I have been getting a lot of pre offer inspection requests, am I the only one or is this the new trend, probably 90% of my inspections have been pre offer or pre contract. I handle them like all the rest but I just had one tell me I only have 1 hour and 45 min to accomplish, any thoughts?
The market in my area is so crazy that the first day a house is listed it has 1/2 hour showings all day long. Ive attended a few showings and only have a half hour. This is a walk through inspection with no report. I hit the main components. Roof, electrical, foundation and basic plumbing. Clients follow me around and I point out issues as I see them. Most buyers are waving inspections all together.
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What do you charge for a regular inspection and then what do you charge for the condensed version? My fee if 450 for a complete inspection and I give RWS warranty package and BuyBack program, most of my inspections take 3 hours.
I stick em for $125 for a half hour of my time. Of course there is travel time in there.
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My inspection costs vary depending on the age and size of the home.
Who dictates this to you?
Any way no one tells me how I will perform an inspection.
Comply & it can give them a license to tell you how to write the report.
Thanks for your time Walter, I appreciate your input. I agree with you also Marc, I’m just looking for the work around to keep employed.
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A full home inspection is a full home inspection until it is not. So, are you modifying your inspection? If so, how? Then define that into a new agreement.
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Just don’t try to keep employed to your detriment and you can do well, Vincent.
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With today’s market I’m thinking about doing a walk through, no pre inspection agreement, no report for half my regular fee and when they close finish the inspection with agreement and report for the remainder of my fee, is any one besides Walter doing anything like this? Am I all F’ed up in my thinking or could this work? The problem is most are foregoing the inspection Completely and getting what they get, this way they have a good assurance that nothing major is going on at a discount up front cost, and if and when they win the war they can get all the benefits of a full inspection in the end. Thoughts!!!
Keep in mind this would only be in effect if the client could not get enough time for a full inspection like the one I am currently working with. Pre contract or not as long as they give me the time needed they will get the complete package. This would be a one off till the market gets better.
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You should still use an agreement. Nick gave us one to use.
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Very good Walter, I will be using this agreement, thank you.
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These pre offer “inspections” are often dictated by time in the showing schedule. There are so many buyers and such low inventory that the buyers agent may only be allowed to book out a small amount of time. I don’t do the quick walkthrough ones, IMO these are a liability nightmare. It’s too difficult to determine what the client may decide is a “major” issue later. I still do pre offer inspections, I just make it clear that it is a full inspection just like any other one, and I’m not leaving until I’m 100% finished.
For those of you doing these, be careful. I think we should all expect to see a period of significant buyers remorse over the next year due to this crazy market. Buyers are overpaying and not getting any repairs out of the sellers. I think we will all see a higher percentage than normal of unsatisfied buyers who may try to take action against their inspector over the next year or so. The As Is contracts protect the seller, but not us.
I’m still doing plenty of normal inspections here though. Still averaging 35 a month even with this market. Only a small percentage are pre offer inspections most are still normal. These are right of refusal only, no repairs in most cases.
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I agree to using an agreement, like Walter said.
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Of course Larry. I still think this type of “inspection” is a bad idea and a bad practice that cheapens the entire industry. But it may be the only work that is available in some markets.
I never did those but there are many types of inspectors that believe they are a good “filler” for these lean times. And, I believe they would benefit by using an agreement, Ryan.
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If anyone is doing these, they should definitely use the agreement Nick provided.
But the reason these exist is because some inspector somewhere started doing these. It’s similar to low balling the price for an inspection. Essentially these are just low balling the actual inspection methods/SOPs instead of doing a full inspection. I think you may see a lot of problems from these later…
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That could, very well, be coming up. That’s one of reasons that I didn’t do them.
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Anyone want a $493.00 5 yr old townhome inspection tomorrow in Pompano Beach?
Gave the estimate & it was approved 4 days ago.
The TENANT now says NO gotta be on Saturday morning. I say OK.
Now it’s back to tomorrow 9 AM, inspector must wear mask & surgical gloves, take shoes off, only one inspector allowed.
I told them NO. Need shoes on for ladder up the stairs & into the attic.
I’m not wearing gloves, there are 2 inspectors.
Now the whole deal is falling apart 'cause of the “tenant restrictions.”
Even if I complied, they then have license to dictate how I will conduct the inspection, what area to do first, last, etc.
I’m out.
It would probably get uglier real quick.
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