have to share

[kurt]

I get the call from the client saying he got my name from his friend, but when he told his realtor who he was going to use for the inspection, he was informed that he wasn't allowed to use me.

Now, this is nothing new. The matrons of the North Shore have blackballed me for years. There's not much business up there, so I don't care. He tells me the realtors (3 of 'em) all circled wagons and stated there was no way that I was ever going to inspect this house.

So, the guy asks if I know anyone I can refer him to, he wants someone good, because this is a big ticket house in the plush zone. Usually, I just give out a name of one of my buds in the biz because it's not that big a deal, but this time, I kinda passed through the looking glass to another dimension. No anger, just clarity.

In the nicest way, real polite, I told him no, I wouldn't refer him to anyone. I told him in a well stated extemporization that if he was the sort of person that would let a realtor tell him who he was allowed to use, he should just use the realtors guy.

All of a sudden, it was like the light bulb goes off in this guy's head, and he comes to his senses, we talk, and hit it off great.

Turns out, he's the managing partner for one of the largest accounting firms in the world. He calls his friend/colleague at XXXXXXXXXXX who's the managing director of the company that owns XXXXXXXXXXXXXX, the real estate company (big national operation).

The best friend at XXXXXXXXXXX calls real estate national corporate HQ, gets the general counsel/head lawyer on the phone, and tells her what's going on. She goes livid, gets on the phone to the local office, and sticks a flame thrower into the local office managers armpit.

I get the call a couple hours ago......I guess I'm looking at the property tomorrow.

Sometimes it's soooooooo sweet...........

[hausdok]

Way to go, Kurt!!!

ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!!

Mike

[mgbinspect]

Excellent! That is pretty cool. There was a HI around here a few years back that actually took a few real estate firms to court for black balling him - and won.

I bet it will be the first (in a long time) of many, yet to come, in that area.

Good for you.

[Nolan Kienitz]

Fantastic! Love it when a plan works out ... [:-thumbu]

[gtblum]

YAY!

[kurt]

Yeah, the guy is totally hooked up. He wants a ton of my cards, because he's so pissed off, he said he's going to hand them out to everyone he knows, and "get me known in the community".

So, looks like the blackball ladies are going to have their little black ball pushed up where the sun don't shine.

hehehehehe.........

[Brandon Whitmore]

[:-thumbu]

[AHI in AR]

Ya gotta love it!

[charlieb]

Just can't seem to stop chuckling [:-thumbu]

[Neal Lewis]

So, looks like the blackball ladies are going to have their little black ball pushed up where the sun don't shine.

That is hilarious.

[John Kogel]

Try to be nice.

I had a slightly similar inspection last week, realtor was miffed I got the job, doesn't even know me. After a couple of hours, she was asking questions, and everybody was smiling at the end. 100 year old house with a ton of work to do. Go figure.

[Jim Katen]

. . . I get the call a couple hours ago......I guess I'm looking at the property tomorrow.

Sometimes it's soooooooo sweet...........

I'm guessing you're going to take your time on this one.

[Richard Moore]

Excellent! Chalk one up for the good guys.

[Terence McCann]

[:-thumbu]

[Erby]

You gotta love it.

[Chad Fabry]

Every once in a while, a plan comes together... Like Jim said, bring a lunch, make it conspicuous.

[Phillip]

Don't you just love it.[:-love]

That put a big smile on my face.

Way to go Kurt

[AmeriSpecguy]

I just got a warm and fuzzy feeling on the inside [:-paperba

[emalernee]

Great! Hope it spreads.

[Ben H]

While I echo the others that this great, I can't get over how any Realtor, or broker, or anyone can forbid an inspector. How exactly does a Realtor do a war dance about an inspector and not bring a red flag to anyone who watches it.

Just doesn't make any sense to me...

[gtblum]

While I echo the others that this great, I can't get over how any Realtor, or broker, or anyone can forbid an inspector.

Real simple.

Once they've been lead through most of the flaming hoops, the buyers develop a trust in the person walking them through the process.

Those who are no more than used lumber peddlers, know that and use it to insure their next Beamer payment.

[Ben H]

That brings up another point, the saying my father used to say: "Never make sales call in a Mercedes."

[hausdok]

I like the idea of the legal department for those real estate firms getting involved.

I've recently gotten pretty blunt with clients. Well, I've always been pretty blunt but now I think I've taken it to a whole new level - mostly because I'm tired of 'zoids trying to use me as a punching bag.

I don't know whether it's due to age or something else, but I seem to have slowed down my process quite a bit over what it used to be. As far as I can tell, I'm still doing things exactly the same way I did them in 1996 but it takes lots longer.

Knowing that folks are probably going to catch some flak from lots of 'zoids when they hire me, 'cuz the 'zoids complain they don't have time to waste waiting for me to get done, I now warn clients up-front that I only have two speeds - slow and careful - and that they can expect to be onsite for at least 4-1/2 hours; maybe even longer if that's what it takes (And it often does).

I tell them to let their agent know immediately to expect to be there that long and I warn them that most agents aren't going to like the fact that I'm wasting their precious time when I'm doing the inspection for the client. I warn them that once on site and I begin that it's my inspection and that if their agent tries to hurry me along, or wastes my time trying to get me to see issues in the same frame of reference as the agent sees those issues, I'm liable to tell the agent to shut up and go sit down and read a book.

I warn them that if that happens they're liable to feel very uncomfortable and I ask them if they're OK with that. Out of hundreds, maybe one or two said that they were not; whereupon, I suggested maybe they'd be more comfortable hiring someone else and I'd given them the names and numbers of some other inspectors I trust - Randy and Richard included.

Crusty and curmudgeonly seems to be working for me; I've only got one slot left between now and the 8th of May - and I'm fielding twice the number of calls a week that I was fielding at the height of the bubble. I think that most consumers - around here anyway - have figured out that they are in charge of the buying process and they aren't allowing themselves to be manipulated so much by the 'zoids anymore.

I recently contacted the MLS legal department here to find out what their stand is on those realtors who are still recommending unlicensed inspectors to their clients. The legal beagle over there says that as far as he's concerned a buyer forfeits his or her right to an inspection by using an unlicensed inspector, and that if a buyer runs up against the contingency deadline without having hired a licensed inspector that the buyer has bought the house. Now, that hasn't been tested in court yet, but I never would have known it if I hadn't made an end run around the garbage being put out by some agents and unlicensed inspectors to get to the truth.

I've heard stories from some local inspectors about how they have been essentially blackballed by some offices or agents in this region for doing a thorough job. I think I'm going to plan, as Editor of TIJ, to be contacting the legal departments of every major real estate firm in the region to have a conversation about whether these firms endorse this practice; and, if so, why.

It couldn't hurt. Could it?

ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!!

Mike

[Brandon Whitmore]

While I echo the others that this great, I can't get over how any Realtor, or broker, or anyone can forbid an inspector. How exactly does a Realtor do a war dance about an inspector and not bring a red flag to anyone who watches it.

I did an inspection for an acquaintance a while back, and he chose not to purchase said home due to the number of issues I found. A while later I found out that he had purchased a home and hired somebody else, so I asked him why. He told me that his agent said that I was too picky, and that he would never get a loan through if he used me..........

[hausdok]

While I echo the others that this great, I can't get over how any Realtor, or broker, or anyone can forbid an inspector. How exactly does a Realtor do a war dance about an inspector and not bring a red flag to anyone who watches it.

I did an inspection for an acquaintance a while back, and he chose not to purchase said home due to the number of issues I found. A while later I found out that he had purchased a home and hired somebody else, so I asked him why. He told me that his agent said that I was too picky, and that he would never get a loan through if he used me..........

That's what I'm talking about. You have to know that if the 'zoid has the stones to do that he's going around blabbing to all of the other 'zoids about how you're a deal killer and he's trying, in essence, to kill your business.

You know who he is and you know who his agent is. You have what you need to go and talk to a half dozen lenders to see whether that's true or a blatant lie. If it turns out to be a lie, you've got that agent by the short hairs because he's used lies to hurt your business.

Follow it up. If bankers tell you it's a lie, call the agent and tell him he owes you an apology or you'll be talking to an attorney, the media and the owner of the brokership. Give him a choice, he can apologize and promise to keep his yap shut or by the time you get done with him your business will be booming and he'll have a hard time getting clients.

Don't let them use you for a doormat.

ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!!

Mike