My son wanted to be an inspector but Texas requires training and mentoring. After about 80 inspections he said he was glad he was not allowed to jump out there and start without the training and mentoring. I am glad he was REQUIRED to get training and education. It helps the public and the inspector.
They dang well better hide it from their broker. If an agent gets caught doing that, she’ll probably be fired on the spot. No broker would ever permit that.
John…the issue in Texas is not as black as Jim paints it nor as white as you paint it. Go to this website and tell me what you see. One of those Gold Level members is a well respected, very qualified inspection firm owner & long time IAC member.
Remember, TREC Rules (not Texas law) says:
How can that be reconciled?
Geesh Mike…
How does anyone allow that? And… if I piss off too many people, do I pay more? Or just be taken off the list?
On another note…
Maybe after a huge/nasty lawsuit where a buyer get’s tag-teamed, there will be no referral’s… just like another industry I know of.
Last I checked, do you think most appraiser’s business’s have benefited from the regulation that resulted from the faults of others?
C’mon. That isn’t just some agent’s husband who read something about inspections pretending to be a home inspector, then going out and inspecting a home for a transaction where his wife is the real estate agent. That’s so absurd. The broker would go crazy if he/she caught them.
Is that allowed Nick? I’m guessing if it’s disclosed… it is.
But then again, there is a lot of trust on the table, no one would question it until after the fact.
In my part of the state the offenders are brokers.
Not a chance. You know all that paperwork at the closing table? Do you know what it mostly is? It is mostly stuff to keep the broker from being sued. No way would they permit what is being described in this thread. I’m not saying it never happened in all of human history, but it almost never happens, and certainly not for long. No broker is going to permit it. It would be nuts.
Real estate agents are exempt from any home inspection laws, and are doing home checks for free. Over the years they have learned from home inspectors and can now do their own checks for free for prospective buyers. During a Tuesday home tour, one agent will check windows. One will check plumbing. One will check appliances, etc. and leave the results on the table.
Free home checks for buyers. Even their buddy contractors do this; all for free. Just another opportunity for agents to inform buyers of deck issues, and not us.
Bad news, IMHO.
LOL! Can you imagine the lawsuits against real estate companies that this would entice? Not a chance of this ever happening.
Team-approach home inspections being done by real estate agents during their home tours? C’mon, be serious.
It appears they list all the different trades for a fee.
http://c21jfc.com/3/W0000015367/P0000306859.htm
It does not appear that they single out one list as the preferred inspector,
but provide a list of all trades in the area.
**Preferred = one thing or person that is better than another. **
Sorry, Nick. Look at the Kansas laws. Anyone can inspect any one item, inform the home buyer, and not have to be educated, licensed, insured, or regulated. Any contractor can do this also. And RE agents.
Hire a deck guy to check the deck.
A plumber for faucets.
A HVAC guy to check the HVAC.
A window guy to check the windows.
A foundation company to check the foundation. Etc. Etc.
All for free. I know of at least two real estate companies here who have never hired a home inspector, because they do it themselves, for free, for the home buyer.
Because of our state laws, passed by RE special interest groups, now do you understand why Buck, me, and Dan, the only 3 CMI’s in Kansas, are barely staying in business?
If NACHI plans to participate in this scam in Missouri I would appreciate it if you could keep it as quiet as possible.
If you want to keep it honest and above board…perhaps you can develop and give away some courses on “How to Read an Inspection Report”, “How Home Inspections Save Real Estate Salesmen from Lawsuits” or “Why You Need to Refer a Qualified Inspector Based Upon His Skills and Not His Fees”. Then for extra credit, “The Dangers of the Soft Report”.
Gary, just because something is technically legal doesn’t mean it is going to ever happen. Real estate agents getting together on home tours and each of them doing a portion of a home inspection and incurring insane liability all for what? C’mon. I assure you, it never happened. Someone is pulling your leg.
*Hey Martha, take off your heels so you don’t poke holes in the shingles and check that chimney flashing, Betty and I are headin’ into the crawlspace, Thelma… you inspect the heating system. Hurry up everyone, we want to do another house tour before the sales meeting today.
*
The more educated a Realtor is regarding a home inspection, the more they fear it’s liability. It is those who “think they know” that do the most harm. Realtor education will cause them to hire a better inspector, so as to provide themselves more protection.
Call me, and I will give you the names of the companies who do it, and brag about it. There are spouses, contractors of all types who are doing home checks for free for prospective buyers. RE’s pushed, and got this in the new Kansas laws.
CMI’s should be inundated with business, even with 2,500 homes selling every month in my coverage area. I am lucky to get 20.
Nick, sorry, but you must be the one who is not thinking correctly on this.
Better… much better. Maybe even helpful. Agents and consumers both benefit from these topics. I’m not sure that most would want to know about deck inspections, given a choice.
We’ll stick some of that in there. I suspect our free, online, deck inspection course will be outrageously popular amongst agents.
Any realtor, will sit through any CE class, to get their CE’s, for FREE!