A lot of times the buyer chooses  the least expensive inspector and gets what they pay for.  Other time there are just mistakes made and in some cases people make opinions outside their area of expertise.

We are licensed in North Carolina and have a state supplied Standards of Practice "SOP".  If NC inspectors would stick to the SOP they would stay out of a lot of trouble.  The state will allow you to go beyond the standards if you have the knowledge.  I say follow the SOP, because both sides of the equation have a better expectations about the process.  The North Carolina SOP is online for all to read.  Another thing, inspectors need to be careful recommending a repair procedure, they should just recommend the appropriate licensed contractor look at the issue, as in the deck supports in the above post.

The smoke detector post above is a reference to code.  In our state required CE classes they discourge doing code inspections.  Boy do inspectors have to be careful here.  The code is complex and esotric in nature, differs from year to year and place to place.  How many years of code does an inspector want to try to remember.  No house is required to be brought to current code just because it is sold.  Home inspectors might look for code issues but most guys I know who do it only do it on new construction and they are usually trained on what to look for.

Ted you are right the more the agents know about houses in general the better. I do and I'll bet most inspectors will take calls from agents all the time even on their listings where I am not going to be hired to do the inspection anyway.  I have one person who calls me on her listing all the time, she is really starting to be a pretty good home inspector.  Always trying to be helpful.  I am a non competing broker in NC do you think in your area a CE class about inspections/inspectors would be helpful. I am thinking about doing one here in the Raleigh NC area.

Charles I think you should call those kinds of things out I would also I just do not us the words "code requires or the code or the code when this house was built"  I would not be able to remember code for a house built in one year vs a house built in another year.   I'll give you another example, yours is good.  I see a deck 2 feet off the ground with nailed on deck railing posts I do not worry to much about the the height, but where do I start to worry?  I personal will mention deck posts should have lag screws or bolts when I think the fall could cause serious injury.  I leave the buyer/seller/agents and the contractors they choose to make the final decision. But if I use the code word I better be accurate.  It is just to much for me to remember and even trying to look it up at home can be frustrating.