Home Inspectors - Friend or Enemy?

Paul, I agree with your post on one level but I have to qualify that it truly depends on the specific inspector and their attitude regarding their role.  Many of us have been involved in a transaction where the inspector was recommending that the buyer totally renegotiate the purchase offer due to cosmetic issues even when the purchase contract very specifically stated that the home inspection was for non cosmetic issues only.  We are fortunate that in our market we have 3 different outstanding inspectors who our buyers appreciate and respect.

Hi Paul,  You are absolutely right.  I have seen this comment posted by an REA, "Home inspectors are a necessary evil in this business."  That sums up the attitude of many REA towards home inspections.  I do agree with Sam's comment though,  HI's should NOT be recommending ANY renegotiation's take place, for anything.  It is up to the client.  We can put estimated values and costs if requested, but I always suggest estimates from qualified companies.

David and Sam

I agree with you about the cosmetics and home inspectors should not be commenting in their report about cosmetics.

Here is my problem; on a number of occasions the REA for my client has told them they can not renegotiate because the house is “as is”. And that is just wrong beside being stupid.

It is not my job to tell the client to negotiate the repairs but somebody in the transactions needs to tell them they can try.

While I agree that Home Inspectors should not say anything to the client about negotiating sales price (that simply is not our job). I believe that it is pretty commonplace in todays real estate world that the buyer negotiates after the inspection.

I personally have owned 7 homes over the last 20 years, and on every single one of them, it was always contingent on the Home Inspection, After the Inspection took place, a list was made of the spectific repairs that needed to be made on the home. Then that list was transferred over to the counter offer to see what the seller would or would not fix. It has been that way ever since Moses was a kid, so I am not understanding REA's that say the home should be sold as-is.

This must be something relatively new that the REA's are doing to avoid the dreaded Deal Killer Inspections??

Paul: A home inspectors are hired to find issues with a home. Some take that to heart. Buyers love it, seller hate it.

Hi Paul,

After 25 years in this business I have seen great and lousy inspectors.

A great inspector...

Inspects  the house, tells "Our client" every thing that is wrong with the house and gives them an idea of what it would cost to fix.

He makes statements in a matter-of-fact way and does not scare the buyer. 

Whats wrong, how much to fix, objective and honest.

A lousy inspector...

Looks at the house states things in a scary way and goes outside his area of expertise says "this house is not worth the money" etc. I don't talk about boilers, you don't talk about house values.

NOT YOUR JOB!

Not what you say as an inspector how you say it.

All the best!

The other day I had an agent get upset with me about a report I did on a home.  The home had only a few issues, nothing earth shattering or anything that could not be overcome.  Keep in mind that this agent had been selling for about three years, or so she said. This is what I found:

1. A leaking TPR valve on the water heater
2. A broken disposal in the kitchen
3. A bad GFCI that would not trip
4. A section of rotting wood on an exterior railing on the porch.
5. The grounding conductors were not bonded to the panel downstream from the service equipment.

All in all the home was in good condition, it just needed to have some items repaired and none of them were major.

She was upset because I did not highlight the good points of the home and talk up how great it was!  She was surprised when I told her that was her job and that as an agent she needs to present the better aspects of the home.  I also told her that she needs to realize that the items I found are minor in nature.  She then said that her seller was refusing to make the repairs and that she was sure the buyers would walk!   I then responded with this:  "If you were buying this home, wouldn't you want to have all of the items corrected.  They are all mechanical in nature and as such are covered under the sales contract.  If I was the buyer and the seller refused, I would walk away also."

About an hour later she called and had another agent (more experienced) on the line and she asked if I would go over the items with the other agent.  After a couple of minutes, the other agent said that this was not a problem and she would make sure the items were corrected for the buyers.  She was taking control of the situation and the seller.

It all boils down to the experiance of the professionals who are involved in the transaction.

I agree with most of the above comments. But I have seen inexperienced agents panic at some of the smallest things. Some of them are so afraid their buyer will walk. I try to assure these agents, and their clients that the items listed are minor (when they are), and that there is an easy, or inexpensive fix. Some newbie buyers also get scared when they hear about minor defects, so they need a little more explanation sometimes to help get them through it.