Last time I checked I am a licensed real estate broker.
*SO I DO NOT ATTEND INSPECTIONS!*
(Usually!) The two jobs are defined in a lot of different ways not only to a lot of different consumers, but to different industry professionals, too. This week I 
read some posts on a pro site by various RE agents that literally cracked me up. At the end of the day, there must be a hundred and one different ways to do this job. Thank goodness my clients like my way. I'm not sure I would enjoy this career the way some of these people are micromanaging handling theirs... I would pull my hair out!
One prime example is inspection time. Now I am well aware our job as a real estate professional is to help the consumer inspect the home. As we are showing it, if we see damaged this or in need of repair that, we should say so. Period. Our job is to highlight the features and disclose defects as we know them in our professional opinion. But we, as professional sales agents, are not the end all, be all. We are only one opinion. And I am also not qualified to micromanage who the buyer has hired to do various other jobs, like appraisals, loans, surveys, and even, yes, inspections.
I realize I am in the minority on this inspection issue. BUT I DO NOT ATTEND INSPECTIONS! The reason I do not attend them is because I AM NOT AN INSPECTOR! He is licensed, last I checked, by the same licensing agency as me! He inspects. I go over the report with my buyer and we together determine who to call for pro opinion whether it be on Foundation, HVAC, plumbing, roof, or electrical. And we ask the seller to make specific repairs based on those findings. But me? I don't need to stick stuff in electrical sockets or watch him do it! And you bet my buyer usually has better things to do for 4-6 hours than look at the water in the sink as it goes down the drain! Besides:
The report details everything he found to be not in working order with pictures. If we have questions, we call him. If we have concerns about any system, we call a pro who specializes. It's just that simple.
People who want to attend want to be sure the inspector did his job. I understand. They may also want to go over the report at the end. I understand. They may want to watch the whole thing or they may want to review it with him his last 20 minutes in there. All that is fine. But me? I don't really care to be there because the inspector is only doing this: "See here, here is an item not in working order..." And about 7 or 8 times out of 10 I already told the buyer that because I know when that code was passed making it not to code or I can see that light bulb is burned out. It's so often just not a big deal beyond Draino or a roof nail. And when it is. I call the pro in the know.
BECAUSE HERE IS THE NOT-SO-SECRET:
THE INSPECTOR MAY NOT KNOW PRECISELY WHAT THE PROBLEM REALLY IS NOR THE SOLUTION! JUST THAT IT DOESN'T WORK PROPERLY!
That's primarily why I don't attend them. If he said there is an issue with the AC, I call the AC guy and that's the dude I care to hear hot air from most! If the inspector said the home is unlevel, well, I would already have vertigo and have the engineer on the horn. I really don't need to "be there" to "do that" but many people feel they need to be and that is ok, too!
Again, I realize I'm in the minority on this inpection attendance thing. One person on another site said it was lazy not to attend. Wowza. I would agree she works hard, all right. But smart? To her she does. Agents just LOVE to attend. Some people's buyers LOVE to attend. I am so glad my buyers are usually too busy to attend. Heck, half the time they aren't even in the same county. They hired someone and they trust them to do his job and they trust they can handle what is reported or they wouldn't have written a contract and posted earnest money and slid their credit card for that inspection in the first place. By the time my buyers get that far and have equitable title on a place, there is nothing that inspection will reveal we didn't already know or we didn't already suspect or we can't work out 99% of the time. To be honest, deal breakers are usually obvious before I walk in the door. Maybe that's just experience talking... I don't know.
BUT THIS PRO DOESN'T HAVE TO GO TO KNOW! THE REPORT IS GOLD!
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