Had a very difficult home inspection today. The inspector could not shut up. This house was clean as a whistle and he remarked several times that it was the most flawless inspection he had done in the past two years. Nothing warrantable was an issue and the sellers had kept the house immaculate. So, you ask, what did he do wrong? Well, it did not take a rocket scientist to figure out that my buyer is an overly anxious woman and because her husband had not had time to be at the inspection, she felt that everything was being put on her shoulders and she was nervous about it. The inspector was, in a past life, a contractor and he kept pointing out build and design factors that were inherent in all the houses in that area built in the mid-80's and how much better homes are built today. Well, if my buyer could have afforded a newer home, she would have bought one. He pointed out the the plumbing was under the slab and that now days it is all run differently and that if she ever had a leak they would have to drill up the slab. Did she really need to hear that? He pointed out that he had purchased a home with the smaller tile like this one and that it had really been expensive to replace it with something more modern not to mention the mess it had made of the house. I know that he did not say anything with intended malice, he just liked to hear himself talk but it was really upsetting her. I managed to corner him alone and very nicely asked if he could limit his conversation with her to the actual inspection items and he became quite defensive intimating that she was entitled to know these things. I respectfully disagreed. What would you have done?
Yes if you were the selling agent you need to provide inspectors that you have felt comfortable working with. You are right some of those guys will scare buyers out of a perfect home and they don't mean to do it.
Marnie: I'm going to have to side with the inspector on this one. Everything you mentioned I think should fall within the scope of that field. The inspector works for the client who paid him and not for the listing or selling agent. So later when one of these issues comes up do you want it to come out of the blue for that client or do you wnat her to have been aware of it and gone into the purchase with her eyes wide open? That is an inspector who I would want working for my clients.
Yes, some building standards are better today, but there's no reason to bring it up unless there may be a safety issue involved. What do tile aesthetics have to do with an inspection?
I guess I did not explain it correctly. You had to be there. I am all for my buyers knowing in advance of potential problems and I was happy for him to point out many of the things that he did. It is when he began comparing the house to a brand new house that the problems set in. She was being overwhelmed by things that had no bearing on the scope of the inspection and the things that were upsetting her were not things that she could refuse to purchase the house because of. Do you really think she needed to be advised about the mess that tearing up the tile floors would make? She has absolutely no intention of changing out the floors yet his comment made her think that maybe something was wrong with them. If you had been there, you probably would have felt differently.
Stan, I have three wonderful inspectors who I always recommend and of the over 125 inspections they have done for me, I have never had an issue with one of my buyers being unhappy, but this woman choose her own and it was not one of my three. I look for inspectors who can impart information in a positive way without alarming my buyers. The ones I usually use have kept several of my buyers from purchasing homes that would have been money pits and have also enabled significant repairs on the homes that the buyers just had to have. I realize that whether I choose the inspector or the client choses the inspector, in the end the client looks to me if something does not work after the home closes. That is why I always include a home warranty as a closing gift.
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