It is really amazing how many pressures honest real estate agents must contend with in this day and age of greed and deception and often the pressures come from those in their own industry.
But first, let’s talk about the hard working, honest and confident real estate agent.
Confident agents guide their clients to competent organizations and businesses that form the support network for helping a home buyer locate, negotiate, inspect, re-negotiate for repairs, finance and insure a property.
It is a simple concept. Work hard, be honest with your clients, and direct them to the most thorough and diligent professionals that are available to help them purchase a home.
Now, let’s talk about some of the nonsense that goes on. Here are a few ‘tricks’ the unscrupulous real estate agent will utilize.
Set the Home Inspection Price Expectations artificially ‘low’. Agents will ‘help’ their client find an inexpensive Inspector. Agents know that the more diligent, thorough and experienced Real Estate Inspector is the more expensive choice. To steer their client toward a less experienced, incompetent, or ‘hasty’ inspector (one who inspects 3, 4, 5, & 6 inspections a day), they tell their client how much to expect to pay for the inspection. They often suggest a dollar figure that is one-half of what a thorough Inspector will charge.
Don’t recommend a particular Inspector. Give the client a ‘short-list’ of the Agent’s ‘approved’ Inspectors so that their client mistakenly believes that they are making their choice of Inspector. In reality, every Inspector on the ‘approved list’ is the agent’s choice.
Schedule the Inspection ‘for’ their Client. This is where the agent doesn’t even give their client the opportunity to ask questions of the Inspector. Such as… ‘What is your experience’, ‘how many lawsuits or demand-letters have you received for poor inspections’, ‘how much time will you take to inspect my prospective purchase’, ‘who are some of your references’, ‘how long have you been in business’, etc.?
There are several Attorneys who are well-versed in pursuing real estate agents who ‘steer’ their client toward underperforming, incompetent Inspectors and Engineers. If you move into your home only to find defects in the home not discovered and properly disclosed by the Inspector you hired due to some of these more common antics, take action.
