Real estate agents play an essential role in the home inspection process, acting to protect their clients’ best interests while being available to answer questions and offer guidance throughout.
Agents often engage in negotiations with sellers to request repairs or even opt out of deals altogether, though some agents take these negotiations too far, placing themselves at risk and incurring liability for their actions.
1. Do Your Research
Real estate agents play a pivotal role in helping their clients understand and navigate home inspection findings, from selecting qualified inspectors to encouraging client participation in the inspection and assisting in negotiations for smoother transactions. By providing recommendations of reliable inspectors and encouraging client involvement during inspection, agents can empower their clients to make more informed decisions for a more successful transaction experience.
As a home inspector, you can help strengthen relationships by showing that you respect realtors’ time and expertise. Make your mark by offering clear, timely communication – from scheduling through delivery of reports. Respond promptly when answering calls; set automatic email replies when out of the office; be punctual for each appointment – this commitment to detail will establish trust early on and foster lasting rapport.
Once the home inspection is over, forward a copy of your report directly to the agent as this shows your respect for their time and professionalism as well as that of yourself and will help them quickly comprehend its findings and relay any additional feedback or notes directly to their client.
Lastly, inform real estate agents of the value of conducting a comprehensive, accurate, and in-depth home inspection. This will give them tools they need to promote your services to their clients while supporting them throughout the process. Educating realtors may include explaining referring party indemnification – an InspectorPro policy benefit which protects realtors when they refer clients for inspection services from you.
Although you should encourage real estate agents to attend home inspections, not all will do so – which is fine; good agents are there as advocates for their client regardless.
Establishing strong professional relationships with real estate agents is crucial to your business; they often play the greatest influence over which homes you inspect and the clients you serve. How you interact and treat real estate agent clients speaks volumes about your company – so ensure you put forward your best effort every time!
2. Be Present
Home inspection is an integral component of real estate transactions and many agents face difficulty when handling them effectively. A key question regarding home inspection is whether an agent should attend. Although there are no hard and fast rules on this topic, both sides have arguments for and against.
Pro: Being present allows your client to ask questions and understand the report better, which can increase confidence in their decision to purchase and may help avoid surprises down the road. Furthermore, being there allows you to offer advice about prioritizing issues as well as what to expect during re-negotiation discussions with sellers.
Cons: Your presence during a home inspection could disrupt its flow and distract from the inspector’s task, potentially making your client defensive which may result in disagreement over its findings. Therefore, only attend home inspections with explicit permission from your client as otherwise it could be considered trespassing and face serious legal consequences.
Sometimes your clients cannot attend home inspections due to last-minute work commitments or family emergencies, making you invaluable as an ally in providing them with all of the information needed from inspection. Your experience as a home inspector will allow you to guide buyers as to which concessions they’re willing and unwilling to accept during re-negotiations discussions – something particularly vital in an attractive buyer market where buyers have greater leverage when seeking repairs.
3. Be a Listener
Home inspections can be stressful experiences for both clients and inspectors. Buyers hope to gain as much information about the house they are purchasing; inspectors are expected to produce an extensive and complete report about its condition. Unfortunately, some agents struggle with accepting what information is presented during an inspection, becoming defensive when discussing findings from it.
Real estate agents should usually attend inspections as often as necessary in order to inform their client what the findings mean and how best to address any problems found during an inspection. If an agent wishes to avoid contributing further to their client’s stress by not attending, they should talk with the home inspector ahead of time and find alternative means of providing their expertise to their client.
Inspectors often wish agents would attend every inspection; however, there can be valid reasons for an agent not being present, such as rescheduling could cost the seller money and potentially delay settlement.
Agents may attend with good intentions; however, their presence can still be distracting. Sometimes what these agents say seems so outlandish that some inspectors question whether or not they’re telling the truth; such as when one points out a foundation crack and says that it makes living in the house unsafe.
Liability could arise if such statements were made about cracks not in safety-critical areas and opinions that did not rely on expert knowledge of structural integrity or engineering. More often than not though, agents simply appear to be trying to do the inspector’s job by pointing out flaws they do not need to identify themselves.
Agents I work with who know how important it is to listen during home inspections are my favorites – they recognize their clients are paying me to provide expert advice about the home they’re purchasing, so they allow me to complete their duties without interruptions from agents. This approach ensures a happy agent, client and loyal business partner long term.
4. Don’t Do the Inspector’s Job
Home inspections are an integral component of real estate transactions, and all parties involved should understand the process. There are certain behaviors real estate agents should avoid while conducting home inspections.
One should avoid highlighting flaws to clients as this can create unnecessary problems later on, for instance a buyer might discover additional issues in the home after moving in which were not noted during inspection, leading them to sue their realtor for failing to notice these.
One thing some agents do that can be confusing for clients and could thwart sales is giving impromptu advice during an inspection. Though unintentional, this advice can become detrimental when combined with a property inspector’s job of inspecting. Instead, agents should let him or her do their work without interfering or offering input from themselves or making any commentaries during this crucial step of selling a home.
An agent should never leave during a home inspection if they represent their client; especially if the listing agent’s presence during inspection is necessary for closing a deal. Therefore, it’s vital that they communicate with both buyers’ agents beforehand in order to make sure both are comfortable with their absence from inspection day.
As a real estate agent, having the appropriate skills and knowledge of home inspections is key to providing your clients with an enjoyable experience during home inspections. By following these tips, you can act as an effective advocate during this process while helping navigate any issues more quickly and efficiently. For more information about preparing for and participating in home inspections, check out these resources; alternatively contact WIN today with your home inspection request for flexible hours to accommodate busy schedules! Call now to set up your inspection!