Ray,
That by far is the most foolish thing I have ever heard! Home Inspectors are vendors to the real estate transaction. Last time I checked Home Inspectors do not generate any business for real estate agents!

Affiliate membership costs far less than a full membership and is usually an excellent networking source for most of the inspectors I know...

I wasted 3 hours of my life last Sunday waiting for a keyless home inspector to inspect a house. 2 hours for the inspection, then 1 hour while he made himself at home at the kitchen table writing the report. He than asked if anyone had any questions, concerns or comments. I replied, " Perhaps, you should get a supra so other agents won't have to waste their time while you inspect. This little supra will help you get referrals. And no I do not want any of your cards because I do not like self - torture." Finally, I was no longer held hostage and released back to my life. Can you imagine an appraiser doing this? Of course not.

Not any less foolish than some uppity Realtor stating that she doesn't refer a home inspector unless the home inspector is a member of the local Realtor Association.

And I'm working very hard in my neighborhood to ensure that Realtors don't control my business in any way, shape, or form. In my eye, and the reason why RESPA exists, too many Realtors not only want to control the whole real estate process, they want everyone who are vendors to the real estate transaction to pay them. Doesn't work that way, and I'm not the only one working hard to get Realtors out of the home inspection business. See IHINA at www.ihina.com (I'm not a member--I'll work in my own way.)

A great example came to me today when a Realtor called complaining about the price I charged ($399) for a home inspection on a 1598-SF home last Sunday. When she scheduled the inspection, as I always do, I quoted her a price. She obviously didn't listen to me because the Client was upset at the inspection about the price. Well, instead of the Realtor telling him my current price, she had provided him with a $20 discount coupon dated March 2002 (I date all my marketing materials) and a March 2002 price list.

Ms. Realtor couldn't go to the inspection because she had skiing lessons Sunday afternoon. For shame, for shame. Wouldn't want to let a lowly home inspection and Clients providing a 3% commission on a $561,000 house interfere with her skiing lessons, especially on a Sunday. Now why would a Realtor, who I presume can read, provide a price list from March 2002 and then complain because I had raised my prices $149 in four years, a mere $35 a year? Am I never allowed to raise my prices?

Using different words, I kindly suggested to her that with a $16,800 commission paycheck, perhaps she could splurge for her Clients and reimburse them for the home inspection fee or perhaps the difference between my June 2006 price and my March 2002 price. She called me a nice name and hung up on me. I hope she never calls again, but if she does, I'll politely decline to work with her.

I'm a very easy-going, laid back, Southern-bred boy, and it takes a lot to get my dander up, but I really don't take much to inconsiderate jerks or people who try to control me and my business.

Hey, I've been an Affiliate member of SDAR since October 2001. They still don't let me have a Supra key. Nor do they let any Affiliate member have a Supra key. It's not up to me, so if all you Realtors think that Affiliate members should have access to Supra keys, please, write your local AR, your state AR, and NAR, and let them know. Trust me, Affiliate members are not going to change what Realtors have in their own industry. Affiliate members can change what Realtors get from our industries, though.

I happen to believe strongly in networking, having been a member of Le Tip and BNI for 33 years. However, no one that I've ever met outside of Realtors would pretend to know what I charge for my services. They always give me the courtesy of a call, know how to read, know how to ask if the price list they have that is dated March 2002 are still good, etc.

Appraisers here in San Diego also are Affiliate members, so they also do not have Supra keys.

Quite often Realtors here will come let us in and then go do something while we do our job. Many times they leave and come back. Perhaps you could do that. After all, what's the difference between a home inspector letting himself in (you're not there) and you coming and leaving (again, you're not there). So it sounds like it was your own fault that you let someone waste your time.

Perhaps you should read "How to Use Your Time Wisely," a great little book by Phyllis Kaufman & Arnold Corrigan. While it is out of print, there are lots of copies for sale at borders.com.

Since we here in San Diego have to depend on Realtors to let us in, every time a Realtor is late to the inspection, inconveniencing both me and the Clients buying the house, I write SDAR asking them to let Affiliate members have Supra keys. They regularly state something like, "Thank you for your suggestion. At this time, we don't allow Affilate members to have Supra keys, yada yada yada." Yeah, right, whatever.

I never let third parties cause me to waste time. I and my employees always have notebook computers, professional books and magazines, etc., in our cars so that if that important third party is late, we simply work on our computers compiling reports from earlier inspections, or preparing for later inspections, or inspecting exteriors until we can get inside, or updating our knowledge by reading, or whatever. I quite often take books and magazines with me to stores, post office, etc., so that if I have to stand in line, I'm going to accomplish something while I'm standing there. Many Realtors here also bring stuff to work on. There are many, many ways not to let someone else interfere with your work.

As a former Realtor in another state (Texas), one of the main reasons why I use multiple inspectors is because I recognize the conditions that I have to work under, those conditions involving a third party, so using multiple inspectors cuts down on the actual inspection time, allowing everyone to leave earlier and go do something during those valuable daylight hours.

My apology to all home inspectors who are affiliate members and still are not allowed supra access....I do not include any of you in my pet peeve rant. You have done all you can... it is up to the local association to give hi's the same courtesy and respect given to appraisers.

Home inspectors, appraisers, and all other Affiliate members here with SDAR do get the same respect. It's just not the same respect that Realtors get with their own trade association, and I would not expect it to be so.
Would it be nice? Sure.
Do some Realtor associations in some areas provide equal respect to Affiliates and Realtors. Yes.

Over at the National Association of Certified Home Inspectors, we have a couple of Realtors who are members. Both of them have vast experience in renovating properties, so they were able to pass the knowledge test. They are not working members, but we do accord them the same membership privileges that our home inspector members get.

I can tell from your posts what you think of real estate agents. A home inspector with an attitude, we call them "deal killers"

I only have an attitude with Realtors who bring their attitudes to the table first, as you did.

Your "deal killer" attitude just confirms it. The only thing that kills a deal is the seller not taking care of a property and refusing to work with the buyer to correct problems that home inspectors document.

Actually, there's two other things that kills deals, and that's Realtors who don't know how to negotiate properly on behalf of their Clients and Realtors who simply don't care about their Clients because such caring and negotiating might mean that it takes a little longer to close escrow and collect that almighty commission paycheck. Wouldn't want to work too hard, now would we?

Presumably agents that care enough and know enough to properly negotiate a Repairs Addendum would also care enough to be present at the inspection without complaining about spending time working for their client.

Didn't mean to cause such a stir---I would think it would be to your benefit to be an affiliate member (if you had access to lockboxes, and ours do). I am more familiar with the inspectors who are members, because they do network, attend some functions, give presentations, etc. I am sure there are plenty of good inspectors out there who are not members, but I am not familiar with them. If you don't choose to join, then that is your choice. And I have personally dealt an inspector who had an attitude against us "uppity" agents, and prided himself that none of his inspections ever closed (and they didn't), even to the extent of falsely reporting that a house had been on fire when it hadn't. He is out of business now.
So if a client wants a recommendation on an inspector, I give a list. That list includes the ones that I know, and they happen to be affiliate members of the board, and they have their own access. I just want the client to have a good, honest, competent, inspection, and I won't recommend one that I know nothing about.

I remember the best realtor I ever dealt with. She came to the inspection on time, opened the door, followed me & my clients around while I did the inspection, sat quietly the whole time not offering all the little "no big deal" comments, and did a little office work while she waited.
After the inspection she stayed with her clients after I left to discuss any concerns they had if anything.
That was my most pleasurable experience with a realtor at an inspection. I wish they all would take her lead.
I do not have a supra. I work a large area (rural) and would have to belong to many association to get access to all the homes. Many realtors don't use the supra key as they have their own combo box which they give me the combo for. What I hate is when they call to have me go out of my way to swing by their office to pick up a key....I decline and tell them to meet me....if they have a problem with that, I tell them to talk to their client to find out why I couldn't do the inspection....they show up and unlock the door.

Ray,
You are pulling at my heart strings with that the worlds smallest violin!

If you don't like it that one Realtor only recommends member home inspectors you only have a single choice. Either join or find better ways to market directly to home buyers. I personally wish inspectors would find better ways to directly market to the consumer. But the facts of life are that till that day comes you are dependent on Realtors for your business. Maybe inspectors might consider spending what many Realtors spend on personal marketing so they can break their dependance on Realtors.

RESPA has Nothing to do with Realtors and Inspectors unless one or the other is giving the other a financial kickback that does not appear on a HUD1.


Your example can be easily countered by most Realtors with a home inspector horror story of an inspector behaving badly but why bother. The agent in your example is an idiot that either failed to fully read your price list or she was trying to pull a fast one. You are out nothing except the time you spend with her on the phone. Sound like the two of you will not willingly be working together in a transaction. Send a thank you post card to the buyer thanking them for their business and apologize that their Realtor supplied them with an old price list and an expired coupon.
Two weeks later mail them a letter and include a coupon worth $25 or $30 to be used toward a home inspection. Ask them if they would consider passing it on to another couple they might know that is looking to buy and just maybe they will pass it on!

I am sorry that your local association/board is so backward that they fail to see the benefits of allowing SupraKeys to inspectors and appraisers. Have you asked why they do not allow you access?? It has nothing to do with NAR or your State Association it is a local decision.

One would think so.

When I was a Realtor in Houston back in the '70s and '80s, if someone needed to be on a property that I had listed, I guarantee you that I was there with them protecting my Clients' interests. On the rare occasion that I could not personally be there, my assistant or partner were there.

As I have said a couple of times, I have been an Affiliate member of SDAR since October 2001. They didn't allow Affiliate members to have lockbox keys then, and they still don't, regardless of what the lockbox key's current name is.

I have no problem with what you state in your current post. I don't refer people that I don't know, either. I think that's good business practice. But to state, as you previously did, that you would not recommend anyone who was not a member of your local AR is disingenuous at best.

I actually pride myself on helping everyone play in the same sandbox together. After all, one person wants to sell a house, the other person wants to buy a house, and I'm simply there to document the condition of the property so that everyone knows exactly what the house is. New Realtors and first-time buyers, the two categories that seem to be most concerned about home inspections, tend to love me and my reports because I do so much education at the actual inspection and in the report itself. My reports come on a computer disk with links to documents and Internet sites for more educational materials. It's not necessary to frighten anyone with a home inspection report if one educates them about conditions, typical causes of those conditions, typical results of ignoring those conditions, typical ways to resolve those conditions, and appropriate recommendations concerning the conditions.

Thanks for your clarification about why you recommend specific inspectors. You sound more reasonable now.