want to make sure that you're getting the right person for that job. But yeah, you want to make sure that you're getting the right person for that job.
Speaker 3:The other thing I would say is that a home inspection is not a pass or a fail grade. Some people think about this as like, oh, they're going to pass or fail the home, and that's not really what we're doing. It's not like a building inspection for code compliance, like when the building's being erected. It's a little bit different. So we're basically going through and trying to give you a list of items that you can either repair, might need maintenance, or perhaps budget to replace in the near future to help eliminate those surprises. It's not something that would derail a sale unless you want it to. So the thing is from my experience.
Speaker 3:When I bought my house I inspected it myself. But when I bought my house I knew right away that I was going to need a new HVAC system, pretty much day one, because the furnace was super old. It was an old electric furnace and they had a pellet stove but there was no air conditioning and we needed that. And so we wanted to replace the furnace, get an air conditioning unit in, so we budgeted for that. That's not cheap. Then we knew that within about a year or two we probably were going to have to redo the windows because they were just old. There were some problems with them, so we could budget for that.
Speaker 3:And then the third thing is the roof, and that's the only thing I haven't done yet. That's on my list. But right away I knew that I had those three major systems to budget for. That's really the benefit of a home inspection where we saw problems, especially during COVID when people were having to waive conditions just to get an offer in because you couldn't be competitive. It was unfortunate because I did some inspections for people after the fact and they're kind of like, okay, what did I get myself into? And lots of times it was okay, and other times there was some small surprises that they weren't really excited about but they could swallow. And then there was some times where you're having to deliver some pretty hard news to people who were like I don't have an extra 50 grand to fix some things here, and that's really where it helps, I think, helping you budget and forecast for the future, um and in the immediate, and trying to identify things that you might not really know about, because most people don't build houses Right.
Speaker 2:So you don't know Right. Um, you touched on it in terms of the home inspection like a home inspector and it being the wild wild west, there's no regulation. You inspector like a home inspector and, it being the wild wild west, there's no regulation. You know, regular person not knowing anything. How? How do they know if they have a good inspector, like? What are? What are some things that they can look out for, or would you recommend that they look out for?
Speaker 3:So great question. So so first off, I would look to see if they're associated with one of those professional associations like CAPI, like OHI if you're in Ontario, internachi is another one and look at what their standing is with them. Those organizations will also list their members. So you can go on, say, for example, I'm a member of CAPI. So if you go on the CAPI site and you look at home inspectors in your area, you can find inspectors and you can see if they're registered home inspector, national certificate holder, whatever level they are with CAPI. So that that helps. That means they've gone through some, some training, some various, you know, training for over the years, depending on how long, like continued education, they hold insurance. That's a big one for me. I I hold insurance and I I tell people that I hold insurance, because if you're working with somebody who doesn't have errors and omissions insurance and something is missed and it becomes a major problem, would you say, that's a red flag ideally, yeah, like it's it's.
Speaker 3:It's a level of professionalism and for me, it's required by our associations, but it also covers our butts, basically in the event that there's something egregious that's missed. Nobody's perfect and sometimes people get sued and if they don't have insurance coverage, it's going to be a painful process for everybody involved.
Speaker 2:Now, with regards to that. Let's deep dive into that. So I have a home inspector come in. You know we have the conversation. Yeah, we're ready to go. Should I now say, hey, do you have insurance? Should I take their word for it, or should I actually see a document? Or is there somewhere online I can go and say verify? Okay, the person I was talking to does actually have insurance.
Speaker 3:Generally, a lot of the associations will require them to hold insurance, so that helps. So if they're listed with those associations and they have a certain standing, then yeah, then that helps. I wouldn't have any shame in asking somebody and I don't feel like if somebody asks me I don't get offended. I realize that people are, just they want to make sure that they're protected and I think we should have insurance. I know some people are like, oh, if they ask you, it feels like they're going to try and sue you. No, I don't think so. I think they're just doing their due diligence and that's totally legit. I proudly let people know that I hold a certain amount of errors and omissions insurance, of errors and omissions insurance. So I think, yeah, I think you can ask and you can also look up, like if they're a part of an organization or whatnot, and that kind of gives you a good starting point.
Speaker 2:Are there any other questions that maybe you would suggest people should ask when they're actually looking for a home inspector? Or, you know, narrowed it down to one or two.
Speaker 3:Sure, I think there's going to be different specialties or or at least um areas of of focus or comfortability. Um, if you are looking at a home, that say like rural, is a great example. There are certain things that are outside the scope of a regular home inspection. You might need multiple inspections there. So a rural example would be uh, you're on well, uh, you're on a septic system. Maybe you have a wood burning like fireplace, or a wood stove or pellet stove.
Speaker 3:Certain things, like all those three systems, are not part of a traditional home inspection. They're outside that scope. So there might be an inspector that might do additional ancillary services that may include those, but if not, you might need to get multiple inspections. So you want to double check that and even if the same guy's doing it, there's probably additional costs. So now you might be looking at the house, you might be looking at, say, the well and the septic, which may be two more inspectors. Perhaps Sometimes they might do both. Sometimes they're separate guys, and then maybe you need a wood burning one. I was on an inspection the other day and we had four inspectors on site. I was doing the house, someone else was doing what's called a wet inspection, which was the wood burning, someone else was doing the septic and someone else was doing the well. Yeah, so you know it's something to that client was really covering their butt.
Speaker 3:Well, inspection is usually going to be or at least a water test is usually going to be required by your lender. I'm sure you're familiar with that. Yeah, it's just one of those things. They want to make sure there's no bacteria Now there's ways around it to clean it if there is sometimes, but they want to make sure that we're dealing with a clean situation.
Speaker 2:Um, speaking of of builders, um, when I purchased my first property back in the early 2000s, it was at a point when uh, mattamy and Minto were were fighting and beefing over territory and uh and I purchased a Mattamy home and periodically, as most people do when they're, you know, purchasing their first home, they'll go in and take a look, even when they're not supposed to. And, and you know I did, I did that and there were go in and take a look, even when they're not supposed to.
Speaker 2:And you know I did that and there were trades there and you know I would ask them certain things and they would comment, and one of the things that I kept hearing was the word crap. They were like, hey, you know, at least you didn't purchase a crap house. And I was like so, finally, eventually, you know, I built up the courage and I was like what are they talking about with crap? I hear that a lot and they it's reference to builders. So at the time it was, uh, claridge, richcraft, ashcroft and phoenix, and I was like, wow, you guys have acronyms for the level of homes or builders in the city and and I was like, wow, and you know you hear horror stories of people purchasing homes and, and you know, missing insulation or you know, um, different things that are missing in your experience. Um, are there builders or companies that people should maybe be more cautious of than others when they're looking to purchase a home, whether it's a new home or an older home?
Speaker 3:It's a great question. So, with regards to new construction, I don't generally name builders, and the reason for that is because there's two parts to it the the builders, generally act as more of the project manager, um, and then take care of the warranty uh side of it. Where you're, if there's issues they brought up, they should get those repaired, ideally for you if they're within your warranty scope, right, um? Whereas the trades and the subcontractors are all the ones who are doing the work and we're seeing, like a lot of industries, a shortage in skilled labor right now and it's tough. It's a tough one. So you might have an issue with a particular builder in a certain area because they're using certain trades and they're having trouble. You might have a different builder who is completely across town. Maybe they're using the similar or same trades and they might have the same types of problems. So it's not specific to that.
Speaker 3:For me, a good builder isn't necessarily like yeah, it'd be great if it's right the first time, but for me, a great builder is the ones who double check some of that work and also stand behind their product. So I've worked with some people where they say and also stand behind their product. So I've worked with some people where they say I had some problems, I brought it up to my builder. They came and they fixed it pretty quickly or came up with a solution. If it wasn't, say, something wasn't available or anything like that, supply chain was a problem too, right? So something like that. That's great, that's good, that's nice that they were able to take care of that. I've had other people say like I had something, you know, and I got the runaround and the communication was poor and I still feel like I'm fighting them and it's like a year or two years later and that's a problem, right.
Speaker 3:So, and that can depend on the builder, it can depend on just your warranty managers, it could depend on trades, the community there's so many factors involved there. There are some builders that are many factors involved there. Um, there are some builders that are, uh, the focus is different for their business, right. So some of them are smaller builders and so they're they're focused on a smaller amount, maybe, and they might market themselves as being like boutique or like higher quality or whatnot. Right, and ideally, part of that is giving you that you know, handholding throughout the process. And there are other builders who are more on the side of volume builders. So it's like shopping at Walmart you get a bit of a discount but you get what you get sometimes, and it doesn't mean that it's a bad product.
Speaker 3:But you might need to go through some processes to get some things tweaked or corrected and stay on it and tweaked or corrected and stay on it. And so that's where I think we can really help out, because you'll get a PDI or your pre-delivery inspection right when you're taking possession and they're going to go through some main things and ideally they catch some things or at least give you a list. But generally when I do an inspection, either for a 30 day or a one year warranty sometimes both for the same client we're usually going to find a few extra things that can be rectified and submitted to that builder for correction. And I've had some clients who've talked about it and say, yep, thanks for that report. Like I was able to submit this, we got these things fixed.
Speaker 3:The client doesn't really generally most homeowners they don't build homes, so it's a little tough with that situation now where it's like you buy a house and the way it's kind of positioned this is pretty much you know most builders where they're like okay, let us know what's wrong and we'll take care of it. But if you don't know, you don't know, you don't know what to look for Right, and so that's where we come in the builder, and then, of course, they go through that warranty process Right and move things along.
Speaker 3:That's right.
Speaker 2:I know, for me it's not all sunshine and rainbows every day. You know, being a mortgage agent, I do enjoy what I do, I really enjoy what I do, but there are days, you know, it's just they suck. Yeah, sure Curious in terms of you being a home inspector. What's something you hate or don't enjoy, and then what is something you really enjoy that you do?
Speaker 3:So I'm a pretty positive guy, okay. So I do really like my job as well. So any day I'm inspecting I'm having a good day. Now, having said that, of course, nothing's perfect. It's still the job at the end of the day.
Speaker 3:You know, it's tough sometimes when you're coming into a home and you haven't really been set up for success. I would say, you know, if you're selling and this plays more into like, uh, like buyers and sellers versus new construction Okay, um, I would say, sometimes it's, it's tough. Um, you're coming into a home and it's, you know, maybe maybe it's tenanted or maybe you know there's, it's occupied and, um, it's just not set up, so I don't have access to certain things. You know, I've been in a few places where I'm trying to inspect something and I'm trying to help my clients, but it's kind of a hoarding situation and it's like, okay, well, I can't get to the electrical panel, I can't really see the front, like it just really limits what I'm able to provide in terms of value. And and that's hard because I want to. You know, I don't want to just take people's money and be like sorry, I couldn't see anything take people's money and be like sorry, I couldn't see anything.
Speaker 3:You want to do your best right, of course, and sometimes that's you know that happens where you get in there and you're like I'm going to assess things as best as possible but there's just some things that I can't see and so limitations play into that. There's always going to be some limitations, but we can. You know the sellers and the agents who do a really good job with like, decluttering and making sure that it's, you know, easy to get to the certain systems. I love you guys. Thank you so much. There's a, there's a and there's lots of them. There's a lot of great agents out there and there's a lot of responsible sellers out there and it's amazing working with those people, even if I'm on the other side of the transaction.
Speaker 3:I love it and I, you know, I've I've left notes sometimes just being like thank you so much for presenting a great home that was really easy for me to inspect. It doesn't mean the home was perfect, but it means that they did their due diligence of like, preparing for an inspection, so I didn't have to go hunting for things or trying to. You know I have limited time, so I'm not going to be able to disassemble a whole closet to get to an attic or something like that, and people don't want me to do that anyways, they don't want me rummaging through their stuff. So so that's, I think, one of the things that provides a challenge that when you roll up to a house like that and you kind of you step in and you first see that you're kind of like this is going to be a little longer than.
Speaker 3:I wanted it to, but it is what it is, um, but and there's other things too, like weather can be a factor, um, but having said that, I like to take the positive approach. If it's raining, yeah, I'm going to get wet. It's, it's going to be a little bit, you know, miserable perhaps, but there's going to be things that I'm going to be able to see, perhaps that I wouldn't be able to tell. So I can tell if, if the gutters and downspouts are draining properly, I can tell if the roof is leaking, I can tell other, you know, the siding and whatnot, like there's issues with, you know, water penetration in the basement, stuff, like that Positive mindset I like that, yeah, so so there are some some benefits, um, on those ones, you know, the clients are less likely to follow me on the outside, which is totally understandable, um, but I'll do a wrap up with them anyways. But yeah, that's kind of kind of those are the things that they can make for longer days for sure.
Speaker 3:The thing that I love the best, honestly, is really just helping people. I'm a big people person and I just love whether I'm educating or just helping somebody make a decision on something. I don't advise them to buy or sell or any of that. I leave that with them and their agent, because I don't know their whole financial situation or their family life. It totally varies, right. So that's a big part, but at least I can give them here's the house and I can answer the questions about certain systems what you may need to do to get certain things. Give some timelines, give some light budgets and whatnot, so that people can make an informed decision. You know light budgets and whatnot, so that people can make an informed decision.
Speaker 3:And, um, you know, sometimes there's there's a uh, nothing major, but there's a lot of little things, and maybe that just puts it a little bit out of reach for somebody, or at least they have to to think about it a bit, versus, like um, you know they're coming in, you know, oh, maybe they noticed there was a broken window, um, and they noticed that this wasn't working or it was disclosed by the seller that they needed to do something. Sure, we're all on the same page. You move in, you've got some work to do, but that's part of homeownership, right? As long as you understand that, then that's great. But if you don't know that, or if you come in and you don't realize that, and then that's a big surprise. That's where it hurts. So we're trying to eliminate surprises.
Speaker 2:So I like to help people with that, speaking of the report that you touched on, um, what are some questions that a home buyer, um or a person purchasing a house, should ask, either while you're on inspection or after they received the report? Like, what are some key things? Obviously, every situation is different, but maybe some quick things that people should look for, should ask, um. I think the first thing is um.
Speaker 3:So I would say, first off, don't be afraid to ask questions. So if we've explained something and you're not 100% sure what we meant by it, get clarification. A good home inspector inspects the home and tells you how it is. A great home inspector puts it in words that you understand and puts it in, versus talking like building science. What does that mean for you as a homeowner day to day? How do I maintain it? What can I do? Super important for especially first-time homebuyers. You might not have owned a house before and you might not be aware of what type of maintenance certain things require Changing filters for your furnace, if you have like hard water and you have a water softener, maybe you have to keep that filled with the salt, right? So there's a lot of things that are just general maintenance cleaning your gutters, stuff like that. It's if you've owned a house. It's just part of the routine.
Speaker 3:And if you haven't it, you know, the first year might be a little bit of a surprise, and so helping with that kind of stuff, so we try and help out. And then you could ask you know what, what am I going to? What do I need to expect to do seasonally? Um, that's, that's a good question. Um, you know how long does something last and we can kind of give you, and that that stuff usually is in the report as well. Okay, um, but it's, it's good to have a discussion as well. Um, yeah, just maintenance, things like that, um, they may not be aware of. So I try and lead those conversations and then, if you need clarification for sure, ask If you see something in the report that you're not really sure what that means. Ideally we've done a good enough job explaining what the deficiency is and what the implications are, but if not, let us know We'll help you out.
Speaker 2:Okay, I touched from the onset, uh, about your, your instagram page and the videos that you have. Uh, you have some crazy videos out there. They're great. Um, one that you recently posted that comes to mind is the, the wtf, where there's like wires going from one wall and they're attached in the wall, then there's wires going into the socket. It's, it's. Yeah, I highly recommend you go check it out that one blew up for me.
Speaker 3:I don't know if you saw that one, yeah oh yeah it was like over like three and a half million plays like it. Just it took off and my account blew up, was on fire. But people love crazy electrical because I think everybody knows a little bit, like at least enough to see something and go that is not how you do that.
Speaker 2:It's not. Yeah, tell us about a horror story for a home buyer that you know you inspected a property on.
Speaker 3:I'm assuming you probably had several, but yeah, there's always a couple things I think there's been a few where it's more dramatic, because it was like something either at the end or you go through a bunch of stuff. You're like everything's in pretty good shape, I'm going to go to the next step and all of a sudden you're like whoa. So I had a good example of that where I was doing one for somebody who was an out-of-town investor. They were there for the beginning, but then they had to take off. Somebody who was an out-of-town investor. They were there for the beginning, but then they had to take off. So I got through pretty much my whole process and everything. It was an older home, so they knew already there was going to be some maintenance. They were budgeting for that, so it wasn't surprising. We were kind of giving a list for them and so we kind of went through it and major systems were okay. There was some structural things that needed to be addressed, but not egregious, and so they were like okay, so I can set X amount of dollars aside and we should be okay and we'll see. As long as nothing major is there, I'm like, yeah, I'm just going to check the attic and do the thermal scan and then we'll be done. That's usually how I finish up my inspections and he's like okay, I have to take off, unfortunately because he had to get back to you. He was from I don't know a couple hours away, so he had to go somewhere else. No problem, I pop up into the attic, just covered in mold, the whole thing. So I was like I got to call him back now so you know, you can deal with it, but there's expenses now attached to that. So now he has to make a different decision.
Speaker 3:There's another one that I was doing. It was again. It was a century home. It was a fairly nice, decent location.
Speaker 3:The outside there were some question marks about certain things, and so it was like one of those situations. Like I was saying a lot of little things starting to add up like why'd they do that, why'd they do it this way, why'd they do this way? And you start obviously certain things weren't really done by a professional. So when you start to see more and more and more fixes that are kind of bandaid solutions or like it's not really the way you do that, it starts to beg the question of like this is what I can see, what can't I see?
Speaker 3:And so that's in some people's minds and then I went down to the basement or crawl space in this scenario it was more like a cellar, because it was a really old home. And it was a really old home and it was the spring and it was just completely flooded out, completely flooded, and now there wasn't anything going on down there, but still you have a lot of standing water underneath and you know, and that just seemed like it was, they were like oh, when they asked, and they were like oh, yeah, it just floods every year, like oh, okay, well, that would have been good to know before they put put their offer in right, wow.
Speaker 3:So, and sometimes that's the situation, but, um, yeah, yeah, I've had other ones where I, I've shown up and, um, it was the, the house was on the market, um, it was tenanted and the tenants were not happy, uh, and they were not happy to see me and they were not happy that the house was being sold out from underneath them.
Speaker 3:I think they lived there for a while, so they probably felt like, you know, like some detachment, which is totally fair, uh, and he had a big, uh, big dog that was pretty aggressive. Um, so, yeah, honestly, I mean, everything was fine, I'm here, nothing happened, but, um, you know, there there was some words. I was standing back a bit, there was some words between the, the, the realtor and the tenant and they kind of sorted some stuff out or at least calm down, but it could have escalated and those scenarios, you know, we're not going to put ourselves in danger, but, but, yeah, I, I felt confident enough that I could do it, um, but, um, yeah, those are ones where it's like people are like now everyone's on edge, yeah, okay, what's gonna happen? And then nothing against the animals. I love dogs, but like they pick up on the stress from their owners right so you know they start to go into protection mode.
Speaker 2:So um, okay, have some rapid fire questions here. Um what's? One thing people can't find out about you. That's on google that they they can't, they can't. That's. That's not on google's not on Google, sorry.
Speaker 3:Oh, I see. Okay, let's see. When I was in my kind of early 20s or late teens maybe, I took a bus from Montreal to the middle of Mexico and then lived in Mexico for about six weeks and then came back.
Speaker 2:It was a long bus ride. So Montreal, the where, the where, like Mexico, mexico, yeah.
Speaker 3:So it was part of like an international kind of you know aid trip and whatnot. We were working in some communities that were, like you know, needed support.
Speaker 3:So some of it was like working with various people and some of it was like building projects, um, and so, yeah, it was down there for about a month and a half, um, but yeah, we bust down. So yeah, it was like a everyone jumped on a 24 passenger bus from Montreal and it was about seven hours into Mexico, so it wasn't even just across the border, so it was. It was a long trip, okay. And then, um, our, this was also in february, um, and so we were prior to that, I was up in like northern quebec doing some, some similar stuff, okay, and in january and it was about like 50 below with the wind it was, it was really cold. And then we went down to mexico and it was like 25 degrees yeah.
Speaker 3:And that is obviously a terrible thing for your transmission.
Speaker 2:So the bus broke, but yeah, that's a crazy story in itself Must have been some great experiences, though it really was. Yeah, it really was A movie or book that you've watched that you'd recommend to anybody.
Speaker 3:So I was a pretty big film buff for a while. Um, I actually went to school for screenwriting. Uh, way back in the day I did a little bit of acting. I used to play in a band a while ago too, so it was pretty big. What's the band's name? Let's see if we can find you online. Yeah, well, one band that I played was called open sky, so that was uh, that was fun. We played for quite a few years, me and my brothers and some some buddies.
Speaker 3:Um, and then I played in another one real briefly, as more of a joke, uh called the cliches, okay, and we actually kind of sort of like a prank on um, do you remember the big money shot when, uh, no, live 88.5, the local radio station did when they first launched? They had this thing where they did the big money shot and it was like this huge battle of the bands and so they were doing and there was this big, you know, development money that was awarded every time, right, and so one of the last years they did it. We, we actually, um, we put together a band as a joke. Uh, all of us were like accomplished musicians and other bands, but, um, we put together a band, kind of think like spinal tap, but if it was more like about like oasis, like a 90s pop rock brit band, we dressed in costumes, we spoke in british accents, we created characters for ourself and like we would show up in character talking accents the entire night and then leave and like, and they thought it was great.
Speaker 3:Like they knew that we were messing around, but they thought it was great. So they just and you know, oh, they just flew in from england and it was all just this, really like poppy music that was super catchy but like, really, you know, kind of corny and yeah, yeah. And so we ended up making the finals that year because it was just too much fun. But yeah, so that was a fun one. Yeah, there's a song up there on YouTube by the cliches called Whoa. Check it out if you want.
Speaker 3:It's just like it's just pop dribble, but it gets stuck in your head.
Speaker 2:Okay, nice, you're stuck on an island and you have. You can only take three items and it can't be a person. What are you taking? Okay, what are you taking?
Speaker 3:I don't. Yeah, this is a tough one. So uh is, it is a salt water around me, or can I drink the water you can't?
Speaker 2:yeah, salt water okay.
Speaker 3:So I don't know, maybe some type of system to purify water. So I last more than two days um, and maybe some types of tools or something like a knife or something for survival both you know to to probably just fend off any animals and also to, uh, you know, hunt, cook and, yeah, you know, cut down trees or whatever I need um anything for entertainment value I think if I'm on the island I'm past that point yeah, you're trying to get off, to get back, yeah yeah, yeah, I don't know if I have cell reception and bring a phone, just call someone like hey, get me off the side, that might be cheating um, what's the best advice you've ever received?
Speaker 3:um, Um, what's the best advice you've ever received? Um, it doesn't matter as much as you think it does. I think, um, yeah, I think I saw someone else talk about something similar, where they're same same kind of question. They said, uh, um, uh, that it's, it's not that easy. Because it is that easy, and they're like, well, yeah, and this is kind of similar.
Speaker 3:It's like I think we get in our own way so often and really it's because we care about it more than anybody else and we're focused on whether we fail or succeed so much that that keeps us from trying or from really jumping in with both feet. And sometimes, if you want to do something scary, you you have to be okay with being scared and, um, how you interpret that. You know if you're going to be scared and hold back or if you're going to be like kind of scared but like this is exciting, let's see where this goes. Um, and sometimes maybe that's an oversimplification Like, sometimes there's there's a lot of things that you have to risk, but I think that's yeah, for me it is that easy and it's not that big of a deal to other people. People will be there to support you if they love you and if they're not there to support you, sometimes they'll come around when you have the success. Don't worry about that part, Just do your thing and yeah, Wow, it works out.
Speaker 2:I like that I like that Great way to close it out. So where can people find you?
Speaker 3:Instagram is a great way. I have both Instagram and Facebook. Same kind of content. It's just Inspector Nate on Instagram and it's inspector Nate um on Facebook. Uh, that's the best place to find me, um, and if you're looking for inspections, you know you can always call up or, uh, go online at Mike home suspensionscom. And if you request an inspector in Ottawa right now, I'm the guy, although I'll probably be looking to hire soon, okay.
Speaker 2:Well, um, thanks for that, Nate. It was great having a conversation with you, and that wraps up today's podcast. Catch you on the next one you've been listening to Across the.
Speaker 1:Table with Dionysius. Dion is a mortgage agent, but he has so much more on his mind, and on this show we picked the brains of some of the most successful people from all walks of life. We hope you enjoyed the show. If you did, make sure to like, rate and review. We'll be back soon, but in the meantime, find us on Instagram at Williams Mortgage and on LinkedIn and Facebook at Dion Williams, and hit the website at wwwwilliamsmortgageca. See you next time on Across the Table.