I recently took a required Risk Management course and can't help but wonder what everyone's opinion is on this subject:
The person teaching the class instructed the buyer's agents to "NEVER" attend a home inspection. I asked her why and she told me that it was because if I am at the Home Inspection, it's possible that I will say something that would put me at risk of acting like an un-licensed Home Inspector, which would bring undo legal risks to me and my brokerage.
I let it go at that, but I couldn't stop thinking that by not going to the Home Inspection with my client, I am not looking out for my client's best interest. How can I represent their best interest if I'm too busy protecting myself from something that I "might" say.
I think I have enough faith in myself to know that I'm not going to get myself in trouble, but when I brought this issue back to my office, I was surprised to learn that the office is pretty much split in half on the issue. Some think they should go to the inspections (although they do not because that is what everyone in our county has been taught) and the others agree 100% with the Risk Management people, and have absolutely 0 interest in going to a home inspection because they simply find it too risky.
I don't know why the line has been drawn at the home inspection... Using this logic, it seems to me that we should not prepare contracts because we "might" be perceived as attorneys... For that matter, we probably shouldn't leave our houses in the morning because we "might" get hit by a car. Where does it end?
I come from a state where I wouldn't have ever imagined NOT going to my client's home inspection (If I am the Buyer's Agent, of course). What do you all think?
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