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Realtors and Home Inspectors Should realtors recommend home inspectors to their clients? Not unless they recommend every home inspector in the area. Choosing some inspectors that they prefer or excluding some that they do not prefer could result in a problem of ethics. The problem is not as much with the realtor as it is with the home inspector. All home inspectors have their literature in the realtors office. We are all hoping that when the realtors client indicates that they want a home inspection that the realtor will pick out our card or brochure and give it to the client and say “Here’s a good home inspector”. Sounds innocent enough, doesn’t it? But why did the realtor pick us when there are a dozen others to pick from? Can it be that we have never done an inspection that caused the realtors clients to back out of a deal? Is it because we want to be a realtors favorite inspector and in order to do this we sweeten our reports, more to please the realtor than the client? Do we compromise our inspection report to save the deal? It is not in the best interest of the client to have their prospective home inspected by an inspector that is on the realtors recommended list or that is a realtors favorite home inspector. Realtors that are ethical will hand the client the phone book when they indicate that they want to have a home inspection. The last thing a home inspector wants to be labeled is “A Deal Killer”. The home inspector, like the realtor, has a fiduciary relationship with the client. The buyer is trusting the home inspector to disclose all defects within the home so that they can make a logical decision concerning the home. Approximately 15 to 20% of home buyers will back out of the deal as a result of the home inspection report. When a buyer backs out of the deal, the realtor immediately labels the home inspector as a “Deal Killer”. When the real problem is the home seller and the listing agent. Because realtors are afraid and don’t want to offend sellers they are willing to take listings on houses that are full of defects. Hoping that the buyer or his home inspector will overlook the problems. A good realtor will encourage the seller to make repairs before the home goes on the market, pointing out that the home will sell faster and at a higher price when it is in good condition. How do we know so much about this? I held a real estate license in California some years ago.
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