Realtors benefit from good home inspections too!

I can assume we all know that a thorough Rhode Island Home Inspection is beneficial to the buyer of the home. knowing every defect helps in deciding to buy, helping ask for seller concessions, or negotiating. It even helps to simply determine the budget a buyer will need for repairs. These benefits are pretty clear.

At first, one may think a realtor will benefit from a “soft home inspection”. You know they earn money only if a sale closes, and their income is based on the sale price. One could easily arrive at a conclusion that Realtors want inspectors to “gloss over” the home so there is less to lower the sale price and certainly less potential for the sale to be derailed. 

I once thought this way. But consider the following paragraphs and you may change your view. 

In the short term, a realtor could benefit from the soft report, they may close a couple sales, smoothly. But, word will spread. People always ask friends for references on these things. Not only will they eventually stop using the inspectors that are recommended, but they will lose trust in this type of realtor, “the used house salesmen” type.

If a realtor really cares about his/her client, and actually has the clients best interest in mind, they help their client with all phases of the purchase. They make it easy and as pain free as possible. They will operate as if they don’t care if the client gets this house or not. Lets face it, they shouldn’t care, the client will eventually buy a house, so it takes a couple more weeks to find it.

When a realtor recommends a quality inspector, like Mike Auger (read about mike at www.homeinspectorri.com), the fact they they want a detailed thorough inspection builds trust. They want you to get the best home inspection possible even if it kills the sale. The good realtor wants you to buy a home and be happy with it. When you trust someone, you will do business with them, you will refer friends, co-workers and other people you like to them.

I inspected a home for a gentleman and his family a month or so back and he hired me with no recommendation from his realtor. he looked me up online called and hired me. He purchased a home a few years back and the inspector missed all kinds of things, the kind of things any decent inspector ought to not miss. This guy, not only, hired a different realtor for his next purchase, but went out of his way to ensure his realtor and I had no connection/conflict of interest.

My first thought, when this scenario was explained to me, was if you don’t trust your realtor, why on earth did you hire him? The Realtors who do it this way are the ones who stay around and make more money too, even if a couple deals do die along the way.

Now, you’re thinking, “Mike, do you just shred every house you inspect? Putting every defect in the report?” Well, the key for me is simply this. I do put every defect in the report. I will not gloss over the house. But there’s no reason for me to be an alarmist either. Every home has defects. My reports are nearly always over 25 pages too (including photos). The defects get weighted appropriately. For example, a wet attic and roofing shingles cracked means the roof is leaking.  These are potentially major defects, they substantially affect the homes value and are larger cost items to fix. i will weight these items heavily. a door that bind a bit or a window lock that doesn’t operate is still a defect, i still document it, but the repair cost is very minor and it doesn’t alter the home value at all. So I di document them al, but I just don’t add drama to my reports. I also answer my phone and e-mails if the client or realtor should have any questions on my report.

I’m not brought in to kill the deal or to give you ammunition to get a better price on the house. I’m here as a professional home inspector. My job is to put my experience and training to your good use by providing a thorough home inspection. That detailed reporting will give you the precious un-biased information you need to make the best decision possible on your new home purchase. If there are reported discrepancies that you choose to use in the negotiation process, it is simply one of the uses of my report.

Rhode Island Realtors, recommend a quality R I Home Inspection, from an un-biased, objective, certified Rhode Island Home Inspector like Mike Auger (www.homeinspectorri.com), you will build trust, you will be recommended to friends, you will grow your client base!