While Lisa and Jim Pieper rhapsodized about the spacious kitchen cabinets and cheery morning light in their prospective 66^th St. bungalow, the master inspector/owner of Fischer Home Inspection in Wauwatosa peered under the kitchen sink, shining a flashlight at the garbage disposer and running his hands over the pipes.

"We could put our microwave here" theorized Jim Pieper, 27, stretching a tape measure across the room.

"I'm going to have room to use the bread machine," mused his wife, Lisa, 28.

 Meanwhile, Fischer was snapping light switches off and on faster than a post-nap toddler, flicking every cabinet door, pulling out drawer after drawer, turning the faucets on full blast. His expression was impassive as his eyes darted and his fingers probed every square inch of kitchen space. The home's current owner waited quietly, possibly nervously, two rooms away.

 "These are the original cabinets. They might have new doors. Very durable, well built," he pronounced of the birch woodwork. "The bread board – that's a real plus. Most kitchens don't have them anymore." The Piepers smiled.

 Fischer's detective work took 2 ½ hours, covering three pages of items (actually 20-30 pages). Among them: crawl spaces, electrical box labyrinths, insulation-stuffed attics where you dare not inhale, dark dank corners inhabited by curled up millipedes. Such items are new to first-time buyers like the Piepers, but critical to the successful maintenance of a home.

 Fischer uncovered some deficiencies such as inadequately vented attic insulation, basement seepage, roof shingle cupping, gutter disrepair, a cracked slab and misattached collar beams in the garage, the absence of smoke detectors, and a roof chimney overdue for tuckpointing. But he praised the home's sturdiness, old-world craftsmanship and beautifully maintained woodwork. The piepers predicted the house sale would take place in late spring as anticipated.