Home Inspections – Should You Attend?
A home inspection is one of the most important steps in the home buying process. Many buyers’ decisions whether to purchase a home or not depends on the results of the inspection. Your buyer should be encouraged to attend the home inspection, but should you be there as well?
Some home inspectors do not want the buyer’s agent to attend because they believe that the agent will influence the buyer’s decision. There are real estate agents that agree with these inspectors. They tend to avoid that part of the process because they don’t want their presence to sway the inspector. Another reason agents don’t like to attend inspections is that they want to avoid a lawsuit later on if problems with the house show up and it wasn’t pointed out by the realtor who attended the inspection.
On the flip side, agents who attend home inspections feel that they should be there to look out for their buyer’s best interest. The inspector will be going over a lot of information with the buyer during the inspection. Some of these things and the terminology will be unfamiliar to the buyer. Agents who attend the inspection will be able to help their client understand what the inspector is saying by knowing what to ask the inspector to explain in layman’s terms for the buyer.
The best way for an agent to get to know the good inspectors from the bad is to attend several inspections. After a while, you will know which inspectors tend to make large problems out of small issues and which are levelheaded and able to point out things without overdramatizing them. After all, you wouldn’t want your client to hire the wrong home inspector, would you?
Whether you decide to attend the home inspection or not, you should make sure that your decision is in the best interest of your buyer and that they are comfortable with the inspector who will ultimately be helping them decide if that is the home for them.