TOPIC: Realtor Interference

Agreed on all points.  All very good, and obviously most of the time they ARE there.
I'm not for the selling party being there (or there Realtor) if at all possible, though - I don't like the potential for conflict.
I have a pretty good real estate lawyer who is also my friend and lots of insurance so i'm not too worried about a liability issue.
I'm not discounting what you guys say at all... I just prefer to not have Realtors around... i'd rather deal with the clients.

I very much like to have the client around.  I like it if the agent is there as well.  Both will slow down the inspection but that is part of the job.  Last week I did an inspection for which I gave a quote.  The person has a strong accent and I misunderstood the square footage of the house.  When I found out that the house was almost 1000 sq ft larger than what I thought he said I mentioned to him I would not change my quote but because my price is based on a large part on the size, having accurate information is important.  He apologized for not being clear, I took the responsibility for giving a quote based only on the information he gave on the phone.  Anyways, to get to the point, I could not get the client not the agent to stay with me during the inspection.  They kept wandering off.  The end result?  I snorted through the inspection in record time and gave a verbal summary when I was done.  I haven't done many for-a-fee inspections yet so I am still developing a routine.  Possibly when I get more experience it will not make as much  difference to have the client and agent around.

I have had this happen once in a while.  I look at it this way.  The client sets the appointment for the inspection.  Their agent should be there or at least send a proxy.  I have had clients tell me when booking, that their agent has other appointments and needs to schedule it when they, the client, can't be there.  My response has been and will always be, "The agent is working for you.  They are making thousands of dollars in commission and should be able to attend, or have someone fill in for them.  I work at your convenience for a few hundred dollars.  You think they would do the same for 10 times the amount."

Well said, Stephen.
I agree 100%. 
And by the way, since this has happened, I have spoken with 2 other Realtors and both of my lawyers.
All 4 said the same thing.  There are no laws whatsoever preventing an inspector and client from being at a house for an inspection (at least in Iowa.)  The only thing that really matters is if the seller isn't comfortable with this and, if it were me, I really couldn't care less.
Anyway, the Realtors both said the following which makes perfect sense to me:

"It's not a rule, but I always try to be at part of an inspection if my client is going to be there."
Both of the said that if the client isn't there - they couldn't really care less.

In a nutshell, it's a courtesy for the purchasing Realtor to be there, and is generally something that a good realtor should do.  But it's not a rule by any means and it's not required.  For her to:

1.  Interfere by calling the seller and their Realtor to notify them of the inspection and, basically, interfere with our schedule is a huge conflict of interest in my opinion.  A buying realtor shouldn't be contacting a seller.  Who is she representing?

2.  Tell me that it's a rule when it quite clearly isn't

Were both pretty out of line in my mind.  The bottom line is this - if she wants to be there then she'd better make time when her client, the seller and the inspector have worked out a good time... it's her thousands of dollars after all.  Because she can't make it due to a personal commitment is HER issue and she should have sent another realtor to fill in if she was worried about it.

That's my 2 cents.

I almost always agree with Stephen!

And I agree with Robert.

However, I don't want to be alone in any house with just the client.  SOME realtor, either the buyer's, or a proxy, needs to be there as the AGENT.  That is good protection.  I don't want some seller saying untoward things about me or my clients - if a realtor is present we have more witnesses as to what was done...  and NOT done!

If the buyer's realtor can't make it, find a proxy!  Geez...