I put an ad on Craigslist today, free and good for SEO. While looking at the other ads I found this heading.****
Buyer Agent - Looking for a home ? I’ll pay for your inspection. ****
Hire this agent and they will pay for your home inspection. I am seeing real estate agents demanding buyers use their guy or not get an inspection and now this. I don’t understand why this is allowed. Other professions would consider this behavior a conflict of interest.
Be prepared for the CL spam. Let us know how it works out.
Good for SEO? Hardly. CL no longer allows active links and most people won’t copy and paste an address out of an advertisement.
I don’t care who pays for the inspection. I have had agents, parents, siblings, REO companies, and friends pay for my client’s inspection. The client is still the client. Who pays for the inspection has never, ever, resulted in a single letter or word change in my reports.
Technically it’s not illegal. You will see agents offering partial refunds out of their commissions as an incentive to list with them. You can bet the brokers aren’t offering this discount. The agent has more to gain by getting a new listing.
It’s a conflict I agree. Especially if the inspector is under qualified and the agent isn’t offering a number of inspection companies or, allowing the buyer to choose their own company and then paying the bill in advance of their decision to purchase.
I have had realtors pay me for the inspection. Not a problem. They don’t get special treatment. They didn’t try or ask for special treatment. They just did it for the client.
Told this story before but had shown up for an Inspection once and the Agent for my client answered the door and said I was not needed because he had hired a Inspector for his client.I pushed my way in and the client said thank G-d you are here as the other Inspector was some real old guy with not tool bag my client told his Agent since you re paying for the inspection please pay Bob…and he did…the other guy left.
My client was begging me to come out so he could treat me for a night on the town after that as I found many issues.
I have realtors that do it as promos and perks for their customers… Nothing is ever out of the ordinary with it. I don’t run across unscrupulous Real estate agents often if at all. I did do an inspection in an area of the state I don’t normally work and had a 30 year guy try to drive my inspection a bit. He did the regional thing with the classic statement" down here, we like our inspectors to do things this way". He was the list agent. I basically told him, in a professional manner, to shut up. I do things how I do them and he needed to mind his business and keep his eye on the ball.
I have occasionally had a realtor pay, doesn’t alter my process.
Live and learn I guess. I have been a contractor and 203K consultant and never run into agents paying for my services. I assume if the agent is paying its going to be the $200 guy doing the inspection. I don’t think RE agents should refer.
As far as Craigslist? Yes no live links allowed but I never get Craigslist spam and my number is shown as 612-788-fivefive84
I think for free is a why not? Reset the ad once a week and “Bobs your uncle.”
Trust me, I advertised on CL and learn my lesson, Nothing but bottom of the barrel homes and they wanted the inspections for nothing.
“Yes, Mr./Mrs. Homebuyer. I will get that home inspection taken care of. My guy is good at what he does, and is licensed and certified. You can go ahead and write me a check for $400 and I can get the radon and termite done also.”
REA makes some calls to his buddies. Gets the termite inspection for free. Has another buddy who can do the radon for $50. Has an inspector on his payroll that makes $35 per hour that will write a fancy report for his buyer in about two hours. Done. Pocket the balance.
The agent paying is not a huge problem. Although in Ontario is does mean legally workers compensation fees must be paid on that inspection, which does impact some inspectors.
The problem arises if they demand they choose the inspector… So if they are ok paying for an inspector the client selects, then potentially not a serious issue.
Agreed. Price shoppers only.
I agree price shoppers on Craigslist but still worth it as I get few calls but may be able to turn it into a networking opportunity.
Yesterday I got in front of 10 lenders and explained how rehab inspections work. Networking is my forte.
In the past it was good for a SEO boost but then so was Active Rain.Times change.
Now it is inviting spam and marketers.
I have an agent who only deals with sellers (of course the sellers are buying aswell) On everyone of his sellers he urges the client to have a pre-inspection done. Of course most of them don’t know what that is so he points them to me to explain the benefits. If they don’t want to go through because they don’t feel they should pay for an inspection the RE pays for it. He likes the quality of work I give and he pays the same as all other clients. Yes here in Ontario we have a few extras when taking payment from a RE like our WSIB but I carry it anyway so there’s no extra for me. I also have another agent that does not want to be part of a transaction where the client refuses a home inspection and will usually call me to perform one and pay me instead of the client. Again this agent pays the same price as all other customers and I have yet to have any issues.
I was big on Active Rain for a couple of years.
Bottom line for me is my website and blog. At one time I had one of the most active blog sites and forums but it turned out to be too much work.
So far I have had no problems from Craigslist not counting the occasional shopper looking to see if I can beat the $149.95 home inspector. Actually, the cheapest guy local I have seen lately is also an Internachi member?
Agent paid me today because she wanted to do a good deed for her clients. I guess the clients had a previous house under contract with a bonehead agent that killed his own deal somehow.
As long as the check clears, I don’t mind.
Yeah, depends on the people and their expectations. Glad I sterted this thread.