I was telling a couple ladies that the cracks in the exterior
brick (big enough for my hand to go through) meant that
the foundation was showing signs of movement.
These two ladies nearly collapsed, starting crying and
had trouble breathing… I’m not kidding.
I turned around and could hardly believe what I was
seeing. I was totally shocked at how emotional they
had become.
The Realtor came in about that time and just glared
at me… I could see he was not happy with what I
did to his sale.
Hey… What can I say? … I did it.
It’s my fault. I am sure there are other inspectors who
could have imparted this information with more honey and
sweetness… but not me. I killed the deal.
One of the ladies put her hands over her ears and screamed
for me to stop talking, because she did not want to hear
that the house had any problems.
Later, she told me she was sorry and was glad I told her
the truth.
The Realtor still glared at me. He probably wrote a bad
article about me later.
I was pointing out the AL wires to the Realtor before the client walked up and he told me “That’s no big deal” I told him “I do not get to make that call, the client gets to decide what is and what is not a big deal”
I point it out to the client and she says something about a family member dying in a house fire…
It was interesting to note, that the Realtor was no longer singing the “No big deal tune”.
tgardner
(Timothy Gardner, VA HI Lic# 3380000992 NRS)
24
Speaking of crumbling hardboard siding… I inspected a house a realtor was buying that had been recently painted. When I showed him how he could push his thumb through the totally deteriorated siding, he said: " Jeanine (the sellers realtor) is going to call you a deal killer".
If I was buying a home, I would want my home inspector to be a “deal killer”. I realize that this is a loaded term, and has negative connotations, but I would rather have someone who is tougher and will not gloss over defects so that they do not lose a Realtors referrals. (We all know this happens…) At the same time, I think it goes without saying that a home inspector who is an alarmist is either uneducated or inexperienced, and should read a few more books or get on the net, and learn to put things in context. It is our duty to not only report the facts as they are, but to try to put them in context, without crossing a very thin line. The buyer should then use this info to decide whether they want the home. Period. We as real estate professionals should remember this, and so should the Realtors.