I’m in my first year of bussiness, and the alrming number of buyers waiving home inspections makes me more than a little nervous. I know from talking to long time veterans in the home Inspection industry that this isn’t the first time this has happened and won’t be the last. My question to the you CMI’s and long time home inspectors is… How concerned should I be with this trend and how long do you see this lasting? I’m a very agressive marketer and have been doing more bussiness than I anticipated in my first yearand I have quite a few loyal agents/brokers that have me at the top of their list that I’m very greatfull for! But alas there to many buyer waiveing inspection, and my market in the Seattle metro area is chalk full of experienced, knowledgeable and quality inspectors that have a strangle hold on the precious few realtors that insist on a contingency and home inspections with their clients.
…so I digress should I be worried? will this last much longer ? Is this any different than inventory shortages in the past? I have so many questions…
Market trends are a part of the business. What goes up must come down. Can you weather the storm? well…only you will know.
It will not last forever, but will it outlast your lasting power? I would encourage you to gear up to offer as many services as possible as well as look for side work, some inspection related or maybe not.
You are not alone being nervous. I am certain others are as well. I have weathered a few storms. Over time, the valleys don’t get as low but they are pretty damn low for most new inspectors.
Thank You for the quick response Brian. I have been gearing up my ancillary services for sure. While I’ve been putting my all into my company I do have other skills I can lean on for slower periods. Its just that I have done so much work to get here, studied endlessly followed mentors and built my bussiness plan for years in preparation for the right time to enter the fray and BOOM covid and now this. Im ready to weather it and forge forward but hearing word of encouragement from long time pros helps ease my nerves…
IMO, this will be around a lot longer than many CMI’s have even been in business. One needs to look at the true root causes of this mess to understand what you are in for.
Those of us that endured and fought our way through 2006-2012 will do just fine. The rest of you… I predict a 30-50%+ failure rate.
Good luck.
This is probably true as I’ve seen many new guys fold already, But I don’t mean to be a statistic, I’ll keep going and do what have to do and work where ever I have to work to get through it, it’s just this feels like a game changer and I worry that this might be a paradigm shift in the industry. That’s just my non-expert observation and why I’ve turned to you guys for advise.
And that is exactly how those of us who survived made it through. We did what we had to do without resting on our laurels. Reinvent yourself as needed.
Don’t… and die!!
I don’t think anyone really knows for sure what’s going to happen next but in the short term, this looks to continue for at least the short term and I don’t think there’s going to be any shortage of buyer’s remorse and fingers pointed at everyone if things do start to slip… buyer’s are giving up everything and the kitchen sink along with free rent for 2-3 months for the seller, lol.
If you are buying a house and think just because you’re going above and beyond the asking price, paying all fees and giving free rent to a seller that the seller of a property will tell you the absolute honest truth, you’re crazy and they don’t know everything anyway… get an inspection and don’t try to blame anyone and everyone down the road…
I believe it is a bubble in the housing market and the bubble WILL burst… to say when is just a guess.
Buckle up and be prepared to withstand a few years of “waiving home inspections”.
Be the inspector that clients ask for because you continue to get your name out there and you are a “one stop shop”…meaning, as Brian said, add. as many ancillary services for those intelligent clients that WILL get a home inspection.
Good luck!
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My market is the same. Lots of buyers waiving inspection. My client today had offers in on 9 houses before they secured this house. I jumped into inspections almost two years ago. I never imagined it would be a full time gig even in the first five years. I am a carpenter and am absolutely swamped. I don’t do a lot of networking, but have a couple of agents that use me. I pick up some inspections through my website and Google. I started mailing postcards to agents and have had great luck getting some inspections with those. Email marketing doesn’t work in my opinion. Stick with it, the market will swing the other way soon enough.
On a positive note (though this is very specific to me and not the market as a whole I would suspect)
In the recent week, I have had an uptick in calls with clients that actually have a 5-7 day due diligence. My commercial business is also picking up speed. Hopefully, everyone gets the same boost soon.
Me personaly I hit the open houses and go right into the office to meet and greet my realtors, its my bread and butter with Starbucks cards, survival kits etc. That said I do alittle of everything and I agree emails hardly get me anything. I pick up a few here and there from Google and my website (wich needs alot of work lol) but face to face gets me the most loyal of my Realtors.
Yeah, I’ve actually had a bit of an uptick myself, but they or overwhelmingly pre-inspections (verbal consultation), which are not Ideal for me and I’ve been forced to circulate a flyer with a pre-inspection promotion. (I’ll cover this in my reinventing ones self thread).
I hope your right, I do believe in reinventing your self and evolving with the times, but I certainly don’t want the game to change on me in my first year!
I try to avoid those as well as re-inspects. But, I will not knock anyone who goes that direction. We have to eat. “Risk-it for the biscuit” as they say. Best of luck, sounds like you will do great.
Yeah, lately pre-inspections have been the currency the realm so to speak, and I’ve been doing them against ever instinct I have as a new Home inspector, but like you said we gotta eat. I just had an attorney help me write a contract just for pre-inspections but it still makes me feel dirty for the lack of a better word. I hope to find a better way to get referals very soon.
Fortunately in my area most, at least the more experienced agents, are still strongly recommending home inspections. If for nothing else to protect themselves in the future from getting sued later down the road. Though there are a few agents that are trying to get their client to wave the inspection.
But I do get a lot of calls from clients that want to get the inspection done in the next few days, all in a big rush to get in a huge financial debt.
