by Holden Lewis
Bankrate.com
You're buying a house, and a real-estate agent gives you a list of three home inspectors. You hire one of them. Who is the inspector more eager to please? You? Or the real-estate agent?
Some home inspectors say a conflict of interest exists when a real-estate agent hands a list of recommended inspectors to a buyer. Agents make their money when houses are sold, so inspectors who frequently point out major problems find themselves excluded from agents' referral lists.
"It's patently manipulative to have an agent recommend an inspector," says Kenneth Bates, a home inspector in Boston. "He's basically going to recommend someone who won't make trouble. What does that mean? Saying less, doing less."
Dennis Robitaille, an inspector in nearby Saugus, Mass., agrees. "There is an inherent conflict there," Robitaille says. "There are only so many agents out there who are going to put up with losing deals."
Robitaille feels so strongly about the issue that he started the Independent Home Inspectors of North America (www.independentinspectors.org), an association of inspectors who pledge to refrain from soliciting real-estate agents for client leads.
The pledge reads, in part: "I understand that active solicitation includes giving "sales" presentations to real estate agents about my inspection service, dropping off brochures at real estate offices and/or rewarding or compensating agents for referring clients to me. I understand that handing out a business card to a real estate agent at an inspection site is not considered active solicitation."
Robitaille's organization has numerous members in the United States and Canada. The website lists them by state and province.
Robitaille says proudly that if an agent in his area were to hand a homebuyer a list of five recommended inspectors, "I can guarantee you that I would not be on that list and most of the good inspectors in the area would not be on that list."
A seller's agent in Massachusetts isn't allowed to provide such a list. Under a law that Robitaille campaigned for, an agent representing the seller can't give a buyer a list of recommended inspectors. Instead, agents hand over a brochure (required by the state) that explains the inspection process and contains the web address for the Massachusetts Board of Home Inspectors' site, which lets users search for licensed inspectors.
Bates, who doesn't belong to Robitaille's organization, says the law benefits consumers and thorough inspectors such as him.
Bates and Robitaille are both members of the American Society of Home Inspectors, the largest such group in the country. The head of ASHI says they raise a valid concern when they worry about agents steering work to more lenient inspectors.
"If the agent tells you, 'Go see John Smith to do your home inspection,' that should raise a red flag," executive director Rob Paterkiewicz says. "There could be undue influence on that home inspector to come up with a report that's squeaky clean."
ASHI grants membership to inspectors after they have passed a rigorous test, and they must agree to abide by a code of ethics and standards of business practice. "It's clearly stated that there cannot be undue influence on an inspection," Paterkiewicz says. "And our members take that seriously."
About 70 percent of inspections result from a referral by a real-estate agent, which Paterkiewicz calls a high number. "Are we going to say to our inspectors, 'Don't take a referral from a real-estate agent'? No," he says.
But ASHI would like its members to rely less on referrals. "We're trying to tell the consumers to go to the ASHI website and look at the inspectors in your area," he says.
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service. E-mail Holden Lewis at hlewis@bankrate.com)
Resources Independent Home Inspectors of North America
Independent Home Inspectors of North America
E-mail:
ihina@attbi.com
Website:
www.independentinspectors.org
National Association of Home Inspectors, Inc.
National Association of Home Inspectors, Inc.
E-mail:
info@nahi.org
Website:
www.nahi.org
American Society of Home Inspectors (ASHI)
To locate an American Society of Home Inspectors inspector near you, call or visit the website of ASHI.
American Society of Home Inspectors
Website:
www.ashi.org
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