Arrogant used house sales woman floods house

1

Dont’ get me wrong. I like and respect most Agents and I get a lot of referrals from them which I appreciate. I think most of them are professional and do a good job, Jim B. will vouch that I usually speak kindly of agents but this one today just knew better than the stupid ole inspector.

At my verbal summary during this afternoons inspection I mentioned that the dishwasher did not cycle through and was not functional, I said it might be repairable but replacement would be my recommendation because it was a low end model and probably not worth the effort to try to fix. Of course, the Agent who’s working both sides of the deal starts fiddling with the controls and gets the water running into the unit. “It’s working” she exclaims, “see, it was just the counter switch was off”. “No Ma’am, I checked the unit and the switch, it does not cycle properly.” So now I go to the unit to try to force drain it and it won’t drain. I tell her “it won’t drain and if it’'s left running it will fill with water”. I shut the unit down. “What are we going to do about all that sitting water in the unit?” she asks. “Well the unit won’t drain so the water will just have to sit there until the unit is repaired or you could scoop it out.” Geez, she fills the damn thing with water and expects me to deal with it. I don’t think so.

Anyway my client called me while I was driving home to tell me that she messed with the unit again after I left and flooded the kitchen. I said(jokingly) he should tell her that she should stick to selling houses and leave the inspecting to me. Also told him to tell her I said “happy mopping”. He chuckled and said he would.

Takes all kinds I guess.

2

Geez John Boy, you’re just an inspector. Let the homepro fiddle with this…anyone got a life vest!! LMAO

3

I like it when the heat or A/C does not work and they run to the t-stat and run it to the max.

I tell them that if the problem goes away and the unit starts working it will run a long time and someone may not be too happy.

4

It’s been cold up here lately (go figure :mrgreen: ).

I did a big house selling for close to a million. 2 A/C units that were newer (the house was built about 2 years ago). I didn’t run the A/C be because it had been cold, and was under 65 degrees that day.

The realtor, for some reason, got very upset and started tellimg me that I wasn’t a very good inspector because “everyone knows that you have to test the A/C”. I explained, in front of the client, that if you run the compressors when it is cold, they can be damaged, besides, I would be happy to (for free) come back and check them when it was warmer (I commonly do this).

This Realtor had been VERY “protective” of the client, never letting me be alone with them and always interposing herself between them and me.

She, in a very loud and superior tone, “Well! I have been doing this for 25 years and I have never heard such a thing! I just think you are being lazy. You sure are charging my clients a whole lot more than is reasonable and appropriate. And you don’t even check the A/C?”

(Please Note: This was a 4,300 SF SFH in an upscale neighborhood. My common fee for this is $600.00, which includes thermal imaging.)

The client seemed a little embarassed by the Realtor, and I try to avoid (try to, don’t always succeed). I just said, “operating the A/C at this temperature can damage the compressors and I won’t do this and the sellers still own the house and I cannot get their permission, in any case, to take that risk.” (not that I would have, anyway).

Finished up and left.

The client called me, that night, and told me that the Realtor had truned on the A/C after I left, complaining all the while that I was "obviously, not a very good inspector (the clients hired me, over the Realtors referral and objection).

I mentioned this incident in my report.

Well, got a call, yesterday, from the seller. (it has been warm the last few days, except for today). The A/C didn’t work and he was going to sue me to get me to fix it (both units). I just told him that a) I never operated the A/C, b) know that it sould not be operated if it is cold and c) recommended that he call the Realtor, and if he wants, my lawyer.

Today, the Realtor called. She was very angry. “Why did you tell the seller that I operated the A/C? I never did! I will have your license for this, you arrogent, (SOB). I knew that NACHI inspectors were bad, but I had no ideea how bad!” I let her run down, then asked if she had, in fact, run the A/C after I left. She told me, “Of course, what has that got to do with anything? You know you should have tested it! Don’t you know the law?”

I just chuckled and gave her my lawyer’s number.

Some people have, absoluetly, no friggin’ clue :wink:

I just LOOOOVE ths job, don’t you?

5

Handled very professionally Will. Some people just don’t understand. It actually amazes me sometimes.

6

"I just LOOOOVE ths job, don’t you?"

There are days . . . . . . . . . . . .:roll:

7

I had one where the shut off to water heater was off, I just made a verbal comment to the client about no hot water and that the unit should be checked before closing. Well the Realtor chimed in with “just open the damn valve you stupid moron” ( or something to the effect), at which time I explained again why I don’t open valves, and continued with the inspection. The next thing I know is I hear the Realtor cussing like a sailor, the top of the shutoff had come off in his hand and by the time I got back to the laundry room there was a hole in the ceiling. Laughing my a** off (on the inside) I went out and turned the main off ( I keep a street key for just such reasons) We never saw the Realtor after that.:smiley:

8

John,

Good Man. I’ve had many Realtor’s who wear many hats at a home inspection and I will simply put them in their place when this sort of behavior does exist.

I’ve got many Realtor stories, but I’d have to write a book. So I won’t go there.

9

Bruce,
having had the pleasure of meeting you at the Certified Commercial Building Inspector’s Course in Denver I got the impression that you were very knowledgeable and that you were a kind man.

This proves it!
If it were me I am not sure that I would not have come to this idiot’s rescue!

Some times you just “Gotta let them burn” before they will learn anything!:stuck_out_tongue:

10

Just yesterday I had an inspection on a bank foreclosure that had been winterized. I made sure to call the listing agent three days earlier to make sure the utilities would be on. Her comment was, “yeah, I’m on my way over there to de-winterize this afternoon. I don’t want to pay $75 to have someone do it when I can just turn the water on to the toilets and sinks.”

Well she turned it on alright. The main valve, in the closet under the stairs, had been turned on so tight, it was constantly dripping. And had been for three days. The carpet and pad were soaked, it was travelling into the hallway carpet and if it had been any longer, it would have gone under the hardwood floor in the kitchen.

I had the selling agent call her and explain. A minor adjustment to the valve and it stopped dripping. Maybe it was the 96 pounds of water pressure…

I told her if the carpet and pad were not pulled, it could damage the subfloor. On speaker phone, she asked me to pull the carpet and pad and I did accomodate (only a 3x10 section). The crawlspace access was about 2 feet away and water was dripping into the crawl and had saturated the I joists in the area.

I am sure the bank will appreciate the agent wanted to save the $75.00. :mrgreen:

11

I always advise that the “de-winterization” be done by a licensed and insured plumber. Let him have the liability if anything goes wrong.

This is a type of “class” attitude that is common. “Tradesmen are dumb because they never went to college. If they could, they would’t be tradesmen. Therefore, since I am “smart” I can easily do their job because it can’t be hard to do because they are so dumb.”

A, usually, fatal confusion.

I make a deal with the Realtors I work with. I woun’t prepare contracts of sale and they won’t inspect houses. :wink:

12

And what is funny about it Will is that most of them don’t “write” purchase and sales agreements. They just fill in the blanks on state mandated forms. I wonder how much training it takes to fill in, “purchasers name” or “purchase price”…:shock:

13

The forms, in Illinois, are niot state mandated, but prepared by the NAR, for Illinois. I see many differerent “standard forms”, many written and re-written by lawyers. Different areas, different standards.

The beauty of standards is that there are so many of them. :mrgreen:

14

What’s this all about Will? You’re not allowed to get sued! As your E&O provider, our job is to collect your money and be done with it :wink:

Kidding of course. Amazing how pompous that agent acted.

15

Why do you think I had her call my lawyer, and not you guys?

FREA would just cave and I would have to pay the deductable. :wink:

16

Good idea. Keep us out of it :smiley:

17

The less your underwriters know, the lower my costs. :mrgreen:

18

I wish I had more clients like you, Will! Ha ha… :wink: