Here we answer questions about getting a home or commercial inspection, give tips on home maintenance, and share our knowledge about common home and commercial property issues. We are here to help you. If you can’t find an answer to your questions here, you can always contact us via our contact page.
Older Memphis homes have a character you can’t reproduce. Thick plaster walls. Solid framing. Architectural details that disappeared decades ago. They also carry materials that were once considered normal—and are now known hazards. If you’re buying a home built before 1978 in Memphis, especially in transitional neighborhoods like Whitehaven and
Some of the most expensive problems in Memphis real estate aren’t visible from the sidewalk, the crawlspace, or even the basement. They’re buried. Abandoned underground storage tanks (USTs)—often old heating oil tanks—still exist beneath many older homes in Memphis. They’re forgotten, undocumented, and in some cases actively leaking. When they
Earthquakes aren’t part of daily conversation in West Tennessee. We don’t feel them. We don’t see the damage. And because of that, most homeowners assume seismic risk is something that belongs to California, not Memphis. That assumption is wrong. Memphis sits squarely within the influence zone of the New Madrid
Modern home inspections are built around concrete. Cracks in slabs. Spalling in poured walls. Vertical displacement you can measure with a level. Midtown Memphis doesn’t play by those rules. In neighborhoods like Central Gardens and Cooper-Young, many homes were built long before concrete became the default foundation material. What’s holding
Most homeowners in Memphis are told the same thing when cracks show up: “It’s just settling.”That explanation might fly in other parts of the country. In Memphis, it’s often wrong. This city sits on a bluff of wind-blown silt called Loess, and when it fails, it doesn’t fail gently. What
Memphis has a reputation. Long before inspections, disclosures, or online listings, this city carried stories—some whispered, some shouted—about houses that feel wrong. Buyers don’t always say the word haunted, but they say things like: In Memphis, especially in older neighborhoods, those reactions aren’t unusual. But from an inspection standpoint, the
Boiler systems don’t scare me — neglected boiler systems do. In older Memphis neighborhoods, especially Midtown and East Memphis, boilers are still quietly doing their job decades after installation. They’re simple, durable, and when maintained, incredibly reliable. But when they’re ignored, modified poorly, or misunderstood, they become expensive and potentially
Commercial buildings in West Tennessee—especially in and around Memphis—carry risk patterns that don’t always show up in national inspection templates or generic due diligence checklists. On the surface, many of these properties look familiar: brick facades, flat roofs, aging mechanical systems, incremental renovations. The difference is how soil, moisture, climate,
The Short Answer (Here’s the Risk) Yes—many flipped homes in North Memphis look great on the surface and fail where it counts.In ZIPs like 38104, quick cosmetic upgrades often hide unsafe electrical panels, unpermitted structural changes, and rushed plumbing fixes that don’t show up until after closing. I see this
A home inspection in Memphis often looks a little different than inspections in other parts of the country. The city’s older housing stock, crawlspace construction, and local soil and moisture conditions all influence what inspectors focus on and what buyers should be prepared to see in an inspection report. For
Many of Memphis’s established neighborhoods were built long before modern sewer materials and installation standards became common. Homes in areas such as Midtown, Central Gardens, East Memphis, and parts of Whitehaven and Raleigh often rely on original or partially updated sewer laterals. During inspections, sewer-related issues are among the most
Crawlspace construction is common throughout West Tennessee, particularly in and around Memphis, Jackson, Brownsville, Dyersburg, and surrounding rural areas. While crawlspaces can perform well when properly designed and maintained, inspections in this region consistently reveal a set of recurring issues tied to soil conditions, moisture patterns, and older construction practices.
