Does our new agent-targeted video disrespect inspectors?

Think of it this way. You hand the people a book and I hope to HELL they never open it. Know why? I am going to be on the COVERS of the book. Once you ON a book, you then become the AUTHORITY on the subject. Kinda neat huh? People will open it, page through it and see different ideas. Some applicable, some not. Have you ever seen a Realtor card with their picture on it and months later saw the Realtor. Made the connection didn’t you?

I will say it until I am blue in the face. If you in the inspection business and thats it? See you, you will go under. You must be in the MARKETING business that specializes in inspections. Only way to make MONEY at this industry.

Whats that guys name from the Houston area that has those You Tube videos that are obnoxious and “dumb”? LOL…You knew the guys name didn’t you? Fox Inspections. It may not be your typical way to advertise, but I remembered his name after watching him just ONE time. Even more the guy will tell you WHAT he does to make his money. Kinda neat guy. Not my style, but he is doing $2,000,000 a year in revenue…so who is right and who is wrong?

The video is subject to review and comment but I think focusing on the video is missing the point.

IMO, home inspection has evolved to an over regulated product that provides vastly more information than a home buyer wants or can comprehend. We are over producing the product and confuse the subject with copious limitation language. I will not expound on details for now. I could write a 20 page paper on the subject!

The question that begs “Is the report providing what the client is really looking for”? Can the report be interpreted and parsed into realistic home buying priorities. IMO no. Most reports are over produced and fail to clarify priorities. In order to understand the confusion we have to search our own industry failings. Questions to ponder. Would the consumer desire:

  • end of life statements? (is the roof old; yes they want this)
  • estimated cost of repair (a roof can cost $5,000 to $8,000 subject to actual estimate verification; yes they want this)
  • your home does no meet modern codes in blah blah blah (most consumers know an old home does not meet modern code and don’t care for this. TMI)
  • what should be addressed first (a priority question; it is excluded from the Standards; it sounds like the book for the agents is intended to help here; yes consumers want this.)
  • what will happen if nothing is done (ramification; excluded from the SoP; ignores the consumer concern; consumers want this.)
  • what are repair options? (sure a contractor should determine that but we all know buyers are misled with poor repair advice; inspectors often know better and should tell the consumer what they want to know)

Of course there are more questions the consumer has that we ignore but one thing for sure is real estate agents do not want any of this to be discussed. Consumers cannot understand reports because we are not giving them what they want and we are giving them a heck of a lot that they do not want. The fact we need a book to help people understand is proof of an over regulated industry and a business model failure.

In that we cannot change that . . . . the book is a good idea.

I don’t know what’s in that book but doubt it can replace the next step that the buyer must do, that is GET a contractor to review the report and the house and provide an estimate for the items the buyer and contractor think should be done.

We have to report lots of things but we can’t place a degree of urgency or “must fix” on everything. Many houses have some higher risk items, let the contractor be the one to tell the client “oh that should be fine”.

Is that what the book tries to do? :shock:

Agree! We are our worst enemy.

For sure, who ever produced that video has no respect for home inspectors.

I believe if you make the inspector and the report not the problem, it would help the industry instead of hurt it. Some language similar to what Russell stated could work.

Emailing information such as short videos with good content would help all NACHI inspectors. Just it needs to be more professional.

I think the book is a great tool to help the home buyer understand HOME MAINTENANCE, thats it. THey don’t want to know home maintenance, they want to know whats not right. Anything to help sugarcoat the issues would be great for agents to gobble up.

I think you are just trying to sell your books Nick. Sorry, thats just how I see it.

If you going to to promote somthing to agents quit trying to sell them your books, which seems to be the direct marketing message, and promote why nachi is a great orginazation.

But I guess you would not make money selling books to agents that way would you.

Sean - I think where you guys miss the boat is I don’t think Nick makes a penny selling these things. But what Nick does is he boasts his own credentials and that of NACHI. If he sells like a million of these books he may get on the New Your Times Best seller or something. Or he can say he has the most used inspection book ever…its not about the book…at $2.00 a book I think he is lucky to break even! There is something more that meets the eye…what exactly? I don’t know but trust me its not the whopping revenue of the book.

Or he is trying to boost his brothers reputation or exposure…the guy is smart as hell and trust me its not for the sales…its for the exposure. The guy knows how to market, thats for sure.

I am gonna try and ride his gravy train and put my name and info on the book and try to get the exposure as well. I will let you guys know how it works. I do know that doing nothing gets the exact same results…nothing

Bushart had a picture of him taken in a speedo. You could probably just paste your head on it.
Or was just him covered by a fig leaf? It has been a few years since he has talked about it.

I do not like the message. the message is that we have upset their(agents) customer with our big bad report, so use the book to calm them down and show them what’s really important??
The bad outweighs the good, I suggest you do not launch that version.

Suggest a different slant… Mr/Ms Realtor, before the inspection,
Educate your customer, give them the book to prep them for the inspection so they can focus on the things that really matter, the defects and not be over whelmed. The book will help them put things into perspective,i.e, how to really interpret the inspectors results.

just my opinion…everyone has one.

The new replacement video was shot this past weekend. I’ll post it on a new thread after it comes out of editing.

Here is my take, for what it is worth:

  1. I know that you are trying to sell books, and believe that this will also promote NACHI and its members, leading to more membership and more inspections for those members.

  2. Why are we so interested in Realtors? Don’t we always complain about inspectors who are “beholding” to Realtors and how the NAR wants to keep intruding into our industry (licensing laws, sitting on HI state boards, etc). HIs and agents are too totally different industries and they should be.

  3. Sure, I take referals from agents, but I make it clear to these agents that I do not work for them. I professionally represent the client.

  4. I have gotten these books and handed them out to my clients, as well as to a few agents. The clients love it, and many of the agents do to. But I do this to further educate the client and not as a marketing tool to agents. I also take the time, both during the inspection and after) to carefully explain the issues to the client. Personal time, educating, is professional and is the best marketing tool.

  5. In my opinion, the sooner that HIs refuse to be influenced by the agents, the better. Most of my clients come from referrals from past clients and from my web site. Sure, I won’t turn away an agent referral, but I do not court agents. Almost all of the agents that refer me chose to do so because they were impressed by my inspection professionalism and my reports. And that is, I believe, how it should be.

Just my opinion (hey, you asked :mrgreen: ) and hope this helps;

I absolutely agree.

What we definitely DO NOT need is just another way of demeaning our service to the commodity that it has become in the hands of UHS’s. What we truly need as an industry is the means to market ourselves, our services, and our fees outside of the realm of the whim and whimsy of the real estate salesman. This does takes us even farther from that goal.

This should sell some books, that’s about it. A video targeting salespeople doesn’t help the inspector at all.

So, did a new replacement video ever get shot & edited?