Yetter Inspection Services

My wife and I received our home inspection within the first few days of opening escrow by Lisa Yetter. Our loan approved last week, and the agents let us go into the home early to start getting quotes on some upgrades we wanted to have done before we moved in. Over the course of two days, we had 3 contractors, 3 electricians and 3 plumbers come out to get bids on the work. This ended up being the best thing I have ever done, as they all started to show me dozens of things Lisa had missed in our home inspection. I have since gone over the home inspection for the second time. The pictures that she took show many of the problems that have been pointed out to me by the bidders, yet they were never addressed in the report or verbally to me. They were just plainly ignored, overlooked or a lack of experience proves that she does not know the problems to look for during an inspection.
What follows is a brief description of the major problems that she missed. I have also added approximate costs to replace/fix these items, as well as a savings for each item that she said needed to be replaced/fixed and then ended up not needing to be. 
-The first plumber asked what our water pressure was when I asked them to install a pressure regulator per Lisa. I said I did not know because Lisa never measured it. The plumber asked me how she knew I needed a regulator if she did not measure the pressure. I have no idea. He measured the water pressure and it was at 80, and we therefore did NOT need a regulator. (This saved us approx $400). 
-Upon removing each and every wall plate to look at the electrical outlets, the electrician asked me how many outlet covers Lisa had removed. She did not open one single outlet cover. The electrician went on to show me how about 50% of the outlets are major fire issues because the original wiring, from the 1930's, are so frayed, cracked and brittle that a single spark from plugging something in could cause an electrical fire. It wasn't just the wiring, but the fact that the wiring was loose and mm's away from the outlet ports. This was easily seen by the naked eye by just removing the wall cover, about 30 seconds to do. Even I could see the concern with no electrical experience. 
-A plumber showed me a 10'x10' area of mold in our basement. This was so easily noticeable that I am embarrassed not to have seen it myself. The plumber noticed it right when we went downstairs and told me to get a mold inspector over to the house right away (we did and it is infact mold that needs to get remediated, approx $3200 to do so). When the plumber asked what our general inspector said about the mold, and I told him that she did not see it, he replied by saying a full refund should be required to have missed something this major.
-A plumber showed me a 5" diameter hole in the main exhaust pipe. The moisture from the hole in the exhaust is what is causing the mold problem above. That pipe now needs to be completely replaced (meaning the bathroom wall needs to be ripped open, the pipe needs to be replaced from the basement to the roof exterior, the wall needs to be replaced and the bathroom repainted, approx $3400). Lisa missed this problem even though the hole is in the pipe in her pictures.
-While Lisa does not cover termite inspection, the damage from the termites under our addition is so severe that the mid spans supporting the home are not even touching the cross beams. This is a structural issue, which should fall under Lisa's inspection. There are dozens of examples of this throughout the addition. A simple tap or touch of the support beams would have shown them completely loose or crumbling into air. This is a major structural issue. So sad to have gone unnoticed when all that was needed was to touch a piece of wood. (Approx $2200).
-Again, major termite damage on the exterior eaves. All of the 2x4s have 2-3" gaps away from the house. A plain, visible sign showing that termite damage exists and that those pieces of wood are no longer supporting the house. Should have been written in the structural section. 
These are the major issues that were missed by Lisa. The most disturbing fact is that Lisa never once suggested getting an electrician or plumber or mold inspector in the home to look at the issues she did not fully understand. I wouldn't have cared if she would have said that additional inspections were needed because she wasn't qualified to voice her opinion on the matters. It took my wife and I wanting some nice updates to uncover these issues. All of our updating money is now going to items that should have been in the inspection that we could have then negotiated with the seller to fix or give us credit to fix. What a shame... 
Needless to say, please do not use Lisa. Her lack of knowledge and experience is going to cost you in the long run. Also, if I may add my own advice, either get two home inspections done, or get one done and have a plumber, electrician and a mold inspector to inspect your house as well. The additional money spent will be WELL worth it. Lisa alone cost more than the plumber, electrician and mold inspector combined. You're looking at $1000 for all of these services (general inspector, plumber, electrician and mold). 

Lisa Yetter is the owner of this company.  It was great working with her.  I definitely recommend her as a home inspector.  She performed a home inspection for us on a 1923 house in Silver Lake.  Her report was very thorough and included a lot of photographs.  She was very informative and it was clear that she knew a lot about older homes.  She really took the time to explain things.  We accompanied her during the home inspection and she spent almost four hours with us.  She has been a great resource ever since.  She supplied us with recommendations for other contractors and gave us some great advice on dealing with an older home.  We also called her to follow-up on her report and she spent nearly forty-five minutes with us over going over the report  which I thought was pretty amazing.

Lisa Yetter is smart, professional, experienced, honest, and supportive. She'll tell you if a property has problems (as my first two failed escrows demonstrate) and will be as excited as you are when you find that magical house that, although it may need some TLC, is the perfect one you've been looking for. Lisa's incredibly thorough report and fearless digging through every crawlspace, attic and dark hole, along with clear photographs of what she found, make it possible for me to make a knowledgable decision and negotiate effectively with the sellers.  She encouraged me not to be intimidated by permit issues on the house (mine was a serious fixer-upper that was unappraisable) and to be optimistic about the hurdles I would have to jump with inspectors and costs. It turned out she was right at every step of the way. Thanks to her help I saved tens of thousands of dollars where other contractors had told me I would have to hire engineers and architects at the very least, and that it would take at least a year.  We moved into the house 6 months later and as of August we have been completely finaled on all permits, 11 months after closing.  90% of my success in this project was thanks to Lisa's intelligence, professionalism, good rapport with everyone she works with, and warm encouragement. (The other 10% was luck.)

I have also referred her to many friends now for home inspections, aside from the three I had on my own projects, and everyone has been impressed and completely happy with the results. Her own background as an investor and flipper of properties, not to mention her time in architecture school and her great love of historical properties, were invaluable. We're now done with our project but I worked with her every day for over a year, and it was a great experience start to finish.

I contacted Lisa on Friday, the 21st of October and being we had a deadline,  she was able to schedule us for the next Monday, the 24th. She arrived promptly on time and ready to work. She had all tools necessary with her, including ladders etc. She had given me a quote on the phone and the house is very large. She had not realized there was a guest house as well, just square footage. The work took her about 5 hours, with no breaks and she was VERY thorough. I have to say that I was a bit concerned in hiring a woman for what has traditionally been a man's job. However, I am a true believer in women's rights, so I went for it. I was so happy that I did. She was  better at the job than any man I have ever hired, being polite, easy to work with, prompt, courteous, and more than fair. Her report was exactly on time, delivered the next evening.

Please see the above.

Lisa truly preserved my sanity.  She came to my home, did a short inspection and told me what problems I might encounter.  We then set a date to meet at the permits office.  She really walked me through that entire process.  Because I had no building plans, no paperwork, etc., Lisa's suggestion was that we say as little as possible and get the least expensive remodel permit that we can.  She did all of the talking.  We learned that because by house was in an Historical Preservation Overlay Zone, I was going to have go present in front of the HPOZ committee and they would have to approve the outside appearance of the house (color, window type, roof, etc.).  Although she didn't have to come with me to the meeting, she did and I was so glad!  Again, she did most of the talking!  After I got the required permits, Lisa met the inspector with me.  She, again, kept me calm and cool-headed.  The permits will finaled and I'm in the clear!  I could not have done this without Lisa!

Lisa Yetter provided a very thorough home inspection. As a first-time home buyer, I had a lot of questions about the house and Lisa didn't mind answering any and all of my questions. She took me around the house and explained to me what she was looking for and what she was finding. She took a lot of pictures and provided a full report two days after the inspection. I would definitely recommend her when in need of a home inspection.