Is Your Inspector a “Butt-Kicker”?
Do you know anyone that was kicked out of their real estate deal at the last minute even though they had a signed sales contract and a committed seller? Well there is clear insider information about why this happens which may be a bit different than what interested parties have tried to convince you occurred. Some of this information is a rehash of earlier Blogs, yet it is good to put it all in one place. Don’t forget to keep the following points in mind.
• If your inspector is a butt kicker, the agents envision the hours of negotiation and lost money from their own commission to hold the deal together. They simply don’t want to do the work. Some agents become impossible to reach for a showing or unavailable for any possible inspection time other than after the sun goes down or before the sun comes up. Some agents pull the inspector aside and tell them there is no roof access. This practice leaves the naive inspector without access to the roof, which usually has some leaks, which then become his liability or obligation. With condominium purchases, inspectors are almost never granted access to roof and other common areas without a fight. The Illinois home inspector licensing law states that we must find all significant deficiencies, not just those in the condominium. Good inspectors will fight for you, and they will win!
• It is routine for some agents to challenge the inspectors opinion during the inspection or to down play the significant deficiencies disclosed in front of the inspector while they routinely expect the inspector to go climb in a hole and withdraw their disclosure. National statistics illustrate that some place between 60 and 80 of all home inspections come out of the roll-a-dex or contact sheets prepared by the broker, owners, or agents in each real estate office. After reviewing more than 100 competitor’s inspection reports while Chair of the Ethical Practices Committee of a national home inspection trade association, I realized that many of my remodeling/ contractor friends suddenly became deaf, dumb, and blind when asked for a simple budget to repair or replace a furnace or an air conditioner that was broken. Remember the inspector gets his work from the agent and glib experienced inspectors loose all of their real estate agent referrals when they become too verbal.
• Confused and naive buyers are the bread and butter of some unscrupulous agents. During one home inspection, I met with a polite single mom buying a house in Chicago. I could see the buyer becoming confused and disoriented as the four (yes four) real estate agents were sent over to the inspection to keep her focused on them and not the disclosure. I had to literally, take her hand, then her arm, and pull her away from the group of hounds who were committed to keep her confused. The Post and Beam foundation with major termite infestation did not kill the deal, but probably should have.