Realtors, home inspectors, and home warranties..

passing the blame

:lol: sad bit true.

And the sad part it this is what is being taught and pushed on home inspectors today. Inspectors have no incentive to do a good inspection - they just offer a warranty on everything and walk away, leaving the proof home buyer to deal with the issues. This is one of the reason that law suits are starting to skyrocket, at least in Florida

Reasons why REA’s hire the cheapest inspector, or cheapest trades person they can find, because they are the most venerable. REA’s want, and do, control every aspect of the transaction. If they use educated, experienced inspectors and trades persons of all types, they lose that control. They have it all wrong, for the benefit of their home buyer. It is collect the checks, and blame it elsewhere.

I think the article engages in hyperbole and stereotyping of the worst kind, casting real estate agents, inspectors, and home warranty providers as lazy vultures with no regard for their client’s welfare or pride in the service they provide.

A real estate agent provides a tremendous service to the buyer by paying to operate and provide the information that makes the MLS the incredibly powerful tool that it is, aiding buyers and sellers in navigating what can be very sensitive and complex transactions, and (if they are good) continuing to provide service and advice after the sale.

Inspectors bring years of experience, hundreds, even thousands, of hours of training, a keen eye and (again, the good ones) the ability to deliver an accurate report in a manner that helps the client put things in perspective.

Home warranty companies, spotty as they are, protect against specific failures and losses, and can provide benefits well beyond the policy price in a major system failure.

If the Homebuyersadvocate would like to actually help their readers rather than just craft a snarky rant about service providers, they might advise their readers to:

-Read and understand the contracts provided by their service providers, ask questions, and seek another provider if they are not comfortable with the limitations of those contracts.
-Accept the fact that things break, wear out, rot, or otherwise fail not because someone screwed them, but because entropy is an inescapable, if unpredictable, fact of life.
-Put on their big boy or girl pants and take educate themselves on just what home ownership means, and that no amount of diligence or service on anyone’s part will protect a home owner against any and all problems that may arise.

In defense of inspectors specifically, there are some things that cannot be inspected because they are hidden (shower pans), or could be damaged in the course of inspections (concrete roof tiles), or are otherwise un-observable. Unless and until sellers are willing to allow inspectors to open up walls, foundations, and other hidden systems and buyers are willing to pay the costs associated with a truly exhaustive inspection, inspections will continue to be limited in their scope.

It’s easy to sit behind a keyboard and snipe at professionals about whose business one knows apparently nothing. It’s somewhat more difficult to formulate useful advice about how to avoid finding oneself behind the eight ball from an undetected and uninsured defect.