Home Inspections: My Clients Don't Have A Choice

My clients will have a home inspection, no matter the market trends. This is a non-negotiable for my clients unless they sign a hold harmless agreement me, it is new construction or I am provided an inspection report from the listing agent within the last two months and I speak with the inspector personally. I have lost many offers I wrote for clients because of inspections and I had to  work a little harder to find them their perfect home. Fortunately, one thing that doesn’t scare me is putting in the extra work for my clients.  

Have I found every single one of those clients a home they purchased after? Yes.  

Have they thanked me multiple times for standing my ground on having a home inspection? Yes.  

Have they since referred me to their friends and family to use me as their Realtor? 100% they have and continue to do so.  

Let me put that into perspective for you in a way that drives my point home:  

Scenario 1: 

Imagine seeing a few photos of someone on a dating app and wanting to meet them after reading their bio. You are thrilled at what you see and read. You are so excited when you talk on the phone with them for a few minutes. So excited that you propose to them and ask them to meet you at the court house later that day to get married. You also give them around  $50,000 up front to just sign the documents to make it legally binding and tied together for the unforeseeable future. You also don’t sign a prenuptial agreement and they have access to all finances you worked so hard for years to save. When you leave the courthouse, in a legal binding agreement, you discover they are nothing what they told you. In fact, they just copied and pasted the bio from another profile they saw. Their photos had been photoshopped so much you didn’t even recognize them in person. Once the shock wore off, you discovered that you are legally responsible to take care of this person. You suck it up, they break your soul and take everything from you. You are now broke and live with a crazy person who you can’t  get rid of without a lengthy and costly lawsuit. Not to mention no one else wants them.  

You have given up all hope, so you self report to the IRS for embellishing your business expenses back in 2015. You insist they take you into custody just to get a night of peace in county jail for a sound night of sleep. This has all happened because you were “blindly in love” and believed and trusted what some stranger told you online. 

This is a crazy story that you can’t believe would ever happen and I hope you got a good laugh reading it. 

Scenario 2:  

You see a house online. OMG it is beautiful! It says it has water views and is updated throughout; the pics looks amazing!!! You decide to write an offer and waive a home inspection, no WDI because your lender doesn’t require one... you even put an extra $25,000 down above asking price and will close ASAP. When you move in... rat infestation, termites ate away the entire crawlspace and, the water view is the flooding from the upstairs bathroom that came down the balcony. The roof needs to be replaced and the HVAC system went out. You are out all your money and legally binded to this place and have no way out.  

You have given up all hope, so you self report to the IRS for embellishing your business expenses back in 2015. You insist they take you into custody just to get a night of peace in  county jail for a sound night of sleep. This has all happened because you were “blindly in love”  believed and trusted what some stranger told you online.

This, unfortuantely, has happened to THOUSANDS of buyers in Hampton Roads over the years and will continue if you do not have a Real Estate Professional, aka Alexandra Serrano, helping you when buying a new property.