TOPIC: Life before HI

Gregory and John,

I respect and value more than I can put into words my appreciation to those that have served to protect our marvelous country and our way of life. Because of people like you, my children can live in the greatest country on Earth.

As far as presenting to the realtors, I have a different view. When I first started inspecting, although I never went into a Real Estate office, I did stop by any open house I saw and introduced myself.

I almost always was asked... "are you a deal killer?"

Of course my answer was "no, but I am an honest inspector and report what I see."

I never got a call from them, and came to realize that RE Agents are looking for inspectors that will help SELL thier houses.

During one early inspection, I was challanged by the homeowner and her agent. They called in their own engineer. It was a very serious water problem. They told me he stated to them that "all they had to do was spread a little dirt to divert  the water."

I was present at the reinspection. I stayed out of the way but was asked to join in, so I did.

At first, the suger coating that was being spread was so sweet it would kill a diabetic!!!

I asked the other inspector if he had seen the entire property, because what he was suggesting would not work!

He stated "no", so I suggested he look around. Every time he passed an area, he missed many tell tale signs that told a complete story.

He entered the crawl space, I stayed behind, as I was already there and felt no need to crawl under the building again.

I left to smoke a cigarette. I was soon called back by his agent, who told me the engineer wanted to speak to me under the house. I crawled in and when I reached him, he started whispering to me... "I don't know how to say this, everything you said is true and this house is a disaster!"

I told him that he had better go speak to his client.

I realized the situation he was in. I pictured some poor schmo, working to feed his family, putting a child or two through school, reporting on a house for an agent that refers him work on a regular basis.

OK, even if you are an honest inspector, don't you think if nothing more, you will find yourself torn by how you word things or include things? Even a little.

When I inspect a house, I find so many things wrong. I include everything I see. I tell it how I see it and let my clients decide what is acceptable. OK, sure I advise them and tell them what is more important , and what is common, and what is no big deal. BUT! I include everything.

I know times are hard. But be careful how you go after your work.

By the way, I find that my clients that are truly looking to purchase a home call me to inspect the next one... and refer me to their friends.

Having said that, why don't you solicit lawyers. Who would you rather be referred by, an agent who only gets paid if the house is sold... whether it be the seller's agent or buyer's agent, or the person that the client go to to protect them?

GO STEVE-O!

Hi Jay,

Do you think I'm wrong?

When it really comes down to the nitty gritty, when presenting to RE's, do you believe the thoughts that pass through thier mind is:

A. Hey, this guy really knows alot and has the ability to find what is wrong, thus protect my client from buying the wrong house

or

B. This guy is a nice guy and really wants my business.

and

OK, I'll try him because I believe he will not blow my deal.

Steven,
Thank you very much--our children join yours.    I've spoken with many realtors who have asked me if I knew a certain HI in the area.  They call him "Dr. Death the Deal Killer", and he has a bad rep.  New to the area, needing work to get my name out, and working for a loaf of bread to feed my family I went to who sells houses--realtors.  I hear what you're saying about trying to make a buck but if I came across a realtor who wanted me to compromise my integrity--no inspection.

So far everyone I've worked with is on the up and up.  Developing a relationship with these "shared" clients, I hope to get referrals that don't go through the realtor.  I did get a call today from a realtor that booked an inspection for a spanish-only speaking family.  My report was 56 pages long and the husband (buyer) wanted to talk to me about some of the items.  He actually speaks more than he lets on--both the realtor and buyer were impressed with the level of detail (thanks Uncle Sam) the report went to and calling it like I saw it.  The realtor said, "This is why we have home inspectors."

Ahh, so back to report writing--inspected a mess today for a client whose realtor who is retired from the Coast Guard.  Tomorrow I inspect a property for a fellow AF pilot and his realtor is retired Air Force.

v/r
Greg

Hi Gregory,

I'm glad you are able to deal with folks that are on the up and up. Unfortunately, and maybe it's a local thing, I find that most folks around here  are more interested in selling a property and collecting a commission.

Do you find that most of the homes you inspect are decent? I find myself running into alot of dogs!

In the past, there were times I wondered if it was me. But after going back into the report, I really couldn't find anything that I felt I should leave out.

When writing, I try very hard to avoid "inspectorspeak". I rarely use the phrase "appears to be." Something either "is" or "isn't"

I speak to many people. When someone tells me they will refer me to their XXX, who is a RE, I tell them that unless their XXX is looking for an honest inspector, and will not be upset if they call me in and my inspection brings to light things that my "kill" their deal, then I suggest that they don't ask their XXX to use me.

My girlfriend thinks I'm crazy, and suggested to me that I write my reports in a way that will help the deal so the RE's will use me more and that people reaally don't want all that information.

Whne she used a HI to buy her home, she must have used exactly that type of HI. Her house is built on a filled in pond. I have never seen water problems like she has. The basement has floor drains every 10 feet, and a sump. I had to put a n additional sump in her backyard and pipe the water around her property... that helped about 90%. (Her basement always had water, even when it wasn't raining for days. Now it only gets water when there is a heavy rain.)
Now I am going to install another sump att the other end of her basement, with underground drainage... and hope that works. The next step after that is to break up the entire basement and install pipe under the entire slab.

Yeah, she had one hell of an inspector.

My feeling is:
Someone hires an HI to inspect a house because they don't have the building knowledge to do so themselves. How dare an HI not give them every bit of information apossible? I am really big on integrity. I don't know everything and don't catch everything. But, I assure you, if you hire me to inspect a house or building, I will use every ounce of my ability to do as thorough of a job as I possibly can.

Steven,
We're on the same sheet of music. I've, remarkably, had a couple "nice" foreclosures but MANY "dawgs".  It's a mix with the average right in the middle.  I take what I can get right now but maybe it's the water here--good luck so far. 
v/r
Greg