Here’s an interesting post…
There is a new scam going on in this home inspection industry
Large corporations are buying up all the small home inspection companies
They don’t care about making money off inspecting homes, they want the data
Why? This is where it gets borderline criminal
Home inspections are supposed to be confidential, but what they’re doing is buying all the companies to own the data
Then they are going to sell that data to insurance companies and lenders
Now with this new information the insurance company finds out, they’re going to start charging you $3,000 (or whatever) extra a year to insure that house
Here’s what I’ve found
Large corporations and private equity firms are aggressively consolidating the home inspection industry primarily by buying inspection software platforms like Spectora, HomeGauge and larger inspection companies
A home inspection report contains highly detailed property specific information like roof age and condition, electrical and plumbing issues, foundation problems, HVAC status, environmental hazards
This is extremely valuable for:
Insurance companies (risk assessment and underwriting).
Lenders (property valuation and loan risk).
Home warranty providers, contractors, and data brokers
Home inspections are supposed to be confidential between the buyer, inspector, and sometimes the real estate parties.
However, many inspection software companies’ terms of service allow data aggregation and sharing
That’s the loophole they found. That’s the scam
It’s really not new. But Wall Street Apes (over 1M followers and followed by Elon, Joe Rogan and many more) just shined a big bright light on it.
Does this have anything to do with the daily emails I receive for investors looking to purchase my company? Or just one of the other million scams going on?
Insurance agent here. Companies are getting more and more invasive so this wouldn’t surprise me in the least. The amount of info that a lot of companies try to get us to collect is infuriating. I’ve protected my clients as much as possible but the automation is finding pretty alarming details on its own now. It used to be you had to agree to install a device in your car, or download an app before there was much to worry about. New cars self report.
Did you ever stop to REALLY think about what they’ve been doing with the data from our grocery store ‘discount’ cards? Those things have ALWAYS bothered me. Now that we’ve learned how toxic our food is, it starts to make sense. They must be able to cross reference what disease causing substances are accumulating in our bodies also. Who knows what other information they are compiling….
Large investment companies buying everything. My husband is a home inspector and a small one man show HVAC Contractor. Anything that is a service industry etc- that can’t be done by AI- they want to control. Use the little Guys not bigger companies… same theory as small business. Yes they use software but that also prices you out of the ability to generate a more concise report. Greed will eventually break everything.
I’ve just been shoveling them off into the trash bin without a thought about it. But yea me too been getting a ton of “we want to buy your business” emails.
Hmmm…I don’t rate. No one has contacted me about buying my business.
How is this a scam? Sounds like opportunistic leverage of data. I don’t like it, but it doesn’t look like a scam. Gotta say that it reinforces my interest in creating my own personal reporting software. ( I already have my own report form, but want to make it more efficient)
Also, clients’ info is already put out there from the real estate agent’s end, mortgage application, and insurance and USPS change of address request. A home buyer gets deluged with promotions and offers. On one hand, what’s the dif using a reporting software that is selling client data? On the other hand, an independent inspector like myself, might use this as a marketing tool. I’m like an off the grid inspector. I don’t use any of the cloud reporting software programs. Everything stays strictly between the client, agent and me.
I just received an unusual email. With the recent increase in scams, I wanted to check whether anyone else has received a similar message to see if this legit or another way?
Thanks!
This is their message:
Good afternoon Jack, my name is Paul.
Currently looking to pursue a career in home inspections in either the tri state area or potentially staying here in alaska. Was wondering if you had time to take a call about some general questions about becoming an inspector!
Several years ago I received a similar request. I was suspicious.
Turned out it was an actual person hoping to become an inspector. Not sure why they just didn’t do a webernet search like everyone else. But we ended up chatting for a few minutes, they thanked me for my time and that was the last I heard from them.
YMMV
