I, like some of the people reading this, am a professional home inspector. If we do this job long enough (and well enough), we’ll eventually be faced with backlash. Someone somewhere will be upset.
With us.
The home inspector.
Wow. Imagine that. Just by doing our job well, we’re going to piss someone off.
Sounds like a great career. Where do I sign up?
Seriously now. I recently had the opportunity to cause a certain north shore real estate agent to vent her frustrations with me on social media. Apparently, she was upset with the quality of my inspection report and was musing that she was certainly going to lose this deal (because of the home inspector.)
Ironically, this isn’t the first time I’ve taken someone’s wrath on social media, and certainly won’t be the last. (Incidentally, this is one of the reasons I don’t really spend time surfing social media, but that’s a topic for another day.) Whenever I find myself in this situation, my response to the agent is always the same:
If your client knew that they were buying a piece of crap house, then they wouldn’t be surprised and freak out when the home inspection report tells them that they’re buying a piece of crap house.
If your clients know, going in, they’re buying a piece of crap with the intention of repairing and making upgrades to the property, that’s one thing, But if your clients don’t know that you’re selling them a piece of crap, then yes, they’re going to be ready to bail on the deal when the inspector confirms that it’s a piece of crap.
If a real estate agent does something like this, that tells me one of two things. Either they don’t yet have enough experience to be able to identify and steer their clients away from crap houses or their level of ethics does not meet my standards.
Home inspectors can not lie about, overlook, or sugar-coat deficiencies in a house. That’s immoral (as well as illegal in Louisiana.)
When I do an inspection, my job is to honestly report what I find. All houses need repairs, and it’s my duty to inform my client, our mutual client, what repairs need to be done. The clients are buying an idealized version of the house they have in their mind, which never matches the reality of owning a structure that needs constant maintenance.
If I’ve done my job correctly, our mutual clients will have enough information to make a more informed purchase decision. This is likely to be the biggest financial decision of their lives, and they’re paying both of us to advise them.
I’m going to hold up my end of the bargain.
Look, buying a house is simply a math problem. The money you’re paying for the house, plus the money that must be spent to get it where you want, needs to be compared to the current market value of the property.
If your cost is less than the price the house would sell for when it’s fixed up, then that’s generally a good investment. If, however, you end up spending more than you can get for it, then that’s generally a bad investment. Just because a house is cheap to buy doesn’t mean the total price of the house is going to be cheap.
The future is a long time, and if something goes bad with this deal, you’re going to be right there in the middle of it with everybody else. It’s my job to give our clients enough information to help keep that from happening.
So, if you’re not interested in an inspector who is looking out for everyone’s interest in the deal, then I’m probably not the home inspector for you.
There are plenty of people out there who will do what you think a home inspector should do, but it ain’t me.
I sincerely hope that the reason this came as a surprise to you is because you are still relatively inexperienced in real estate. Hopefully, this setback can serve as an instructive event in the long arc of your real estate career. I am always available to answer questions, whether I did the inspection or not or whether you’re one of my clients or not. I would rather help someone than see something bad happening in our industry, as that’s not good for any of us in this field.
If, on the other hand, the reason I’m writing this letter is because your ethics aren’t up to snuff, I wish you good luck.
I’m sure you’ll be calling me to do the inspection when your son buys a house.
Would you like to get an email every Friday where we share the newest things we’ve discovered about home inspections? CLICK HERE to sign up.
Want to be an Influencer in Your Field? Share This Post!
Thanks, Joe
