Avoiding Litigation: Meeting Buyers & Sellers

By Keith Swift, PhD
InterNACHI member/InterNACHI Report Writing Consultant
President, Porter Valley Software

It is important to become acquainted with your clients, because it could actually help you to avoid disputes, and even litigation. It’s easy for people to get upset with their plumber, their mechanic, or their inspector, but they are less likely to get upset with a Tom, Dick, or Harry. Jonathan Swift said it best three hundred years ago when he confided to a friend: “I hate and detest than animal man; although I heartily love John, Peter, Thomas, and so forth.” Experience has probably taught you this already, but it’s worth remembering. Introduce yourself to your clients, explain to them what your inspection entails and how long it is likely to take, and be sure to ask them if there is anything that they are particularly concerned about, such as environmental issues. What you might learn is that they have fallen hopelessly in love with their dream home, and really don’t want to hear anything negative about it. Like star-crossed lovers, they will be inclined to see a wart on the nose of their beloved as a beauty mark and the absence of teeth as a shy smile; that is until the honeymoon is over. Unfortunately however, you are there to report on the condition of the property and not to pander to their emotions, or to make realtors happy. After speaking to your clients for a minute or two, you may conclude that they have reasonable expectations or completely unreasonable ones. Regardless, be attentive to their concerns, but impress upon them the importance of reading the entire report, and assure them that you will remain their consultant indefinitely. Remember, communication is important. It comes from a word that means: “to share.” And many veteran inspectors have confirmed that a first impression of a client had significantly influenced their report. In other words, they documented things that their clients were concerned about much more carefully than they might otherwise have done.

Similarly, a client’s first impression of you will either inspire confidence or evoke distrust. So have confidence in your training and experience, and make sure that their first impression of you is a good one. However, it is essential to establish your authority, but not in a brash or an aggressive way. Be respectful, but firm and confident, and never allow anyone to tell you how to do your job. Many inspectors have politely declined to complete an inspection, and generally with good reason. A client once handed me back the contract without signing it and said: “I can see what you don’t do, which is almost everything! So what the bleep do you do?” I walked away without replying, and wouldn’t have gone back for any amount of money.

Sellers can be equally irrational and hostile. I once revealed a plumbing leak, which now seems quite comical. I was filling a tub in a second story bathroom for several minutes, so that the drain would be under pressure, and had diverted the water from the tub to the shower, which was still running, when I heard a muffled shout from the ground floor. Moments later, the realtor came stumbling upstairs to tell me that water was dripping onto the seller who was dozing in a recliner. Moments later, he too appeared before me, breathless and indignant, and a little wet! “What the hell are ya doing?” he blustered. When I explained that I was testing the tub/shower, he became even more indignant. “That shower hasn’t been used for twenty years,” he snorted, “and if anyone wants to shower they’ll use the stall shower downstairs!” His response was irrational, but I explained that it was my duty to test such fixtures whether they will be used or not. He was not consoled and followed me around, glaring at me in sullen silence. I still smile when I think of him getting a shower in his recliner as he took a nap. However, it did teach me quite early on in my inspection career that people can be totally irrational, but enough of that. You’ll probably hear hundreds of stories like this, if you haven’t already. But it is not just irrational and hostile people that you need worry about. A significant number of the complaints involving inspectors begin when dishonest contractors attempt to defraud consumers by first alarming them. These contractors typically warn of chimneys that are about to burn a house down, or furnaces ready to kill silently with carbon monoxide. In many such cases, consumers have simply panicked, called inspectors, and berated them for not reporting such horrors. However, out of all of the stories that I have ever heard over the years involving contractors warning of disasters, hardly any of them had any merit. And, for this reason, I actually caution my clients in writing about people who use inflammatory language and who have a vested interest in alarming them, and urge them to always seek a second opinion. And, naturally, I’m ready to recommend reputable specialists. But, alas, there will always be people who prefer to believe the worst and others who prefer to have their attorney file lawsuits.

Anyway, to continue, you should also take the time to introduce yourself to the sellers and to the real estate agents, and to present them with business cards. Be respectful and courteous, and remind yourself that your inspection is an invasion of the sellers’ private space. You may even wish to explain to them exactly what your inspection entails, and to assure them that you will careful and respectful of their property, and that you will leave it in exactly the same condition as you found it. Remember, the sellers could become your allies, or your clients, and if they respect you they might share information with you, such as the age of the roof or the details of its maintenance history. Also, don’t forget to ask them if they have any animals that you need to be concerned about. I once spent the better part of an afternoon trying to capture a very skittish Poodle that I had allowed to escape from a yard. And, some years later, I spent a few terrifying seconds being pursued by a Rottweiler before I scrambled to safety over a cinderblock wall.

Inspections are really all about communicating with people, except when attorneys become involved, and then it can be about exorbitant fees, and verbose and convoluted language that the average person couldn’t possibly hope to understand. And yet this is what passes as communication in our legal system, and there’s really nothing that you will be able to do about it. So place your faith in your own ability to provide a competent service, and trust that others will grant you with the same respect and dignity that you have granted them. Oh, and save a little money for a rainy day.