Using the Camera for More than Just Pretty Listing Photos

I use my digital camera a lot for real estate to take many photos of a home for sale to use in photo slideshows, virtual tours and still shots on my websites.  Like some of my portable tools, it doesn't always stay in my car but usually sits on a shelf on my desk until I need it.  Sometimes I wish I had it with me when I'm out and miss a good photo op (still not sure how to download photos from my cell phone and I'm also not sure of the quality).

Yesterday I had a closing for La Grange real estate.  This was a nice brick home that passed the inspection with flying colors. 

Since the closing was a bit later in the afternoon we decided to take our final walk-through right before the closing.  It's a good thing we did since they were still moving and we were able to see that they had taken the basement bathroom vanity mirror which was not listed in the contract as being excluded.  But worse than that, we also saw a leak in the basement starting at an exterior wall and puddling up right before the drain in a room the seller had used for storage.

When the home was inspected this room was so packed with things the inspector was not able to get to all of the walls and there was no visible water.  It was also cold out and I'm thinking any water source or leak was frozen at the time of inspection.

Now that all the items were removed, we were able to see a winding crack that started at the bottom of one of the basement windows that got worse as it got closer to the floor.  The seller was not home, just some friends and relatives helping with the move.

As I was leaving my home office that afternoon I grabbed my camera, which I don't think I've ever done before when having a final  walk-through.  However, it was just to take some pictures of the area, I had no idea how handy it would come in for the property closing.

I took some shots trying to show the progression of the crack and the water stream and puddle.  As soon as we arrived at the closing I told the buyer's attorney who related the discovery to the seller's attorney.  The seller was very nice but seemed somewhat aloof.  She said she had never seen water and that she was there in the morning and didn't notice a problem.

I grabbed my camera and although trying to photograph a crack was not easy, you could definitely see enough (we had to look at the camera display itself since I didn't have a chance to print out any photos).  There was no doubt there was a problem.

The seller's agent called a waterproofing company and came back to us with $300.00 but told us that was an estimate if the crack was just in the concrete and not in the blocks.  I grabbed the camera again and showed them that the crack did start in the cement blocks and followed a twisted path where the blocks met each other.

We stuck with our $500.00 knowing the repair would probably be more.  The seller came back at $400.00 but finally agreed to our original request.  If I didn't have those photos it wouldn't have been so cut and dry and my buyers might have had to accept a lower amount.  The seller also agreed to return the vanity mirror.  Of course, these buyers thought I was their hero.  I will be bringing my camera with me more often now.

If you're interested in LaGrange real estate, give me a call at 708-536-8200.

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