Good Day inspectors, i am new to internachi and have about 2 weeks as a licensed inspector and cpi.
i am also a realtor, i was curious about something in particular. As a realtor, can i also perform the inspections for my clients? you know, as an extra benefit to them.
No, because you have a financial interest in the outcome.
Read the Code of Ethics and SOP.
good luck
William and Larry beat me to it. What they said!
ah yea, conflict of interest.
“disclosed” that’s the big one there.
ok, makes sense. thank you for clarifying.
Sure, why not. All of the “successful” agents are doing it.
Hi Marcos,
Being the home inspector for a property you are also receiving a sales commision on would be a conflict of interest to say the least, full of potential liability and in violation of InterNACHI’s ethical standards.
That being said, you might want to stick to listings as a way to incorporate your home inspection skills with your real estate license. As a home inspector you could steer your clients to needed home repairs which could be performed pre-listing that could raise both the price and marketability of the listing, or at least your skills should keep you away from listing homes with major defects which might be harder to sell.
Good luck.
Sure why not. I have this house for sale and it’s great. Oh no need to worry I did a home inspection and it’s absolutely PERFECT. I’ve never seen a home with no issues. So where would you like to sign? You may want to read the SOP and stay in your swimming lane.
I hear that in Florida it’s only illegal if you get caught! 
I’m really asking this so please do not think I’m trying to be a wise guy. If a realtor was truly functioning as a buyers agent and thus not receiving any portion of the sale price at all but being paid by the buyer at an agreed upon set fee for service would that change the answer. Both services would be performed for an agreed on fee paid by the buyer. The Buyer’s Agent Realtor would have no direct pecuniary interest in the final price and No duty to the seller. I’m just curious. I’m not trying to cause any harm. I leave the Fear Uncertainty and Doubt tactics to the big dogs who love to fight.
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Tom Horne
Tom… the bottom line is… If the home doesn’t sell, NO agent(s) collect a paycheck!
Capiche’?
Not only unethical but think about the liability. Even if you were being honest and truly trying to do your best… if anything was missed EVERYONE would assume that you didn’t disclose the defect because you wanted to make a sale. It doesn’t pass the smell test.
I’m also a realtor (part time) and home inspector. Only thing I will do on a listing is do a prelisting walk thru free of charge to ID items that they should either consider correcting or expect to be brought up during the inspection by a buyer.
Jeffrey
I may not understand the relationship of a Buyer’s Agent to the buyer at all then. How we did it when we bought our home; admittedly decades ago; was we found an Agent that was willing to work for us in buying our next home. We paid them a fee and they signed an agreement to look out for our interest throughout the process and to not expect, seek, nor except any remuneration from anyone other than ourselves. That was what she did. The concept was so comparatively new that one of the seller agents refused to work with her and we filed a complaint against him with the Maryland State Board of Realtors. When we weren’t successful on the first house we liked she just kept working until we closed on the home we are still in. Her only compensation came from us. She got the final price reduced by an additional 3% because she was working for us so there was no second realtor to pay out of the proceeds of the sale. You are correct that no one collected out of the homes that we were unsuccessful on but since she was working for us on a fee for service basis rather than on a seller agent commission that was no skin off of her nose. Are buyer’s agents so rare that I’m speaking Martian?
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Tom Horne
A lawyer would have a field day with you. You can choose between be being good realtor or a good home inspector. I find you being good at one or terrible with the other. After all your realtor friends find out about your conflict of interest they will be upset if you kill their deals. But that wont happen cause I’m sure you will sugar coat your reports to appease them. So be real and find something else to do.
Marcos Espinosa
You can not be both the inspector and the realtor on the same transaction. But you can informally do it without a report to give them some indication.
I do not mean to correct you but, 'When you get caught," would be suitable. Its illegal. Like pregnant. Can’t be a little.
It is amazing how many people on the MB dispense legal information as if they were lawyers!
Nick Gromicko gave a straight from the legal dictionary definition of ‘conflict of interest’. It is there for persons to look up. Read it carefully, then read the SOP carefully.
See if your armchair lawyer response is the same.
As home inspectors one would expect either more informed declarations, or a simple, as is the case, I do not know.