I found this awhile back while I was doing some research in connection with my work.

If law suits interest you especially ones with a home inspector in a leading role then this will be a good read.

I'm sure everyone has a pdf document viewer. Anyone wanting to discuss this after reading...please do.

By the way...I am in no way affiliated with the website or the organization in connection where this link is posted.

http://www.independentinspectors.org/pdf-files/superiorcourt.pdf

I think up until that lawsuit, all the national franchises were trying to discuss both the problems and the good aspects of a house.

That lawsuit caused the franchises to dispense with that notion and let the Realtors "sell" the house, even after home inspectors had torn it apart.

Unfortunately, what it also did is allow Realtors to interpret the home inspection report, deciding what needed to be addressed in a list of requested repairs and what didn't. Now I think there are just as many Realtors being sued here because they went too soft on the house, sometimes summarily dismissing what the home inspector report on. I even had one of my Clients--who found me on the Internet and thus was not refered to me by his Realtor--call to tell me that his Realtor told him that I didn't know what I was doing, that all the homes in that neighborhood had those problems and that they were of no concern. Guess who's currently in court with that Client?

I have usually found that the main problems are with new home inspectors and new Realtors. New home inspectors need the business, and the referrals, so they don't want to cause too many problems for the Realtor. The new Realtor is looking forward to that first commission check of $15,000 (3% on our average $500,000 house) and doesn't want to have to deal with too many problems since he doesn't have the experience to deal with them yet.

That is why I targeted the new Realtors when I started my home inspection company. I thought that we could grow together and, based on my previous 30 years of experience in real estate, could help/educate those new Realtors to help them become successful while staying out of court. So far it's worked.

I think education is the key. Here's the problem. Here's typical causes of the problem although it could be caused by something else, or might have multiple causes. Here's typical ways to correct this problem. Here's typical results of ignoring the problem. Here's some more information sources (when required, like asbestos, radon, etc.). Here's my recommendation.

Everything in my reports subscribes to PCCIIR:

Problem
Causes
Corrections
Ignoring
Information
Recommendation

Russell you sound like an exception to the norm and I commend you for the intense effort you appear to make in dealing with all sides of issues fairly.

I guess I posted this link because I have read posts where agents seem to be very defensive and almost in denial that these unsavory relationships and business practices not only exist but are very common.

The influence of one profession over another so great that national firms are more concerned with the criteria of the realtor than the criteria of their client..the buyer. I think the courts decision on the matter and their opinion makes it very clear the situation exists and it exists on a national level to a greater degree than some want to openly admit.

Many home inspection franchises (and this suit proves this) rely so heavily on their agent referrals that it has in effect jaded their very way of doing business...and performing inspections. They are conforming to the practices and principles thrust upon them by those that ethically and lawfully should not be influencing how inspections are performed.

Even ASHI ammended their code of ethics to specifically address this problem. As a result some national franchises such as U.S. Inspect are no longer members because they wish to continue their questionable affiliations with their real clients...the agents. This fact was made known in a Maryland court case you can read at http://www.independentinspectors.org/pdf-files/usinspect.pdf

Granted it is much cheaper on the advertising budget to put an ad in the local real estate association magazine whose subscription base are members...realtors, than it is to put an ad in the yellow pages big enough to compete with the other ads. I know what ad space costs in the yellow pages in comparison to a much bigger ad in the local r.e. asociations bi-monthly magazine. The realtor is the most logical avenue to concentrate the marketing dollar and effort toward. I agree it is easier and more efficient to go into an agents office and hand out flyers than it is to stand on a corner passing them out to whoever will take one.

But is it ethical? Is it how Home inspectors REALLY want to do business? To heck with the fact that the liability could land you in a court room. That is so far beside the point...it's the bigger problem, it's the damage it is causing a profession that at this moment in time is still struggling for the respect and trust of the average consumer..the home buyer. In the past decade the Home inspection field has seen a great boom in demand for their services. A boom big enough to enable success independently.

How many home inspectors would rather run their business their way than have it dictated to them by someone else. How many home inspectors have ever experienced the feeling of having their a** reamed thoroughly by an agent only to have the conversation ultimately end with "i'll take my business elsewhere". Does it matter that you did your job to the letter? Does it matter you have upheld your profession in a manner 100% beyond reproach? No, none of that matters...the only thing that matters is the buyer is alarmed and it's YOUR FAULT. Anyone that has been in business for a length of time has had that happen to them. Rather than tell them where to get off and risk financial suicide it's easier to conform to the demands and keep the phone ringing. Even if it is at the cost of the testosterone generating body parts you entered the profession with.

Those that know where their next meal comes from are waiting for someone to come along and change things. That is never going to happen. New laws or enforcing old laws isn't going to change things. Making the agents change is impossible and you know what...it's not their fault. It's the home inspectors that have to change their thinking and their priorities. Why because it hurts the entire profession. It hurts every single honest working inspector who just wants to do his job and feed his kids and pay the mortgage.

Realtors who want to argue this with me can not convince me otherwise as I have lived it breathed it a lot longer than some agents have been selling houses.

In 1992 HUD was appalled at the evidence I presented and it led to several changes in my area. It also led to a lot of threats and a lot of lost business and a lot of ruler slapped wrists in the real estate world. Did it help my bottom line? I don't know but I do know it helped the industry...MY industry in ways that money can't measure. Changes ARE possible without starving.

Very nice post, Kathy.

Although I got into this business because I had a well-defined target market, which is a real rarity in any industry. That target market is Realtors because the general buying public relies on them for referrals--referrals for a title company, an escrow company, a pest control company, and, yes, a home inspector, among others. And while I found that target market nice, as I gained more experience, I realized that more and more Realtors wanted not only to refer people to my profession, but to actually control my profession. They did this by telling me when they needed the inspection to start, when they needed it to end, and how much it needed to cost. One Realtor, a very prestigious Realtor with Coldwell Banker, even told me specific words that I could not use in my report because they would "unduly alarm the buyer." She even asked me "to work with her to get the deal closed." Huh? This was a $5.2 million house and she not only owned the house, but she had bought the land and built the house. So along with the profit from building the house, she also stood to get a commission of $300,000 on the house. My inspection fee was $2,499. Now I can understand someone wanting $300,000. That's, like, a DUH! But if she really was as good as her upturned nose led her to believe, then she certainly should be very capable of dealing with a measley ol' home inspection report, especially on a brand new house.

I am pretty flexible in what I do. I've done inspections starting at 4:00 a.m. and starting as late as 10:00 p.m. to meet my Clients needs. I've gone where no other home inspector will go because travel time is four hours one way. There are many things that I will do to help (perhaps that comes from my own days as a Realtor a couple of decades ago in Houston), but there also are things that I simply won't do because my own standards and ethics are too high.

At this point I'm making a sincere effort to get the Realtors out of my business by using past Client referral rewards. I will also be running ads in the open house section of the papers and a couple of other places. I know my referral rewards marketing efforts have already p.o. a few Realtors to the extent that they will no longer recommend me. They have not hesitated in calling me or emailing me to let me know that they don't appreciate me trying to take the referral process away from them. I find that curious. Do they do the same thing with the plumbers and electricians, the dentists and CPAs, who use referral rewards marketing? I'm perplexed.