Member gets positive response with NACHI's hold harmless agreement.

[Nick Gromicko]

----- Original Message -----
From:Scott Harris
To:nick gromicko
Sent: Friday, December 15, 2006 12:43 AM
Subject: Portland Chamber of Commerce meeting this evening.


The open house meeting I attended at the Greater Portland Chamber of
Commerce was very interesting this evening. I have a Mortgage
lending group that has invited me to come give a presentation after
the holidays, 2nd week of January. I also spoke to two other active
mortgage brokers who were also quite interested in working with me.
I've considered a methodology for quite a while to change the nature
of how inspectors get referrals from real estate agents. The good
agents know there is a conflict of interest in recommending an
inspector but it's just how it is. Possibly it doesn't have to be
that way. I know a lot more business is coming from buyers finding
us on the internet, but there is still so much dependance upon
referrals from agents. It seems to me that it is more in the best
interests of everyone involved if the lenders and brokers would
provide referrals to buyers at the point of issuing a mortgage pre
qualification letter. The response that I am getting is positive and
the NACHI "hold harmless" clause/program may be just the tool to win
over the lenders. This program in particular was of particular
interest to the broker/lenders I met this evening. One broker asked
me if his firm could be named in the clause and I told him I would
have to check on it, but I see no reason why not, assuming the buyer
has selected them prior to the inspection taking place. The lenders
themselves, like the buyers have a more comparable vested interest
in a higher standard of inspection.

I know that in some ways this seems a little like re inventing the
wheel, but if it is possible, it could change the way we do business
in a very positive way.

Scott Harris


www.nachi.org/harmless.htm

[Russell Spriggs]

Good points, Scott.

I actively market to Lenders, and appeal to their $ interest in the home. The HHA is another point to bring up, also!