I live in SW Utah and am a home inspector, in my 5th year, performed 1620 inspections to date.  In this area I run into Realtors that say they "can't" give my name only to clients because it is the law or their broker tells them not to, but to give out 3 inspector's names to clients thus to CYA so to speak. I ask them if they like my services and my work and if they think I do a good job and they say yes. I then say, will I understand the CYA thing but say a new family moved in next door, they have small kids and you have small kids. They come over to ask you for a baby sitter if you know any good sitters that are good with small kids and you say, well, Hmmm, let me give you the names of these three sitters and you will need to phone them and interview them and then you pick. Would you do that? well, no, is the answer I get. So I suggest that giving the name of a home inspector you really trust and believe in should be the same thing. Well here are my questions.

Is it really the "law" or is it a CYA thing that is considered The Thing To Do?

What do you, the Realtor, do? Do you refer a home inspector or give out a list of names?

Also, being here for five years now, some realtors have used our services only a couple of times. I know that some realtors are part timers and some are now doing property, new homes, developements and so they tend not to get home inspections.

Is there a way for me to find out why they have not called in the past year without sounding like I am hurting for work or begging for work or offended etc.? I typically will average 400 inspections per year which is plenty good enough for me and my wife, more work than this and we would have to hire someone to help out.

Also you the Realtor, what does it take for a home inspector to get you to use them even if you are very comfortable with the guy you now are using?

Oh, one more thing.  A lot of home inspectors here in my area are handing out coupons all over the place. I think it sounds like and looks like one of two things, one you are really hurting for work and two, as you know nothing is FREE so you must have bumped up your prices by $25 and then you offer the $25 discount. how do you look or feel about coupons from home inspectors?

Thank you for your time.

Frank Ross
Pillar To Post Professional Home Inspection
Enoch, Utah
check out our website  www.pillarposthomeinspection.com

 

I did a home inspection last week on a bankowned property. I got there on time and listing agent opened up the home for me. I found the water and the gas off. Told the agent. Well it is not HIS job to ensure the utilities are on, go ahead and do what you can. No I can't do that without speaking with my clients. I call the clients and they want all utilites on so I can do a full inspection. The agent is ruffled. I tell him to call me when the gas and water is on and we can reschedule. Three days later, calls and we set it up, he said he will leave the front door unlocked. I get there. The gas is on, the water is not. Call the agent. He said he 'thought' the water was supposed to be on as well. We reschedule. I go out there again and the water and gas and electric are on. I do my inspection. My clients are very happy that I was "willing" to make three trips to the home to inspect it for them.

The thing is that this listing agent never even said thank you,OR, say can I buy you lunch or some gasoline for coming out three times?  NOPE, not a word, like it is MY job to endure these kinds of things.

My gas to this home I calculated to be $6 per trip. No, it was only $12 extra that I had to pay to do the job and maybe some may say it is "part of doing business."   Well, how about at least a thank you?!

I just don't get the lack of manners of some "professionals"

At home inspections I hear a lot of the time complaints about contractors, service repairman, builders, home inspectors and yes, even Realtors that do not return phone calls or keep appointments when they say they will be there. One complaint was about a Realtor that dropped his client mid-stream during a home transaction because he was changing to a different company. The home buyer was left in the dark and had no idea of where in the process they were and they coul not get the Realtor to return their calls so they lost the deal. Now and then while on the phone with a Realtor to schedule a home inspection and we set up a time to meet at the home they will say something like "have the inspector phone me a few minutes before he gets to the home and I will meet him there" my wife who does the scheduling tells them, he has not been late to an appointment in over 1570 appointments, he will be there at the appointed time. They seem to be impressed by my track record.

In my area, SW Corner of Utah, I am seeing more homes selling. In fact my February was the best February ever in the past five years, it even was better than February of 2005!  Yet, I still get Realtors complaining of the soft market and saying they have never seen it this bad and on and on and on and on.  It may be just me but I think that if everyone talks this way then that is the way the market will behave. When I hear negative comments about the market from buyers, sellers OR Realtors I try my best to change their attitudes. I tell them how busy I have been and how well I am doing, (and this is no lie either) and try to get them to see that the market is improving, maybe THEIR sales are not improving, but the market is coming up.  I suggest to one and all to speak positive about the market and let's see how that works.  You already know how it works in the media, the negative news gets the attention of readers. Let's be positive and I bet the market will improve for all of you.

In the words of John Ruskin,

 "It is unwise to pay too much, but it is unwise to pay too little. When you pay too much, you lose a little money; that is all. When you pay too little you sometimes lose everything. Because the thing you bought was incapable of doing the thing you bought it to do. The common law of business balance prohibits paying a little and getting a lot. It cannot be done. If you deal with the lowest bidder, it is well to add something for the risk you run and if you do that, you will have enough to pay for something better."

 

Yesterday I was setting up my equipment at a home to perform a home inspection and the woman buying the home, my client, said, "Well, I bet you can guarantee me that you will find everything in this home."  I replied, "No, but I will guarantee that I will write down everything that I do find."

Every now and then clients will express their views or opinions that a home inspector should be able to find everything that is wrong with the home in the 2 ½ - 3 hours he/she will be inspecting the home. This expectation is just not right. I can say that a home inspector will or should try to find everything he / she can find in the time they have to do the inspection but after the client moves in and spends some time in the home, sure, they may find a cracked floor tile, or a squeaking door, or maybe a receptacle that was obstructed during the inspection that has no power, or possibly some other thing or two.

A home inspector believe it or not is a human being, subject to making mistakes and since they don't carry a crystal ball and have an all knowing infinite amount of knowledge or wisdom sometimes an inspector may call out something wrong. When this happens be sure to contact the inspector and see if the two of you can work things out.

A friend of mine who is an inspector in St. Charles Missouri told me he was having dinner with a friend of his who is an attorney. The attorney asked what a home inspector does and when told the attorney said that he would not touch the job of a home inspector for less than $1000 an hour because of all of the liability you are taking on.

Well, as they say, "I guess that ‘someone' has to do it?"

I have heard horror stories about home inspectors and of course only getting one side of the story. As I have pointed out before, a home inspection is a ‘snapshot in time' of the condition of the home at the time the inspection was performed.

Being asked a couple of times if I will come out to a home that someone else had inspected to see if I can find out why "the inspector missed this or that" I simply will not do that.  I feel that there is no way I can recreate the exact conditions of the home when the other inspector was there. Things such as weather, clutter, stored items, people, time frame, distractions, furniture, etc. and I can't know the inspector's experience, tools he has, his training etc.

People need to understand that home inspectors are just like any other profession, they are trying to do their best and just like doctors or auto mechanics, the longer these professionals are in business the more they will learn, and better and newer equipment is developed, and they simply get better and better over time and they may be able to fix or find something today that they did not know about or know even existed last year.

If you have a problem with the job a professional you hired did for you then first contact that person and discuss the subject with him/her. Be polite and open to see both sides of the coin. Don't condemn a man until you have walked in his shoes.

 

I am a home inspector here in SW Utah and January our phone just did not stop ringing. I did so many home inspections that it was just crazy! Now the 5th of February I have already performed 11 home inspecitons and am booked through the 14th!  I just don't get it. But have given it some thought that just maybe the buyers are seeing the prices of homes may be at their lowest and come spring the prices may creep up some so they are jumping in and buying now. This is what it seems like to me.

Here are some quotes from Will Rogers that I think are witty but true. What do you think?

A fool and his money are soon elected.

About all I can say for the United States Senate is that it opens with a prayer and closes with an investigation.

Ancient Rome declined because it had a Senate, now what's going to happen to us with both a House and a Senate?

Anything important is never left to the vote of the people. We only get to vote on some man; we never get to vote on what he is to do.

I am not a member of any organized political party. I am a Democrat.

I bet after seeing us, George Washington would sue us for calling him "father."

I have a scheme for stopping war. It's this - no nation is allowed to enter a war till they have paid for the last one.

Last year we said, 'Things can't go on like this', and they didn't, they got worse.

Now if there is one thing that we do worse than any other nation, it is try and manage somebody else's affairs.

On account of being a democracy and run by the people, we are the only nation in the world that has to keep a government four years, no matter what it does.

The 1928 Republican Convention opened with a prayer. If the Lord can see His way clear to bless the Republican Party the way it's been carrying on, then the rest of us ought to get it without even asking.

This country has come to feel the same when Congress is in session as when the baby gets hold of a hammer.

What the country needs is dirtier fingernails and cleaner minds.

 

 

        This is a copy of one of my blogs. I had 4 responses to it and wonder if anyone else would ming taking a peek at these sites and give me your feelings, opinions, suggestions.  The call on the 15th was rescheduled for the 20th. thanks 

Ok, this is a long story but the short of it is this. I have what I think is a pretty classy looking website and I did receive quite a few home inspections from my site in 07.  Pillar To Post is a national franchise and the Corp offers the franchisees a "website page."  Well there are several of us franchisees that have gone out and made or paid for our own website, me being one of those franchisees that did this. Now, the Corp office is saying they are going to require all franchisees to take down their sites and only use the supplied corp site. I have a conference call on the 15th set up with the corp leaders about this as I feel that the corp site is no where close to what my site is and if you google for a home inspector in my area I will come up nearly each time number one hit. But here is what I am asking.

Would you mind looking at my site    http://www.pillarposthomeinspection.com/ and then look at any or all of these following pillar to post sites. Now, these following four sites are supposed to be the best sites of all of the franchisees, there are about 400 of us across the US and Canada. The franchisees have been asked to submit their text and links etc... to corp office and then corp office will put them on their individual corp webpages. Anyway, these four links are supposed to be what corp says are the best ones.

Would you look at any or all of these four sites and email me frank@pillarposthomeinspection.com with your down right honest to goodness feelings about these sites, mine included. I want to see what others have to say about the sites. I have my own opinions and will share them with you in my next blog in the next few days.

here are the four links

 

http://pillartopost.com/tigard

http://pillartopost.com/sekingcounty

http://pillartopost.com/swkingcounty

http://pillartopost.com/sammamish

I thank you for your time and help!

Frank

Ok, this is a long story but the short of it is this. I have what I think is a pretty classy looking website and I did receive quite a few home inspections from my site in 07.  Pillar To Post is a national franchise and the Corp offers the franchisees a "website page."  Well there are several of us franchisees that have gone out and made or paid for our own website, me being one of those franchisees that did this. Now, the Corp office is saying they are going to require all franchisees to take down their sites and only use the supplied corp site. I have a conference call on the 15th set up with the corp leaders about this as I feel that the corp site is no where close to what my site is and if you google for a home inspector in my area I will come up nearly each time number one hit. But here is what I am asking.

Would you mind looking at my site    http://www.pillarposthomeinspection.com/ and then look at any or all of these following pillar to post sites. Now, these following four sites are supposed to be the best sites of all of the franchisees, there are about 400 of us across the US and Canada. The franchisees have been asked to submit their text and links etc... to corp office and then corp office will put them on their individual corp webpages. Anyway, these four links are supposed to be what corp says are the best ones.

Would you look at any or all of these four sites and email me frank@pillarposthomeinspection.com with your down right honest to goodness feelings about these sites, mine included. I want to see what others have to say about the sites. I have my own opinions and will share them with you in my next blog in the next few days.

here are the four links

 

http://pillartopost.com/tigard

http://pillartopost.com/sekingcounty

http://pillartopost.com/swkingcounty

http://pillartopost.com/sammamish

I thank you for your time and help!

Frank