House Detective

The House Detective: by Barry Stone, Certified Building Inspector

Dear Barry: We purchased our home 1 1/2 years ago, and our home inspector missed a number of problems. These include rotten eave boards, a bad roof, a rusted water heater, garage door openers not equipped with safety eyes, rotted window frames, an unvented kitchen stovetop, a broken vent on the furnace, and the list goes on. We trusted him because he was recommended by our Realtor. Do we have any recourse? Sandra

Dear Sandra: The first step in the process of recourse is to notify the home inspector and the agent that these problems were not disclosed. You should invite them to your home for a review of these issues. And be sure to do this before making any repairs because corrected problems are not as negotiable as existing ones. Be aware also that not all of the issues you listed are within the scope of a home inspection and some may not involve actual defects. Here are some examples:

• Rotting wood at the eaves and windows may or may not be included in the scope of the inspection. You should check the inspection contract in that regard. Termite inspectors are the ones who typically inspect for rotted wood.
• Older garage door openers were not required to have safety eyes.
• In most states, venting is not required at a kitchen range.

On the other hand, the rusted water heater, the broken furnace vent, and the faulty roof should have been disclosed by the inspector if the problems were visible at the time of the inspection.

It is an unfortunate reality of the real estate business that some agents cannot be trusted to recommend the best home inspectors. This does not apply to all agents, but it does apply to some. Therefore, your agent should be asked, “Was this the most thorough and experienced home inspector you know?” In most cases, agents know which inspectors are the best. If you can get the name of a “top gun” home inspector in your area, a second inspection would be advisable. This may alert you to additional problems that may have been missed by the agent’s inspector.

The House Detective, by Barry Stone, Certified Building Inspector

Dear Barry: In a recent article, you stated that it was an agent’s responsibility to recommend a home inspector. I argue that such a recommendation is a clear conflict of interest. The agent’s interest is in closing the sale and getting a commission check. The home inspector’s interest is in future referrals from the agent. No matter how you cut it, that kind of relationship compromises a home inspector’s integrity. I’ve had two bad experiences with home inspectors who were recommended by real estate agents, and that has taught me to shop for my own inspector. That’s the kind of advice you should be giving your readers. Al

Dear Al: The article you refer to involved an agent who advised her buyers not to hire a home inspector. The subject of that column was to condemn that kind of unethical practice. The point was not that an agent should “recommend a home inspector,” but that agents should advise every buyer to have a home inspection.

A repeated subject of this column has been the complex issue of inspector referrals by agents and brokers. Some articles have discussed agents who advise against having home inspections, while others have shined the spotlight on those who refer marginally qualified inspectors to their clients. The referral relationship between agents and home inspectors is not what compromises an inspector’s integrity. Referrals merely test the integrity that an inspector may or may not inherently possess. Inspectors who skew the findings of reports to promote future referrals are condemned by their own lack of common decency, not by the conflict of interest posed by real estate agents. Home inspectors with well-founded values serve the interests of homebuyers, not the pressures imposed by agents.

These same ethical standards for disclosure can be applied to agents and brokers. Those who are truly honest and ethical promote full disclosure and recommend the most qualified inspectors. Those who lack these values betray the interests of their clients by recommending unqualified inspectors or by convincing their clients to forego an inspection; all for the sake of a commission check.

In the real estate marketplace where I do business, there are sufficient numbers of ethical agents to fill the schedule of an honest and meticulous home inspector (most of the time). Whether this is true everywhere is difficult to say. But the bottom line is this: Any home inspector who abbreviates the thoroughness or accuracy of an inspection report for the sake of agent referrals has essentially stolen the money of the homebuyers who paid for the inspection. Likewise, any agent who advises against having an inspection, or who recommends marginally qualified home inspectors, or who labels the best inspectors as “deal killers,” is no better than a bar room grifter in professional clothing.

The practice of uncompromised defect disclosure is the ethical heart and soul of real estate related professions. It measures equally the moral worth of agents, brokers, and home inspectors. Anyone who devalues that practice should do some serious soul searching or should simply find another line of work.