Agents Resources

Home Inspections: How Agents Can Limit Their Liability

1. Insist that your client have a professional home inspection performed, including ancillary inspections.
2. Recommend the high-value inspector, not the low­priced inspector. Trying to save your client $100 on an inspection could cost them $10,000 in missed repairs.
3. Avoid conflicts of interest. Never recommend an inspector who participates in preferred-vendor schemes. All the reputable inspector associations prohibit this. Your fiduciary duty means recommending inspectors based on merit, not money.
4. Only recommend inspectors who adhere to a strict Code of Ethics and Standards of Practice, such as members of lnterNACHI.
5. Take the time to manage your clients’ expectations of what can reasonably be discovered by a limited, visual inspection of a property that is full of furniture, carpets and stored items.
6. Recommend that your client have the home inspected before listing it so that it’s Move-In Certified™ by an lnterNACHI inspector. The seller can then confirm that there are no major systems in need of immediate repair or replacement, and no known safety hazards.
7. Review the inspector’s Pre-Inspection Agreement to make sure that it contains a Notice Clause that requires the buyer to notify the inspector within 14 days of the discovery of any defect not noted in the inspection report.
8. Always attend the home inspection. This shows your professionalism and concern for your client’s interests, which can mean referrals.
9. Be sure to carry your own Professional Liability Insurance to protect yourself from allegations that you should have independently verified that the property was defect-free.
10. Indemnify yourself against lawsuits up to $10,000 by registering for lnterNACHl’s Free Negligent Referral Protection Program.

Move-In Certified™ Seller Inspections

A Move-In Certified™ Seller Inspection can help you and your seller close the sale. Here are some of the benefits:

• The agent can recommend a certified lnterNACHI inspector to inspect the home before the buyer’s inspector arrives.
• The seller can assist the inspector during the inspection, something that is not normally done during the buyer’s inspection.
• The seller and agent are alerted to any immediate safety issues discovered before other agents and potential buyers tour the home, and any issues or repairs can be resolved ahead of time, without rushing, which will help the home show better.
• The seller is given an opportunity to dispute or clarify any misstatements in the report before it’s generated for distribution.
• The inspection report helps the seller see his home through the eyes of an unbiased third party, thus making him more realistic about the asking price.
• A Move-In Certified™ inspection report can be used as a marketing tool to help sell the home, both at an open house and online, where the report is hosted on www.FetchReport.com.
• Move-In Certified™ yard signs attract potential buyers.
• A Move-In Certified™ seller inspection helps eliminate buyer’s remorse that sometimes occurs just after a buyer’s inspection.
• A Move-In Certified™ seller inspection reduces the need for negotiations and 11th- hour renegotiations.
• A Move-In Certified™ seller inspection may encourage a buyer to waive his own inspection contingency.
• Deals are less likely to fall apart the way they sometimes do when a buyer’s inspection unexpectedly reveals problems at the last minute.
• A Move-In Certified™ inspection report provides full-disclosure protection from future legal claims.
• Visit www.MovelnCertified.com for more information.

GHI Greg’s Home Inspections
Certified Master Inspector
Serving
Maryland & Virginia
Phone: 301-728-6032

Email: info@ghihomeinspect.com

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