Seller's Shooting Themselves in the Foot?

Maybe it is just me but does it strike anybody else as odd that so many sellers shot themselves in the foot after they get an accepted offer?

I can't count the number of times I've had buyers suddenly start questioning their decision when the seller leaves the home thrashed after it was immaculate for the showing.

Or sellers that have an offer and refuse to accept an inspection time for the buyers - I had one last week that moved four times because nothing pleased the seller. I finally asked the agent if they really wanted to sell the house because the buyer was getting incredibly aggravated over the whole thing.

Anybody else have a pet peeve like this?

Paul Duffau
WA Lic #215
Asotin WA

I have too many pet peeves in regard to inspections to cover them in this thread.

- buyer's who want to book and inspection without an agreement of sale
- buyer's who continue to shop around after booking with you and then canceling at the 11th hour
- being asked with every defect I find "how much will that cost?"
- being asked with every defect I find "can I fix that?"
- sellers who want to follow you around and chime in
- buyer's who say "let me use your flashlight" (this one really gets under my skin)
- being brought back to the same issue over and over after I've already spent far too much time covering it the first time around
- family members who want to interject their thoughts which forces me to wait for them to finish so I can get to address the buyer
- people who want to climb my ladder and get on the roof too
- being asked again with every defect "how much will that cost?"

Shall I go on?

Most of these are not rubs with the sellers. If they want to shoot themselves in the foot, I don't care. I tell buyers that it's up to the seller to make the house available for the inspection if they want to sell it.

Purchasers who call and ask how much to inspect a property, then tell ya that they can get it $20-25 cheaper.

The smarter sellers will know enough to 1) stay out of the way and 2) clean the place up at least a bit. Some will even go as far as to repair things that are easy to fix. When I see that, it makes my job more enjoyable and I can focus on the big ticket items, which are usually not too bad in most of the houses I see.

My pet peeve is the burned out light bulb and the Buyer's question "Is it just the bulb?" 10 minutes later, "Yeah, it's just the stinkin' bulb" :confused:

When sellers put obstacles in the way, they are sometimes trying to hide stuff, but mostly just ignorant of the inspection process.
When they refuse to allow the inspection on this or that day, they don't really want to sell. Maybe they wanted a higher offer, or there is a marital dispute in progress.

Sellers having a pre-sale insp report sitting on the counter in the kitchen. One client told me that the seller agent was telling them that another inspection is not needed, we had one done,,here it is.

In those cases my clients walked, because the existing report did not ident major faults that I discovered and wrote up. One such agent couldnt believe that the basement is leaking, exclaiming that the inspection report doesnt say anything about it??? Mine did. :D

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Originally Posted by Paul Duffau

Anybody else have a pet peeve like this?

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Dog crap in the yard
Sellers attending the inspection
Piles of stuff in front of the furnace, electric panel, attic and crawl hatches - It's amazing how the entire house can be relatively free of junk except for these areas


Buyer's pay me so I hesitate to complain too much about them.... at least outwardly :)

Much of this has to do with a real estate agent not properly prepping their clients.

I have an inspection today that starts during around 11:00am and I just received an email from the listing agent asking what I want for lunch from Jason's Deli. Seems the owner wants to buy lunch for the prospective owners, their agent and me! I'm game!

My guess is that this house will still be in prime condition when I inspect it! This is one reason I love inspecting big expensive homes!

About 5 years ago the seller pulled out the fine place settings for us while we wrote the report. As I recall we had found a couple of issues and had she known what we were writing she might have altered her offering.

Hope you had a good lunch Scott. I love it when that happens - its just not often enough for me.

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Originally Posted by Scott Patterson

I have an inspection today that starts during around 11:00am and I just received an email from the listing agent asking what I want for lunch from Jason's Deli. Seems the owner wants to buy lunch for the prospective owners, their agent and me! I'm game!

My guess is that this house will still be in prime condition when I inspect it! This is one reason I love inspecting big expensive homes!

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I need to upgrade my standards. I'm a mite jealous as I munch on a peanut butter sandwich......

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Originally Posted by Scott Patterson

I have an inspection today that starts during around 11:00am and I just received an email from the listing agent asking what I want for lunch from Jason's Deli. Seems the owner wants to buy lunch for the prospective owners, their agent and me! I'm game!

My guess is that this house will still be in prime condition when I inspect it! This is one reason I love inspecting big expensive homes!

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Yep! Those were the sellers who would have their housekeeper's make lunch for the agent. buyers, and me. And sometimes just for me as I was the only one there. Always a good spread too.

Some (sellers and buyers) even took me to lunch at the country club where (if it was the buyers) we would go over what I had found to that point.

That market sure was sweet! :cool:

I had someone buy me a Coke once, does that count?:cool:

I turn down every offer of food, drink, etc. I have too much to do to sit down and eat meal. But the offer is always appreciated.

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Originally Posted by Scott Patterson

. . . . Seems the owner wants to buy lunch for the prospective owners, their agent and me! I'm game!

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Where I come from, that's called "greasing the chute." Purely done to influence the content of your report, in a positive light, of course. Especially if they buy unlimited rounds of hootch to get you slurring your words. Mission accomplished!

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Originally Posted by BridgeMan

Where I come from, that's called "greasing the chute." Purely done to influence the content of your report, in a positive light, of course. Especially if they buy unlimited rounds of hootch to get you slurring your words. Mission accomplished!

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Shhurling what whoords?

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Originally Posted by Jerry Peck

Yep! Those were the sellers who would have their housekeeper's make lunch for the agent. buyers, and me. And sometimes just for me as I was the only one there. Always a good spread too.

Some (sellers and buyers) even took me to lunch at the country club where (if it was the buyers) we would go over what I had found to that point.

That market sure was sweet! :cool:

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Dang you did good.
The only time someone took me to, or povided lunch was a new home owner of a 8000 sq. ft. home.
His wife was on a trip in their private plane to disney land with the grand kids.

We went in his new thunderbird conv.. Destination was McDonalds..:)
Oh well all.. at least all of the girls there knew him by name

Ever run into the "Old Appliance Swap?" Buyer says "that wasn't the fridge that was here when we made the offer". I always tell 'em to threaten the seller's with backing out of the transaction unless the original appliance is returned of they pony-up some other concession.

I had a condo 4 months ago that was being sold as-is. Sometime between mutual acceptance and the inspection there was a water leak and the carpet and pad were removed and nothing put in it's place. The buyer walks in and says "where's the effin carpet?" Buyer's agent called the listing agent who responded with " there was a leak so we removed the carpet. Buyer's agent: "Are you going to replace the carpet?" Listing agent: "Property being sold as-is." Inspection over....Funniest thing I've encountered in a long, long time....

I have got lunch a few occasions, but that was my clients. They get hungry on my inspections;) .

I like the ones where they forgo the lunch and tip you extra cash because you did a great job. Maybe I should be charging more ...hmmm!