Right. You will have to charge enough profit for yourself to make the program work to cover the losses. (Or to pay for the debt collectors)
That’s what Gary was eluding to. Every time a buyer backs out is a chance for them to postpone payment,
Or ignore it altogether.
I’ve been getting paid on the day of or before the inspection for nearly 20 years now, had only one bounced check in that entire time, which was cashed within a week, followed up with the report being promptly sent out.
Personally, this not something I would be intersted in.
I do not even want to hint that paying at closing is an option, (regardless if I get paid first). I do not want to deal with it.
Furthermore, people call for a price, I give it to them…they never say “Hey, I am paying at closing what do you charge?”. So, the idea I am going to get a premium price is just not realistic.
You Do ???
I did that once or twice 16 or so years ago. One time the invoice did not get to the closing company so no payment was made to me. Had to fight with the client to get my payment. Client was blaming the realtor.
Never again.
NO! I do not want to deal with this type of BS ever, lol… Statement edited for clarity.
This whole thing also starts to get a bit close to someone being able to accuse us of having an interest in the buyer closing on the property.
I see how it could look that way on the surface. But that would be shut down quickly once they learned that you were paid immediately. And NACHI wouldn’t really have any way of influencing your report writing as far as I can see.
Just the fact that you got pulled into such a discussion, means you already lost. One should never, ever give clients a reason to question your integrity!
If done right, the client will know upfront that their inspection fee will be owed to a 3rd party (and not the inspection company) at the time of closing. It’s not much different that walking into a car dealership and driving home a car that you pay for later. The buyer knows the dealership is getting paid upfront and that the money they owe is to a bank and not the dealership.
And I’m pretty sure car prices have risen dramatically in part due to the fact consumers can “finance” that purchase.
Not before they purchase a home!!
I am open to ideas that may allow other opportunities to increase our pricing. If the finance company pays up front and does the “debt collecting” I don’t see why it wouldn’t be a valuable option.
In addition to that you can factor in an additional fee if they wanted to go down that route.
Closing attorney’s are not going to like it. And, can it legally go onto the closing settlement statement? (like RA commissions)
Except the increase wouldnt go to us, it would go to InterNachi, or whoever is doing the advance.
Here is what I was trying to explain, I will use a generic example. Let’s say the fee from the bank is $75 to do pay at close. I offer the pay at close option for an additional $150. Bank gets $75 and so do I.
Logistically how that would work from the invoicing side of things I’m not sure.
+1 on that.
It’s the mortgage crisis all over again, catering to less and less qualified buyers.
I don’t think that’s much of a problem. When I bought the stager’s extra fees went on the closing statement. Just about any random thing can, if the parties agree.
One of the nice demographics of HIs is that our clients are (of course) homebuyers/homeowners. These people generally have good credit, understand basic finance and do a decent job of managing and understanding money. I think 95%+ of them would see right through this, run the numbers in their heads and laugh at the offer (potentially hurting our credibility for offering such a bad deal). I mean, what is the effective “fee” going to have to be to cover for the buyers that don’t close and have to be chased down? Enough that putting the inspection on a high-interest credit card would likely be a MUCH better option.
There are things like this all over these days. Every time I buy an airline ticket from Alaska Airlines a little box pops up and asks me if I’d like to pay monthly. Anyone buy anything on Amazon or Ebay lately? There’s usually a “payment” option for anything that costs more than about $50. I guess I can’t blame someone for trying to capitalize and make a buck but I think homeowners as a target are not going to be very receptive.
Great idea ,i have had some request for this option of which i would not honor only once and it was the last time. I would be interested in seeing the extra fee’s comparable to a credit card fee. Most of the inspections i do are payed by c.c or cash/check.
Currently i accept pay at closing with realtors that regularly refer me (i do not accept pay at close with retail clients thru the internet) and when i have the closing attorneys info. Also i inform the customer that should the closing be delayed more than 30 days or should closing not happen they must pay within 3 days of the original closing date (as per my contract). I have only had a few instances over the years where i had to chase a client and only one where i was not able to collect.