I was informed this morning by another member that the Buy Back Program details had changed significantly.
Nope. No changes to our terms of use (for the participating inspector) have been made in about 6.5 years. You might be looking at our terms for the consumer who is utilizing the program. We are constantly tweaking those. With every scam that someone tries to run on us using our own program, we modify the terms to give me an “out,” should I need it. That said, our terms are all written in Plain English and I don’t find any of them unreasonable. If you look at anything else in any other industry (your homeowner’s insurance policy, for example), you’ll find a terms document that is dozens of times as long with all sorts of legalese. Not so with ours.
Whereas before the terms were quite broad, now the terms are so limited, it has near no value.
LOL. I would hope the value of the program (in your eyes) isn’t in those terms. The program was designed as a marketing tool. It is a marketing tool. The purpose (and value) of our “We’ll Buy Your Home Back” Guarantee isn’t to buy back homes. That’s a secondary benefit, and yes some participating members have benefited from that, but that is not the program’s primary purpose. The odds of you ever needing to use the program are pretty slim. Not as slim as being bit by a shark while being struck by lightning… but somewhere close. Again, it’s purpose is to cause you to get more inspections. We now have entire brokerages full of real estate agents who only refer participating members. And that trend just keeps growing. Our goal is to make sure every American can unwind their home purchase if they want to. You can take back your new car within 3 days of purchase in most states. You should be able to return your home within 90 days of purchase… and for many Americans, they can. And for 19 Americans, they did.
When did these changes get implemented?
I’d have to know the exact change to figure out the day it was made, and I probably wouldn’t do it anyway. It’s a pain in the butt.
And what the reason behind these changes?
This I can answer for every change. If you ask about any specific section of our terms, I can tell you the thinking behind it. Just post the section you want me to explain.
And why was there no notification?
What consumer would want that notification? Why would they care about the evolution of our terms page?
While I never had any client take me up on it, I could at least offer it as a negotiating tool, now there are so many restrictions, I can no longer use it as a negotiating tool. Any client reading the fine print would realize the BB has no power now.
Clients now know the chances of a home being bought back are slim to none.
As my business grows, I’m paying some $600 a month in BB fees.
And maybe 10-15% of those are on homes that don’t even qualify anymore. Which means I’m literally throwing away money.
This I can answer for every change. If you ask about any specific section of our terms, I can tell you the thinking behind it. Just post the section you want me to explain.
I did above.
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ndegaris
(Neil DeGaris, CMI KY License # 102167)
5
So the difficulty with the program has to do with forthrightness. Some consumers use some piddly issue so that we buy their house back, because they actually want out of the home. Other consumers ask us to buy back their entire home over some piddly issue because they actually just want the issue repaired. And because they think they are playing poker with me, I can’t tell what they actually want at first.
In the latter scenario, where the consumer doesn’t actually want to use the program and is just (in their mind) leveraging it to get some measly repair made, E&O insurance is the appropriate solution.
I’m not a scumbag. I’m not going to hold a consumer to a deal where they have to uproot their entire family when they secretly don’t want to move at all. You aren’t a scumbag either.
Eventually, like in poker, I get to see their real hand, and if they really just want something small repaired, I can get that from our insurance company (InterNACHI’s insurance company has the largest book in the industry) and I don’t even charge our member the deductible (I’m getting rid of deductibles anyway).
I actually just used #20 yesterday. I told the consumer: “That’s not a big issue, why don’t we try to get the insurance company to pay to fix it for you?” She replied “Well, I really just want out of the house.”
OK, cards are flipped up now and I know to buy the home back.
It’s so useful in getting everyone to reveal what they really want.