A friend of mine from California called today. It seems her daughter has moved to Kansas and is buying a house in Topeka (the state capitol). Her mom and dad are remodelers / builders and had talked to her about the importance of picking your own inspectors and not letting the Realtor shove you into the trap of using the “Preferred Inspectors”.
The daughter called her mom and told her the Realtor insists she use the Realtors preference of inspectors. The agent has told the daughter that if she doesn’t use the Realtors prefered inspectors - ALL the real estate contracts will have to be redone and it may cost them the house / loan.
The daughter is in a panic thinking she’ll loose a house if she doesn’t use the PREFERRED INSPECTORS (don’t know who they are OR what association they’re with - if any).
The mom and dad called me asking if this was a Kansas rule. I gave them my humble opinion as a simple home inspector with a degree in real estate and graduate RE law classes - My opinion was “talk to your daughter - give them my name. I’ll take 2 inspectors and go to Topeka. We’ll provide the agent with the type of home inspection protection they’ve only had nighmares about before”.
I can’t even begin to tell you how angry this sort of behaviour from LICENSED agents makes me. Any Topeka guys had this type of scam pulled on any of their clients before ???
I hear stories about this happening in Missouri all the time. I have seen several Realtors claim and brag about saying if they use this inspector that they can not buy the house. It happens, and the only way this will stop is if new legislation is passed forbidding real estate agents/brokers from referring inspectors. I heard Massachusetts has a law like that.
This sh!t can only get worse through state licensing, my thought is screw belonging to any friggin’ do nothing association that coddles legislation and get me a small desk in the big balloon realty office, cha-ching.
This is a result of ASHI’s branding effort on the weak minds of commissioned use house salesmen and some legislators.
I have to tell you, though…I have been having fun as a municipal building inspector, where I inspect homes for occupancy permits at the time they are put up for sale, watching one used house salesman screw the next.
Most significantly was a house that I found that had a recent theft of the copper water lines even more recently replaced (along with the H2O heater) without permits, a fireplace with the damper missing and firebrick almost disintegrated, a 60 amp service requiring upgrading to 100 amp service, and a few more odds and ends that created a punch list of several thousand dollars prior to occupancy.
The agent selling it concealed it from the agent who bought it…thinking he would put a coat of paint on it and list it for sale. The buyer had to pay the whole tab…along with my inspection fee.
With all of this type of activity…most of these slimeballs need an inspector they can control. That’s why they have their ASHI list.
Two weeks ago, I had a new resident call me to ask if there was any action she could take through the city against her home inspector (…yep…a top St. Louis ASHI member) who neglected to tell her that she was on a private waste system that has her water service entry line running within three feet of her cesspool. Since he came as a recommendation by her agent, she agreed to talk to an attorney about recovery from both. Seems her agent also assured her she was on a public sewer.
I’m saving her complaint to present to the legislature next year after the inspector finishes his speech at the open hearing.
I’ve had this happen several times in the last few years. I have had the inspection lined up with a client, and their Realtor told them they had to use one of theirs. Of the 6 or 7 clients that told me this, only 1 told them to kiss her rear, she was using whoever she wanted. Valley Realtors are bad about that here. But since you mentioned “Preferred Inspectors”, she was probably dealing with CB. Lots of shady issues are going on here. It makes it tough on us honest inspectors. Of course, this is just my opinion.
Ahh. got it. Busharts/ nachi rants against ASHI inspectors with out any documenation are factual.
Posts made by a member of the TIJ chat board, not a competing HI org, with proof, facts provided with a u tube clip is anti nachi.:roll: :roll:
No. I abhor it, Gerry…but I also abhor Mike O’Handjob who will stop at nothing (including misrepresentations of unrelated facts) to attack NACHI.
Pretending to be independent as he does, in a useless attempt to appear “objective”, the clown operates nothing more than an anti-NACHI blog. Opposing points of view are filtered and objectors are banned.
How hard is it to find similar advertising from members of any of the other associations? If I were to send him 5 similar ads from ASHI members…what do you think the odds are of his publishing them with the same fervor?
I’m confused by your post. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not condeming your way of advertising to the Realtors which you’ve posted, but I always read you as another personality type. How long have you been advertising to Realtors like this? Is it working? Tell us more about your 200% guarantee.
I see this type of pandering to realtors from many inspectors of all associations
across the board. … (Even in Texas - yes James I said it). Licensing does
not make a sleazy inspectors perfect… but it does feel good to watch them
get nailed from time to time … and to see a few tremble with repentance when
they see hammer pounding close to them…
I despise inspectors who become realtor whores. We work for the client,
even when the realtors calls us on behalf of the client.
Hi Dan, I can’t pretend that in this slow market I haven’t been thinking about softening up a little to help the realtors out.
In fact I have been working on some softer comments:
“This gorgeous handyman special features many unique roof details,Possibly linked to the broken ridgebeam and prior fire damage”
[size=2]"The Rustic charm of this Bijou Cottage is accentuated by the step cracking in the blockwork, which may point to some insignificant structural settlement (cracks less than 3" should be concidered insignificant).[/size]
[size=2]"This energy efficient property features natural air conditioning, The windows are broken and the air handler is rusted out"[/size]
that still isn’t the issue here.