You're Kidding, Right?

That’s what I should have said to the agent when he (in not so many words) was asking me to lower my reporting standard.  Yep.  You read that right.  Not only that, he threatened to sever our ties if the current deal at the time fell through.  The deal went through; but I still got the ax; for doing a good job.  Talk about adding insult to injury…more on that later.

I had been doing inspections for this agent’s clients on and off for about two years.  We had a pretty good relationship and he was sending more & more business my way.  So much so that last year I was doing just about all of his transactions.  And about 75% of it was new construction toward the end.  Apparently he teamed up with an agent out of California (that specialized in investment property) who was funneling him buyers who were interested in the new home market in the Austin area.  I was doing 3-5 inspections a month for him; both new & resale.  In fact; I was doing such a good job for him, he had me inspect the brand new home that he had just bought.

Unfortunately, it all came to a screeching halt.  I got a call in mid-November from him saying they (he & his partner) were having a problem getting a certain transaction to go through.  Their buyer was unwilling to compromise on valid points from the inspection.  The conversation started with statements like:  ‘You’re a really good inspector’…’I even had you inspect my house’…’BUT’ (you knew that was coming, right?).  What followed was his (and his partner’s) expressed dissatisfaction with my redundant reporting of items that builders will not typically address; and in this case the main point of contention was the AC condensate drain line configurations (more about those in an upcoming blog).  ‘You know Joe, as we’ve talked about this before; the builders just aren’t addressing these items.’  I told him as I had done prior, ‘I know.  But if the builder isn’t going to address them, the buyer at least knows about these potential issues & can address them.  I’m not going to lower my reporting standard.’  To which he replied, ‘I’m not asking you to lower your standard’; all the while I’m thinking…yeah, you pretty much are.

I’m not going to lie.  It got a little nasty.  Emails went to and fro between the buyer, the agents, the builder & me.  Turns out, the builder (the country’s largest – who will remain nameless here) wasn’t adhering to the manufacturer’s install diagram (which I pointed out in my report beforehand) that they even supplied to me and the others regarding the AC equipment.  A representative from the builder had the audacity to contact me & tell me that I didn’t know what I was talking about & that he was going to file a complaint against my license.  ‘TREC licensed inspectors have a general knowledge & sub-contractors take precedence.’  He continued…’that he should know this since he had a TREC license’.  All the while I’m thinking I guess that’s why I’m out here protecting the buyer & you’re over there doing whatever it is that you do.

We still had an unscheduled order in the que for that agent team for December.  I got an email after Thanksgiving.  ‘Hi Joe, Hope you had a great Thanksgiving.  Please cancel this inspection.’  Huh. And that was the last I heard from him.

Unfortunately, many times in my experience, the builder is not your friend.  And in some cases, neither is your agent.  I’m your last line of defense.  And no, I’m not kidding.