Can you trust your Realtor or your Inspector?

Hi Judy (#165)

Almost all of my clients come pre-qualified; they're already looking for an inspector that's independent of the symbiotic relationship that exists between inspectors and the agents that "use" them.

This next part is hard for me to swallow, I expect it'll be distasteful to you as well: I didn't create this market share, crappy agents and toady inspectors who kowtow for hand outs made it for me.

I'm not trying to a build a demographic, it's already there. I market to the people that populate the demographic. And, it's not about me educating the whole world, I'm acknowledging a problem that my client already knows about and I let the client know that I'm aware the good old boy paradigm is a vulnerability that may jeopardize their best interest.

It's all about knowing the customer. Mine are mostly jaded.

Joe,

Great post. I think it all is about honest professionalism. If everyone is honest and looking out for the clients interest then there is no problem. If agents have a professional and honest inspector they work with why should they not refer them. We all know that every home will have some things to be repaired, some more extensive than others. And each client will have a different tolerance to what they are willing to take on in a home. Communication is vital!

I would refer professionals that I know to people if asked. I am trying to protect my clients by giving them good information and help them weed through many trades people out there. If I know a good honest professional tradesman I feel that I am doing my client a service by letting them know.

As inspectors we see many repairs jobs performed by so called professionals that should not be in business. I am trying to protect my clients give them information and help guide them. Just as a good agent will do.

Building professional, honest networks is essential to any business and it does not have to adversarial. Working together in the best interest of a client only helps all involved in the transaction

Thanks for an excellent post! It is all about relationships. I do have a home inspector that I recommend on a regular basis because he has ALL the necessary skills and knowledge to do a comprehensive inspection. I, like most, want my clients to feel good about the purchase they are making. I want them to have as much information about the home they are potentially buying as possible. It is all educating the buyer so they may make an informed decision. You sound like the kind of inspector I would refer to my clients. I definitely would not refer my clients to an inspector who does not trust or respect me as a REALTOR(R).

Realtors and Inspectors have to function as a cohesive team that looks out for the clients best interests.  Thanks for sharing.

While I agree with the blog you wrote initally, I have to disagree with what you just wrote.  I have been using the same inspector for over 10 years now & he has never done any inspection in less then 3 hours because he is very thorough.  Some taek over 5 hours if they are old & have lots of problems.  He is not an alarmist, but hardly ever misses anything either.

Ah, the perpetual Home Inspector vs Realtor debate. Like in most things in life, some people are middle-of-the-road, some are hard one way and some are hard the other way. Some home inspectors love RE agents and bend over backwards to please them, others take a hard stance that RE agents are not to be trusted (by inspectors, by homebuyers, by anyone) and other (like me) take the stance that the inspector should do his job and let the agent do her job (and vice versa) and everyone can go on about their business.

Vicki,

I'm very surprised you actually gave this guy a deal, I mean a $550K deal! LOL.. I've worked very hard for clients, and been available day and night for them, only a phone call away. However, I still have people who buy from someone else and I had done nothing wrong. They gave me no warning, nor any indiation they weren't happy. Last year, I showed a few homes to this couple. One was an REO in my area of expertise. We looked at homes out of this area too... then all of a sudden the client says they need to find another realtor as I'm not sending them the right homes. A few months later, they buy the REO home I SHOWED THEM FIRST.

If a realtor is going to argue with you, I would never had given him a deal. Its about the client. I do that when I shop for something. I wont' let a push salesman talk me into anything I don't like, and if they're just looking to make a sale, then I find someone else.

Just remember: you can't please everyone. Great post and tons of great comments. Thank you.

great post! thanks for bringing this up because it gets me fired up pretty much also. I hate it when we get put into that same distrusted class as car salesmen and attorneys. I'm in customer service, not a pushy sales person!!

Joe: I came here after J Phil's reblog. Great post!

I commented a couple of times on Chad's blogs and now I skip them. There are just some people in the world who can only build themselves up by tearing other people down. I suggested to him then, and will repeat here, that perhaps he needs to associate with different people (although maybe he has permanently closed that door).

I read Judy Orr's really good comment and want to extend it a little. Per the contract here in Illinois the purpose of the inspection is to determine major health and safety issues. Period. The inspector who goes beyond his license-specific duties could be breaking the law.

There are inspectors who consider it their responsibility to educate the buyer on the mechanicals, construction and maintenance of a home -- but they must make clear that this is beyond the scope of the inspection report they provide to the buyer's attorney. Inspectors who take a paternalistic attitude to their clients may feel that they are providing the service the client needs, but a holier-than-thou attitude is arrogant in the extreme.

I have a handful of inspectors who I trust to be accurate and careful...they understand exactly what their role is and provide a valuable service to their clients. After the contraction of the new construction business, we now have hundreds of licensed home inspectors who feel that the inspection is a chance to show off how much they know about building houses. You want to talk about people giving their industry a bad name -- go look at those guys!

And by the way, I worked in high end custom home construction -- on site project management, not sales. My buyers select houses that are the best value for their money, which includes great condition. If you pick well from the beginning then the inspection is more about uncovering major health and safety issues, not documenting the squeaky hinges or a diatribe on the dangers of skylights. :-)

To Leslie Ebersole: Really? You've commented on my blogs? Now you don't read them anymore? That hurts.

I just visited the only two blogs I ever wrote- back in 2008 and your comments are nowhere to be found. I even visited each of the 26 comments I ever made and then re-read every response to those comments. Oddly, your name doesn't come up in the threads. In case I'm mistaken though, the loss of your audience is indeed a hard slap in the face.

quote from Leslie "There are inspectors who consider it their responsibility to educate the buyer on the mechanicals, construction and maintenance of a home -- but they must make clear that this is beyond the scope of the inspection report they provide to the buyer's attorney. Inspectors who take a paternalistic attitude to their clients may feel that they are providing the service the client needs, but a holier-than-thou attitude is arrogant in the extreme."

OMG! That inspector is an ARROGANT ASS. I can't imagine talking about the mechanicals or construction or lack of maintenance on a home. Wait- I'm supposed to talk about those things. My client pays me to talk about those things. Leslie, I know you'd prefer I say "the furnace responded to normal controls" and I know it makes your blood boil when I add, "but it's 19 years old; furnaces of this style last typically 15-18 years."

Quote from Leslie: "There are just some people in the world who can only build themselves up by tearing other people down."

This entire discussion is based on someone trying to make himself look good (to agents and other toadies) at the expense of others (some unnamed ne'er do well) using quotes from other folks' profiles (mine) without credit to the author. If the unnamed ne'er do well that inspired this thread actually exists and if the topical conversation/ argument actually took place then Mr. Michalski used the incident to improve his position among his target demographic, the agent, at the expense of his dramatically infuriating unnamed opponent. And, of course, your own step up the ladder on the back of home inspectors that have the audacity to explain the mechanicals, construction and maintenance of a home to their client is worthy of mention.

Let's put the entire ad hominem argument to bed now that each of us has had our say. I'll start.

I'm just positive that everyone participating in this discussion is honest and forthright. It's the other agents and inspectors that are the problem.

Leslie, I hope all your future inspection reports are concise and end with " ...and the lights all came on with the flick of a switch!"

This round goes to . . .  CHAD!!

Ding.

WOW!  There is a lot of animosity here.  I feel like I'm reading political comments from Newsvine.  Some of you need to seriously take a professional leadership course or something, your knee jerk comments shows you either didn't understand what the writer was trying to relay to his readers or you just want to argue to show who has the bigger bite.

 I have seen many of you guys tear into each other on AR here like a bunch of rabid dogs, Inspectors, Realtors®, Appraiser, and Home Staggers alike (my profession is better than yours, we train harder than you, your training only has a few hours, blah! blah! blah!).  I have also seen you guys complement each other to no ends.  I am sure there are bad in every one of these professions as there are good in them also.  To give ones opinion on another's profession is one thing, to imply or force ones opinion is a different animal all together. 

 Every one of these professions are just as important as the other, no one is more important, each one has an important role in the big picture and making sure the clients best interest is at the forefront is the most important of them all.  As a Realtor® I give my clients at least 3 inspectors to choose from and they all ask "who do I recommend?" and they ask because they value and trust my opinion.  I have built that trust with them.  I contact the Inspector and give him/her the details of the home to be inspected, the MLS print out, the name of the client and their contact info.  I make sure that the client has spoken to the inspector, have a time and day for the inspection, is at the home to be inspected, the inspector explains everything to the client, and that they fully understand everything being said. 

 I do my job as a realtor® and I let the inspector do theirs as the inspector.  There is an old saying that I like and use "I have made a deal with the attorney, I won't give legal advice to my clients and they agree not to show houses" it works for me.  I'm not an inspector so I don't try to tell the inspector how to do their job and I expect the same in return.  I build a working relationship with every inspector that I have had the pleasure to work with.  There isn't one inspector that I have a bad encounter with "knock on wood".  When that time comes I'll be just as professional to them as I am with everyone else.  But then again I am me and not everone can be me!

 There is always going to be someone who disagrees with a view point and will state their views by making a comment to that effect.  That doesn't mean that they are right, wrong, or indifferent, it just means that they have a different view than the writer.   Now, making a negative comment towards someone because you disagree with their view point and making disparaging remarks towards them or their profession is rude because you are no longer stating you disagreement, you are trying to hijack their discussion to promote your own agenda and forcing your opinion on to the readers.  If the shoe fits then wear it, otherwise leave your agenda at home with the rest of your toys. 

Great post Joe.

Wow I must have had my head burried in the sand to have missed out on this well deserved "featured" discussion.  You are a gem in that you not only do a thorough job, while at the same time not scaring the crap out of buyers, but also because you respect us as agents and have 1st hand knowledge of the great lengths we go through for our buyers and sellers.  I thank you for this post.

"Wow I must have had my head burried in the sand to have missed out on this well deserved "featured" discussion.  You are a gem in that you not only do a thorough job, while at the same time not scaring the crap out of buyers, but also because you respect us as agents and have 1st hand knowledge of the great lengths we go through for our buyers and sellers.  I thank you for this post."

Yeah, it's such a service when an inspector chooses his/ her words carefully to avoid conflict. The sale is important because everyone worked to get it this far. Here, let me try my hand at it:

"This house presents an excellent opportunity for additional insulation!"  or maybe

"Lucky for you, this furnace is all worn out, now you can get one that You want! or

"Good God, you're so fortunate; this house has four layers of roofing, it'll never leak!

How'd I do?

Seriously, do you folks ever stop gladhanding each other?

Rod Blagojevich would feel right at home in this thread.

I am really late to this post, however, I really enjoyed it.  I have also run into individuals like this.  It is discouraging that this view is held.  Yes, there are individuals in every walk of life that will choose to take the short cuts and not try to do a job right.  

In my 20 years of inspecting, I have meet some really outstanding agents that have shown me what is means to be a professional.  I am proud of the associations I have with these people and I try to raise myself to their level of competence.  

Thank you for the post