Good Morning All! Hope everyone made it through the wrath of Fay with flying colors. We have a pool full of leaves and we're exhausted from having a power outage and trying ( key word here) to sleep but no one is hurt and the roof is intact, so all is well.
It is my birthday today. I find that birthday's are really only a big deal to you if it is yours and your Mama. Luckily I have a healthy, very much alive Mama and we are going out to dinner tonight to celebrate. It isn't a big one with a "0" on the end of it, but after having such a great year in this market I have lots to be thankful for and I just think celebrating is called for. Usually I just stick a candle in a muffin and call it a day. Anywho, that's that.
NOW, I will get to the point of this post. I was talking with some other Realtors one day last week and the subject of Inspectors came up. Immediately there were gutteral moans that I have only heard animals make whe they are in some kind ofgastrointestinal pain. I blurted out, " What up kids?", "why the moaning?". Oh, the answers all varied in color and flair but the result was the same. They all felt that various inspectors had blown sales for them in the past and recently. They all asked me why I wasn't joining in on the lamenting. I boldly spoke up and let them know why.
NO SALE HAS EVER BEEN BLOWN FOR ME BY AN INSPECTOR. No, you don't need to get a new reading glasses script, you read that right. I am serious. Yes, inspectors have found items that would cause a major concern to a buyer and for a seller, but the inspector did not blow the sale. If the transaction did not close, it would be because I had not done my job as a Realtor. It is the Realtor's job to find a solution to the problem, no matter how scary, in order to hold the deal together. The inspector is SUPPOSED TO FIND DEFECTS AND CAN BE HELD LIABLE IF THEY GLOSS OVER THEM.
How can you always find a solution? Plan ahead kids, that is the only way. If you are helping someone market an older home ( even if it has been well maintained) budget at least $2000.00 for repairs that might be needed after an inspection. If you want to take the guess work out of it all together, get the place pre-inspected so you will have no surprises. I have never had a seller be upset that we had this done prior to marketing a home. Yes the buyer is going to want an inspection too. That is there right and obligation. If they have a Realtor who explains to them that the inspector doesn't have a dog in the fight and is bound by ethics to state any defects they find of a health and safety nature or that would compromise the integrity of the structure they are usually good with just having that same inspector come back and perform a re-check. That saves them some money too, which is an incentive to some buyers in this current market. If you are helping someone purchase an older home, warn them about what the findings might be but also let them know that they will probably be easily remedied and the seller is likely already budgeting for those repairs.
If you are helping someone purchase a home with a builder warranty go through and do a puch list and have the builder complete those items before closing. I often suggest putting off the inspection on these homes until the 10th or 11th month of the warranty and having the builder remedy those items before it (warranty) expires. The builder will have to agree to this in writing before you close the sale, but I haven't had one yet argue with this method.
In summary, it is our charge as real estate professionals to keep everyone calm, cool and collected and to hold the transaction together. It is our job to ANTICIPATE PROBLEMS and come up with creative, mutually beneficial ways to over come them for our clients. It is easy to blame inspectors when a deal falls apart, but in reality it is our failing that will lose that home for a buyer and a sale for our home owner. So, put your thinking caps on kids and keep it together!
** If in the Montgomery Al real estate market as either a buyer or a seller and in need of professional real estate service call CJ Hodges 334-233-5848 or email cj.hodges@gmail.com. Visit wwww.beringerrealty.net and CjHodges.com. ****
