I must be the oddball.  I kind of like the "deal killers" (as described by other agents)  That means that the inspector was working for the buyer and not for me and uncovered things that I would want my buyers to be aware of.

That doesn't make you the oddball Kris.  As I stated towards the bottom of my rant, it is not the masses, but a select few...

Thanks for your input.

Very well put Jamie, I think you would be doing the Realtor a favor in helping him/her discover the houses' issues, maybe that isn't the correct home for this buyer?.. Then its the realtors duty to find another one, my clients love the reports the inspectors give them, the thoroughness of it.. they can feel comfortable the home was gone thru with a fine tooth comb. Its an added measure of security for the client and the Realtor to know the home is Great, Good, Mediocre or of Poor qualities.

You are so right with most of what you say as there are some Realtors that overreact to the home inspection.  The only time we have issues with home inspectors is when they step outside their area of expertise and make a careless statement.  For example, when there is obvious water damage it must be pointed out and it is certainly proper for the home inspector to strongly recommend a mold inspection by a qualified mold inspector because of the visible damage.  However, the home inspector (at least in Nevada) should refrain from making a statement that there is actually mold present. 

In any case you (as the home inspector) are a vital part of the team and should be respected as such.  Keep on blogging!

I agree with Forrest about a Home Inspector not calling it mold.  Actually I never call it mold, just as I never call it asbestos. I call it POSSIBLE mold or POSSIBLEasbestos. The main reason?  Because I have not tested it and cannot be sure it is mold, or asbestos.  Although it may look like it is, it must be tested to be sure, and recommending further testing is something I do every day.  But only after I have brought the POSSIBLE mold or asbestos to the attention of our client.

Jamie, I'm a listing broker. All I ever expect from a home inspector is an honest and thorough inspection. Some are very very good and some are very very bad. One thing I have found in my 14 years in business is that no matter what the inspector finds the Seller, more times than not, already knew about it and just "forgot" to mention it. I would much rather defects are found during an inspection than after the closing. As you mentioned, most things can be fixed. We owe our customers no less than an honest assessment of the property. The majority of my sellers also want to know. They want to do the right thing. Most folks are good people.

Yes Bryant, MOST people are good people.  But we still encounter the select few.  And, some days they just seem to stick out more than the good people, wouldn't you say?

I've only had one contract that was almost killed by a home inspector.  He wrote that windows in an improved basement didn't meet code.  Geez.  The house was 200 years old and the window in the basement was 100 year old.  Actually we closed on the contract.  Just never used the home inspector again. 

Now, we have had a number of contracts that were killed by latent defects, undisclosed material defects, serious defects that the seller's refused to repair, etc.

If owners would maintain their homes and if sellers would put their homes in good condition before putting them on the  market, these things wouldn't happen. 

I'm representing the buyer on a remodeled home purchase, home inspection is tomorrow. I got a call from the listing agent on Friday telling me the seller would fix anything the inspector uncovered. She also told me the seller hired a home inspector after he bought the house and made all the change he suggested. I am not worried about the inspection. The seller did a great job on the remodel, did things right. I don't feel that the home inspector is going to be biased either way. If he uncovers a problem, I feel we will be able to handle it rationally.

It's certainly not the home inspector.  It's the seller that doesn't want to make the repairs and they buyers that get skittish about the repairs.  I'm appauld that some Realtors would blame it on the inspector.

In response to the comment by Lenn Harley above...

...a Home Inspector should NEVER quote code! We are not municipal code inspectors. Quoting codes will do nothing except create problems!

I think that is the stupidest comments I have ever heard! You didn't kill the deal, the condition of the house killed the deal! Would they rather have a law suit later or an inspection now, I'm sorry you were doing your job and if they were doing theirs they would have done something called negotiate!

Good topic Jamie!  I have never had an agent call me a deal killer, but I remember when I first started in the business, an agent who never worked with me before asked if I was one. I had never heard the term and was little confused. I replied "I don't think so, but I report every thing I find"  That agent still uses me today, so I am pretty sure she does not think of me as a deal killer.

I like the adage "It's not me that killed the deal....I just pronounced its' death upon inspection of the property"

:)

Any way if you felt like screaming before then read this.

http://activerain.com/blogsview/250408/Why-do-Inspectors-have

and

http://activerain.com/blogsview/250459/Home-Inspector-Ruins-my

These seemed to go along with the theme of your blog. Enjoy reading.

Jamie:

As a Realtor myself, I can say that I have had deals "killed" on the other end and blamed on the home inspector. I have to say, these dead deals were caused by the other agent not knowing what THEY were doing, not the other way around. It is clearly stated in the NAR purchase contract that a buyer shall NOT terminate the contract due to minor or cosmetic faults with the house (a crumbling foundation, etc, is another story...). If the buyer's agent really was a professional, any repairs or issues needing attention would be sent to the seller as an addendum, and if the seller refuses to make the changes, then the buyer has the right to terminate the contract. Then, the deal is broken by the seller's refusal to repair, NOT the actual home inspection.

I actually had a buyer walk on one of my own personal flips due to the home inspection and just as there are agents out there that haven't a clue, there are also inspectors (I've only come across one so far, but nonetheless...). The inspector said that the a/c unit wasn't cooling about 30 seconds after he had turned it on (well duh, it's not going to automatically be 60 degrees in the house after running for less than a minute) but these buyers turned out to be pretty psycho anyway, so we decided not to sell to them and ended up with a much nicer buyer about a week later who offered us $10,000 more than what the 1st buyers offered. I ended up thanking the inspector (in my head of course) and making a ton more money because of it. I even gave the new buyers a copy of the inspection (which had absolutely nothing in it about the a/c not cooling btw) and encouraged them to have one of their own, which they decided not to do.

ANyway, that was my 2 cents, I hope you have better luck in the future!! Just remember, not every agent is as good as I am!! LOL

Jamie,

Great topic. There is no way around it.  There will be times when your honest and accurate assessment of  property conditions will be sufficient for the client to decide that he or she doesn't want the property.  You didn't kill the deal.  The agent who feels you killed the deal is not focused on their client's best interests.  I have had some situations where the client chose not to buy the property...usually I am asked to inspect the second property and it is usually in better condition than the first.  

I've also had cases where the client has already decided that he wanted to break the contract, before my inspection, and was looking for something, anything, he could use as an out.  

Jennifer, great story about the psycho buyer.  I've had clients pick up on parts of what I've told them and not understood what I was really saying, but usually you can figure out that they are off track and get them straightened out before the inspection is over.   It sounds the clients misunderstood their inspector as he did not mention a problem with the AC in his report.  

How about the real estate agents that will use you for their personal homes and for family members, but not for their own clients.  Kind of makes you wonder what they're thinking?

I don't mind it anymore when agents complain, they just go on my list of those I'd rather not work with anyway. I know I have my client's best interest at heart.

Jamie - please keep doing what you are doing. I really don't care if I have the seller or the buyer - we NEED to know if there is a problem with the house. If there is and we can work on then great. If the buyer is too nervous to proceed then that is fine too because we can fix the problem and find the next one. My only problem with inspectors is when they come up to me and whisper the problem and suggest we don't tell the buyer. The next thing that happens is I tear up all their business cards and we never hear from them again. Continue to do your job and to do it well.

Simon,

Are you kidding me?  A home inspector not wanting to tell the buyer about a problem in the house?  Now that is frightening! 

There are times when the inspector doesn't "kill the deal" so much as the house "commits suicide."

If, as a seller's agent, you are concerned about a home inspection, why not have your seller do one proactively, and address whatever comes up before you have a buyer and a contract to implode?  Sure, an eventual buyer may want one too, with an inspector of his or his broker's choosing, but the odds are slim that a deal breaking issue will surface at that point. 

And Jamie, I don't want any other kind of inspector than you working on my deals.

Howdy Jamie

Your very right that some agents put the blame on us. When in fact it was the seller that did it by not keeping the home up.

Have a good one

I have never stated an inspector killed at deal...however, I have been in contact with a couple of home inspectors that left me wondering about their level competency.(just to be clear, not all inspectors)...One inspector in particular could not figure out how to turn on the faucets on the tub or how to start the dishwasher. Took over 4 hours to do the inspection on a very small  home with no basement. To top it all off, he missed a major defect with the furnace. Just like in all professions, there are the good, the bad and the ugly.

Sandra.  A four hour inspection wouldn't be unusual if you had confidence that the inspection was complete and the time was necessary to complete a proper inspection. Sometimes smaller houses can take me longer than larger ones due to the number of deficiencies. For every defect there is a discussion.

I agree with you on every profession has the good, the bad, and the ugly. Last week I did an inspection where the I found some serious problems, and the listing agent shrugged her shoulders and proclaimed that the sellers had it inspected a few years prior when she had sold it to them. 

Later the selling agent explained that the listing agent was concerned because my inspection was taking so long, (about 3.5 hrs.) I guess the listing agent said her "inspector" can inspect a house in an hour.

"There's your sign" courtesy of Bill Engvall :)

Now "we know the rest of the story"  I don't know of any house a thorough inspection can be performed in only an hour. Condos usually take longer than that if performed to standards.

This explains why the listing agent was unaware of the serious problems I had found. I would not want to be there when the seller receives the inspection response, and the listing agent has to explain why her 1 hour inspector missed a boatload of problems.

Jamie - I recently had a conversation with a home inspector who said that a REALTOR would get so angry with him because he's so thorough. However, when the REALTOR purchased her home, she would call this particular inspector for the home inspections. Hypocritical, wouldn't you say?

Well said Jamie,

take solice in the fact that those types of agents are few and far between, unfortunately, I've seen some home inspectors that appear to walk through a property with blinders on. 

you keep doing what you do, they can't take your integrity away.

All great comments. Here in South Carolina we have the 1 hour inspectors and they were getting a lot of business for a bit of time. Even a realty group that had me on their list had used a couple of these guys. Funny how Karma works though. I had and agent call me saying she was going to need my services on a house she had a buyer for and that another realtor in their office was the listing agent. Well I had done 2 jobs a little over a year ago for the listing agent and she never used me again. So she was at this inspection and told me she had the house inspected 18 months ago when her client bought it and actually told me who she had inspect it. My clients were both there so being the devil I am I had to ask " How long did it take him to inspect the house" She said about 45 minutes. Well my clients looked at me with a frightened look as I led them around the side of the house. They asked me why did you tell us it would be about 3 hours? I told them I wanted them to be there for the whole inspection and to time how long it took. SO they agreed. Well after I found the fire damage in the attic from the chimney that had a hole in it and the Water damage from the downstiars toilet that had leaked several years before along with some other issues as well as the basic cosmetic things that are easy to fix I aske my clients if they had any concerns or questions that I could answer for them before I started on their report. They just said " Thank You for being so thorough and taking your time to do a good job for us." I told them that I always inspect a home in the same fashion I have a protocal so to speak written and I always try to follow the same sequences it helps me stay focused. The listing agent that never used me again after the 2 initial inspections i did for a while back asked me when I thought the fire might have happened and the water damage. I told her my best guess estimate for the fire was about 6 or 7 years prior and that the water damage had to be at least 5 years old. She was shocked to say the least. She called a month later to ask me to do an inspection for her so I had to ask her why she had stopped using me previously. Her response was that I had sent her a 26 page report for both inspections and all she needed was the summary. I informed her that she received a copy of the report from me as a courtesy after the client had approved that she receive a copy. I always ask if the client wants me to send their realtor and the lsiting agent a copy. If the say yes I do and if they say no I don't. But I was stunned that she had stopped scheduling me because my reports were thorough. Needless to say She understands now. But that is how some of the time a 1 hour inspection can get someone in trouble.

Just My rant

Mar;

Last week I was accused of being a deal killer for calling out what I suspected to be fungal growth. Even though the test turned out positive - I'm still being called the deal killer! Go figure..

Commercial Building Inspector Chicago  

I know what you mean. There are many realtors out there that are in it just for a buck but there are also the ones who truly care. I think my lucky stars that at least I know who to turn to when I'm in the market for a new home!

Jamie,

More now than ever I'm being told I'm "the only one who made money" on this deal, instead of the 'Deal Killer'.  I guess it's the same to the agent.

The best advise I ever heard from a broker to his agents as he introduce me to them . . . "folks, don't kill the messenger. If anything killed the deal, it's the house itself, not your inspector."

Walked on cloud nine for a week.