In 2018 InterNACHI will be offering all of N. America free home inspections forever.

[jjonas (Jeffrey Jonas)]

That was my sarcastic font… just seems like an acceleration of the race to the bottom to me at this point.

Ok, Frank. My bad!

[jjonas (Jeffrey Jonas)]

The “Buy Back” offering must not be generating enough revenue for Nick.
What’s next (in one-two years) when this “offering” fizzles out?

[ccurrins (Christopher Currins, CMI)]

… just seems like an acceleration of the race to the bottom to me at this point.

Exactly. I can’t see how this new venture will turn out good for home inspectors in general.

I wonder if Nick is teaming up with Porch to kick this off?

[imayer (Ian Mayer, CMI)]

This could be neat, but it also beings up a ton of questions:

1. Now that Nick owns a stake in Porch, is this not an attempt by Porch to collect data on which homes need what repairs?

2. Who chooses the inspector? The agent, home owner or Nachi?

3. If I sell this concept to an agent, what guarantee do I have that the i get the job and that it’s not routed to another InterNACI inspector?

4. Doesn’t this dilute the work by spreading it around to do different NACHI inspectors rather than those who spend the time marketing?

5. What are the terms of payment to the inspector? Time of inspection? Net 30? At closing?

6. How are home sellers protected, and how is NACHI protected, from terrible inspectors who are NACHI certified? (they do exist).

7. Doesn’t this give the large mutl-inspector firms the ability to push out the one man shops?

8. Why would an agent choose this option over paying me directly and allowing my report to be viewed any one they wish?

9. Doesn’t this cut into my ability to sell pre-listing inspections, and the marketing and good will that comes from buyers seeing my report without them having to pay for it?

10. How the heck does the Buy Back work with this given you have always said Buy Back does NOT apply to pre-lisint inspections???

[mfreeburg (Marcy Freeburg)]

Sure would be nice to know the answers to the questions posed above… They are among the same questions I have.

[gromicko (Nick Gromicko, CMI)]

This could be neat, but it also beings up a ton of questions:

1. Now that Nick owns a stake in Porch, is this not an attempt by Porch to collect data on which homes need what repairs?

2. Who chooses the inspector? The agent, home owner or Nachi?

3. If I sell this concept to an agent, what guarantee do I have that the i get the job and that it’s not routed to another InterNACI inspector?

4. Doesn’t this dilute the work by spreading it around to do different NACHI inspectors rather than those who spend the time marketing?

5. What are the terms of payment to the inspector? Time of inspection? Net 30? At closing?

6. How are home sellers protected, and how is NACHI protected, from terrible inspectors who are NACHI certified? (they do exist).

7. Doesn’t this give the large mutl-inspector firms the ability to push out the one man shops?

Why would an agent choose this option over paying me directly and allowing my report to be viewed any one they wish?

9. Doesn’t this cut into my ability to sell pre-listing inspections, and the marketing and good will that comes from buyers seeing my report without them having to pay for it?

10. How the heck does the Buy Back work with this given you have always said Buy Back does NOT apply to pre-lisint inspections???

1. Nothing to do with Porch. And BTW: Porch didn’t buy InterNACHI, I bought a piece of them. Eventually we’re going to use Porch to pump consumer construction project leads into www.OverSeeIt.com . But again that has nothing to do with this.

2. InterNACHI is the client. The buyer can then hire whomever they want when they get their own inspection. You do realize this doubles the number of inspections in North America?

3. You won’t have to. Free inspections? Word will spread on its own.

4. That’s true with anything. If you market the idea that every home should have a radon test, another home inspector who offers radon testing benefits from your efforts.

5. Just like our Owens Corning program: www.nachi.org/roof . Immediate direct deposit.

6. No one is ever really safe from everything in business. Business is about risk. If the profits generated from taking the risks are greater than the costs of managing those same risks… do it.

7. Nope. Did www.nachi.org/buy push out one-man operations?

8. Agents rarely pay for inspections. It would take an Act of God to get agents to start paying for inspections to that home buyers would have more information about the homes they are looking at.

9. No, it paves the way for the adoption of programs like www.MoveInCertified.com

10. We already offer the Buy Back program on listings all the time. Works great. www.nachi.org/buy

[gromicko (Nick Gromicko, CMI)]

Sure would be nice to know the answers to the questions posed above… They are among the same questions I have.

Answered. Ian knows me. A list of numbered questions is irresistible.

[mgoldenberg (Marc Goldenberg, Inspector Lic # HI1365 Mold Assessor Lic #1573)]

Questions:

The way this is structured, these are pre-listing inspections?
The “We’ll Buy Your Home” guarantee goes to the purchaser - is that cost covered by Inachi?
Who determines which inspector gets hired to inspect any given home?
Who determines the fee for the inspection?
Who administers the program?

If I’m getting this right, a potential homebuyer pays $39 to view the inspection report. Let’s say it’s for a $390 inspection (to keep the math simple), I’m assuming that Inachi pays the inspector and is counting on 10 - $39 downloads to break even, and anything beyond that is profit for Inachi?
Does the buyer reserve the right to have their own inspection?

Oh boy, I’m sure I can come up with a couple dozen mor questions, but Where do I sign up?

Steve get me the answers & I’ll consider them for QOTW!

[dbonner (Dennis J. Bonner)]

Sign me up

[gromicko (Nick Gromicko, CMI)]

The “Buy Back” offering must not be generating enough revenue for Nick.

The Buy Back program doesn’t generate any revenue for me. It can’t.

What’s next (in one-two years) when this “offering” fizzles out?

Did online education “fizzle out?” (launched another free course this month). Did our House of Horrors Complexes fizzle out? (we’re building a third already). Did the Buy Back program fizzle out? (buying 2 more homes this month).

[gromicko (Nick Gromicko, CMI)]

Who determines the fee for the inspection?

How about www.nachi.org/fee-calculator with instant direct deposit plus $3/download at the end of the month?

[sstanczyk (Stephen Stanczyk, WA License #221)]

The “Buy Back” offering must not be generating enough revenue for Nick.
What’s next (in one-two years) when this “offering” fizzles out?

It will never fizzle out JJ because it will be advertised in those tens of thousands of newsletter boxes that were installed at all real estate companies…

[jdittmar2 (James Dittmar)]

The more I read on this and think on it the more I like it. These are essentially “pre-listing” inspections it seems like, so it makes the homeowners feel more secure and hopefully whomever reads it will want to use you again for the final inspection for their bank. Realtors will get to view more reports from other inspectors so that is just free advertising and offering it to the realtors will just help push InterNACHI to the front of the mindset to realtors as the default association to recommend to clients . My only concern is how the inspectors will be chosen. If there are 5 InterNACHI inspectors in an area, will they be evenly cycled as jobs come in? Will CMI members get preferential amounts of work (on the one hand a great added benefit for them, but on the other hand those of us who haven’t got there yet are going to have that much harder of a time getting the required amount of inspections). Really looking forward to more information on the subject and helping market it in my area.

[rhosch (Ryan Hosch, CMI)]

The more I read on this and think on it the more I like it. These are essentially “pre-listing” inspections it seems like, so it makes the homeowners feel more secure and hopefully whomever reads it will want to use you again for the final inspection for their bank. Realtors will get to view more reports from other inspectors so that is just free advertising and offering it to the realtors will just help push InterNACHI to the front of the mindset to realtors as the default association to recommend to clients . My only concern is how the inspectors will be chosen. If there are 5 InterNACHI inspectors in an area, will they be evenly cycled as jobs come in? Will CMI members get preferential amounts of work (on the one hand a great added benefit for them, but on the other hand those of us who haven’t got there yet are going to have that much harder of a time getting the required amount of inspections). Really looking forward to more information on the subject and helping market it in my area.

I don’t know how so many people keep asking this question. NACHI is not picking Inspectors. It’s up to you to offer this and the RE Agents and/or Seller to hire you.

[jjonas (Jeffrey Jonas)]

I don’t know how so many people keep asking this question. NACHI is not picking Inspectors. It’s up to you to offer this and the RE Agents and/or Seller to hire you.

What do you know that the rest of us don’t? This is all that we’ve been told…

In 2018, InterNACHI will be offering free home inspections on all homes for sale in the U.S. and Canada. The way it works is we are going to hire InterNACHI members to inspect the homes for sale for free (InterNACHI members get their full fee immediately) The homeowner has to have their listing agent post a link to the inspection report on their website which any and all interested homebuyers can download for $39. If the consumer puts an offer in on the house and it is accepted, they get their $39 refunded.** InterNACHI is the inspector’s client** so there is zero liability to the inspector. Each home will also come with a free “We’ll Buy Your Home Back” Guarantee.

[rhosch (Ryan Hosch, CMI)]

Just read Nick’s post. It’s pretty straight forward.

You will advertise free pre-listing inspections. NACHI will pay you. You take work as much as your phone rings.

[imayer (Ian Mayer, CMI)]

Thank you Nick for your answers. I appreciate your quick repsonse.

I’m just a little unclear based on these answers:

2. InterNACHI is the client. The buyer can then hire whomever they want when they get their own inspection. You do realize this doubles the number of inspections in North America?

3. You won’t have to. Free inspections? Word will spread on its own.

4. That’s true with anything. If you market the idea that every home should have a radon test, another home inspector who offers radon testing benefits from your efforts.

11. How does the seller get their “free” inspection? Do they contact the inspector, or do they call InterNACHI and book with InterNACHI?

And if they book with InterNACHI, how do those jobs get allocated to members?

And then

12; What prevents abuse of the system? I.E. seller offers to “pay” for buyers inspection by calling for their “Free” inspection and then giving their copy to the buyer?

13: Given you had said (and my experience confirms) that doing a pre-listing inspection can often lead to a buyer waiving their inspection, how does this double the number of inspections? it seems to be it just moves the inspection from the buy side to the seller side. Why would a buyer pay $300-$500 or whatever for their own inspection if they can download a recent inspection with a Buy Back Guarantee for a mere $39?

[imayer (Ian Mayer, CMI)]

I don’t know how so many people keep asking this question.

Because we’re home inspectors.

I get paid to question the condition of properly I’m inspection and determine what the situation is, good bad or otherwise. Asking questions is how one finds answers.

[jjonas (Jeffrey Jonas)]

It will never fizzle out JJ because it will be advertised in those tens of thousands of newsletter boxes that were installed at all real estate companies…

Yeah, there’s that! :razz:

[jmosiuk (Jim Mosiuk)]

Nick is having a full discussion about this on Facebook check it out