chosing home inspectors

[Ummm]

would you use an inspector your realtor recommended (if you're buying)? let's say there's the realtor doesn't have any $ gain for recommending him.

[EJH]

NO.

We did this. We have problems to this day, we so regret listening to her.

We paid extra for the "Sr" guy and have many times talked about trying to go after the company. Sadly, we know we'd barely recoup any money, it'd cost too much in legal fees.

[EJM]

We used the one our realtor recommended and he was terrific! He actually gave DH some really helpful hints that were non-inspection related, you know the "if I lived here I would do x" type things. We plan to use the same company when we move again this year.

[BeakersTrio]

I wouldn't, but that is just because I'm stubborn and I always think realtors, salesmen, etc. are out to get me. We ended up finding our inspector via the internet and we were pleased with our choice.

[SweetRed]

We used one our relator recommended, and it worked out great. He had a list a mile long of things wrong with our crappy starter home, and in the two years we were there, we never once found a single additional thing wrong. He was so good, we hired him again when we bought our current home. After a little more than a year, no surprises here either.

Then again, we liked our original relator so much that we went back to her to sell the house we bought through her originally. I guess it depends on how much you trust your realtor.

[lawyerlee]

Absolutely. We did this, and it was 100% the right decision. Our realtor was amazing and all of her recommendations were top notch. I also appreciated that she recommended people at a couple of different price points, but gave us her honest opinion about whether she thought the more expensive guy was worth it. She said he was, and she was completely right.

I guess it ultimately comes down to the integrity of your realtor, though. My feeling about this type of situation is that the realtor has every incentive to help you find the best service providers because it reflects poorly on her or him if a client has a bad experience. Just like in other industries like wedding planning, which is something so many of us are familiar with. So I guess I can't relate to the feeling that a service provider would be out to get me. :)

[IrishEyes]

My realtor wouldn't recommend one! But she's very picky about being ethical (which she told us several times) and feels that recommending specific inspectors would appear unprofessional.

She gave us a pile of brochures and said we needed to find one. She did mention one or two in the pack that her clients had used before. We chose a local guy, who was certified by one of the two big home inspection associations, and made sure he was knowledgeable about homes in our area and asked about his experience. He had performed over 1000 inspections, and was very professional and helpful.

[Ummm]

thank you all! i guess i should email the guy he recommends and see if we feel comfortable with him.

[boilermaker]

We've used inspectors recommended by Realtors and inspectors recommended by friends. Both have been just fine. You could always ask the inspector for additional references and contact them if you're looking for additional reassurance.

[LittleFredPunkinHead]

For both of our houses, we used inspectors recommended by our realtors. The first one, okay but not great. The second one was absolutely fantastic. We'll definitely use him again if we buy another house, and recommend him to others.

[Ummm]

thanks! just that i thought i read somewhere not to use inspectors recommended by your realtors (can't remember where i read that from) but we like our realtor and trust that he'd give a good recommendation. i emailed him and he seems nice. i also wrote to a another inspector and he seems nice also but has limited availability at the moment so i guess it'd depend on who is available.

thanks again!

[Rose]

FYI - A Realtor doesn't gain any money from recommending a professional.


I wouldn't, but that is just because I'm stubborn and I always think realtors, salesmen, etc. are out to get me.

I get that lots of people like to find their own people, but why would you use a Realtor if you felt they were out to get you? Wouldn't you be using one you trust?

[Kimberland30]

We didn't have a realtor, but we used the one recommended by the firm who did our appraisal. The inspection wasn't required for the mortgage, but we had it done anyway, even though I grew up in the house we were purchasing. There were a few things that were brought up that I never would have known, and it was totally worth it.

[fuzzy]

With both houses, we used the inspector our realtor recommened. The first one is a guy who frequently does inspections for one of the shows on HGTV (we didn't know it at the time, just saw him on TV a few months after closing). He was fantastic. With our second house, the realtor-recommended inspector was just a thorough and we were 100% happy.

[Tanya]

FYI - A Realtor doesn't gain any money from recommending a professional.



I get that lots of people like to find their own people, but why would you use a Realtor if you felt they were out to get you? Wouldn't you be using one you trust?

I don't think anyone thinks they get an actual handout from the inspector, but if a shady realtor recommends a shady inspector, they get the house sold without issue (as the inspector would overlook things that might hold up a sale) and make their commission. That's what I think PPs were alluding to. I personally would have no issue if I trusted my realtor, but there is a reason some won't do recommendations as a pp pointed out. It is ethically questionable.