Thread: Going backwards instead of forwards

Got a copy of the new Purchase Agreement that the Local association for Realtors (GNIAR) is going in effect in January of next year and what a mess they made of it.

At this time, it is written so the buyers had a number of days to have the home inspection, then have 3 days after receiving the home inspection to respond. The new contract the buyers will be signing limits them to a X number of days to order the home inspection and respond to the seller about the report. How many buyers wait till the last minute to get a home inspection or we as home inspectors are busy and it takes 6 or 7 days to do that home inspection. To do a home inspection and for the client to respond that same day is ridicules. I know some of you already have to deal with this but why take (what I think is a good thing) and screw it up.

And even though this has nothing to due with home inspectors, the new contract is written that the sellers have a "Reasonable" amount of time to respond. So lets hurry on the home inspection but the seller can take their time responding about what is asked to be fixed.

This wants me to go back to the check box reports. Easier to do, less time to do, less thinking about the job once I leave.

If I could put more Mad faces on this I would have.

Similar Threads:

• Trap setup completely backwards
• I want to live my life backwards

In Texas I think once a contract is agreed upon between the seller and the buyer, the buyer has normally 10 days to have an inspection done and have a repair request by the 10th day to the seller.

Pretty simple if the realtor is on the ball, just use a reasonable time provision, say 10-15 days.
The buyer knows they have to respond yes or no by the end of the term. Most of my buyers call me the day they complete the contract (some before) and tell me we have a 10 day (or whatever) option period starting today. This lets me know I have to get them scheduled and report delivered before their deadline.
If the buyer choses to wait until the last day of their option period, no amount of creativity will prevent them from screwing up their deal.
Kevin, don't stress the small stuff, let the realtors do that .

Kevin,

Think of it as a business opportunity.

You now have a chance to make 'an express last minute inspection report' which simply states 'The Addendum to follow, along with go-back visits to the site are part of this report.'

Now, schedule your 'go-back visit' as 'your inspection' when convenient, this now becomes the 'Addendum'.

Jerry has an interesting idea there. Stop by for 30 minutes, tell your client the place is a cluster---k [insert Eastwoodism], collect fee, and schedule follow-up documentation visit 7 days later. It amazes me how real estate agents can quietly mess things up. In areas where I work, inspection windows vary from 3 days to 14 days. Real estate agents, not wanting the buyer to have an inspection, try to narrow the window as much as possible. My suggestion to clients who might not make the window is to call the listing agent and ask for an extension. If the seller/agent balks, then they have not allowed the buyer to complete the inspections. Other details are mute. If the seller does not allow the inspection, then they effectively breach the contract. Bye-bye buyer. Folks always want to make their problems someone else's. It isn't the home inspectors problem, and it isn't the buyers problem. I will stop there.

I've actually done that a few times.

A client would call and say 'tomorrow is the last day of my 1 year warranty, I was just given your name, but I NEED you to inspect my house before the 1 year warranty is up - because the builder is not going to honor anything found past that date'.

I would go by, spend 3-4-5 hours walking around, write up a one page report which stated that everything I looked at had a problem, and that I would need to come back, make a more through inspection and take items off the list if possible.

On each of those occasions, *I never took anything off the list* - I just documented it better.

I think very few of us have the ability to schedule a 3-4-5 hour inspection for the next day. I'm usually scheduled out a week, and frequently longer than that.

Two of those times the follow-up inspections scheduled lasted about a week, one 6 days and one 8 days.

Considering that most HIs only spend 3-4 hours on an inspection, 'a 15-30 minute walk through' would be comparable.

Surely you have enough time, even at the end of a day, to stop by for a 15-30 minute walk-through, then schedule "the inspection" for later, with "the addendum" being issued then.

My one page "reports" were followed with 400+ page "Addendums" documenting 'that I did not find anything done correctly'.

Not being able to do an inspection the next day to rescue a client because their option period or warranty is up is not the fault of the warranty or the purchase contract in 99% of the cases. It is the fault of the client not tending to their business.
I will bend over back-wards to try and help every client, but I am not superman and I can't be in two places at once.

In Jerry's example, the folks have lived in the house for a year... this was not sprung on them at the last minute.

When a purchase offer and contract are signed, it is all written down in black and white, no surprises.

My point is the contract or rules of the contract as provided by the state are usually not the problem.
If an agent does not provide adequate opportunity for inspections then inform your client. If you pizz off a few agents that are not doing their job properly, then maybe they needed it.
If an agent looses a sale because of their incompetence, they will get it right the next time or join the Darwin society.

Originally Posted by Jim Luttrall

In Jerry's example, the folks have lived in the house for a year... this was not sprung on them at the last minute.

While 'the inspection' was not sprung on them at the last minute, they got my name at the last minute. Previous to that, they could not find anyone they could rely on (based on word of mouth in the circles they traveled in). I just happened to have inspected, and killed, about 5 houses for one agent (the buyer's agent, I did them 'for my clients', but she was the referral source) in the preceding two weeks. She (the agent) and those soon-to-be clients met at a dinner meeting (the type which I never got invited to, *being too poor* ) and when she heard them talking, she told them about me.

They called my the next morning.

So, in that sense, it was 'at the last minute'.

My point, though, was that 'doing that works'. (Writing a one pager report and following it with an addendum.)