Walked away mid-inspection/vent

[Kulzer and Co]

Don't tell me to dial it back because I didn't dial it up. I meant nothing by my comment, especially not to you.

If it had been me I would have offered to take a look at the room the baby was in and told them I didn't need to see it again. I might even have made an exception to my standard procedure if they had been courteous about it.

Sorry. I just get a little edgy at the pervasive notion on this forum that even the slightest deviation in thought is simply an attempt to cut corners.

With regard to the OP, I was just thinking how my grandfather taught me to start in the basement and work my way up, "they way they built it". But many times I've gotten to a house and there has been a dog in the basement and I was asked to start upstairs and then do the basement once they put the dog outside. You have to make adjustments in the field. Sometimes people are nice sometimes they are rude. It is not our job to be the morality police. It is our job to collect the facts....hopefully in a professional manner.

 

[CANative]

I was never an "urban appraiser" so out of four or five thousand residential inspections almost none were particularly similar. If I didn't have a routine (that my dad and brother taught me from day one) I'd miss things unless I spent an unprofitable amount of time doing a property inspection.

If someone had a really good reason to vary from my routine I'd probably accommodate them. Most of the time their reasons were not good enough. Grandparents and babies might be good enough but that would go out the window if they spoke to me like I was the gardener.

 

[Bearslide]

When interviewing the owners as you were setting up the appointment, did you fully explain exactly what the inspection involved and your standard routine and - WHY it is necessary to follow that routine?

Assuming I wanted to complete the assignment and get paid - I would have taken her suggestion above, explained why, and done what my Client engaged me to do. The client most probably was told she gave you authorization to continued and refused then left "for no good reason".

Please do let us know your Client's reaction to your "on-site solution". Thanks.

Mr Kennedy is spot on - you can bet the OP's version is not the version that reached the lenders ears. It is just good policy to outline everything you will be doing when the appointment is made - and then, if things change, bend for the homeowner. They may not be YOUR client, but they ARE the banks client.

We never know what is going on in a borrowers life or what stress they may be under. As it has now come out it was the grandparents, there could have been a whole nother can of worms there. Not inconceivable that the grandparents are walking on eggshells to please a daughter-in-law, etc. Doesn't matter - the request was not unreasonable.

When appraisers have become so jaded by AMC mistreatment that they refuse a reasonable request from a homeowner and refuse to alter their hallowed routine because they won't be told by anyone what to do, we've sunken pretty low. It wasn't your comment that prompted that observation--it was the outlined situation and the number of appraisers that have agreed with it.

See? Pete and I don't always disagree..........another spot on post.

Could not agree more, but then again, those appraisers who have this mentality, it might be the reason they are stuck working with AMCs. One of the biggest concerns the good solid clients out there have, is not whether you hit a magic number or not (that is a major reason why they are good), but rather how you interact with their borrowers. Any hint of unprofessionalism and the appraiser is gone, period. We all have our routines, but the request from the HO in this discussion was well within reason, I'm sorry but if not looking at the outside first will cause you to produce a less credible report there is something wrong. What happens when your routine takes you to a bathroom that is occupied? How dare they go to the bathroom at our appointed time? Do you bang on the door until they come out or hop in your car and drive home? Personally I would go look at other areas of the home and then come back to the bathroom after the air clears.

And yet another spot on post. A little courtesy and professionalism never killed anyone. I don't like my routine messed up any more than anyone else does - but I am always aware that I don't walk in the borrowers shoes and I will do what I can to accomodate them.

Granted - we don't know all the details and the actual tone, but I would not have walked off that inspection, either. If I had serious concerns, I would have completed the inspection and then immediately contacted the lender, outlined the scenario and found out how they wanted me to proceed.

The term "little tin god" comes to mind - I don't like it in others and I try hard not to be guilty of it myself.

 

[Kulzer and Co]

If someone had a really good reason to vary from my routine I'd probably accommodate them. Most of the time their reasons were not good enough. Grandparents and babies might be good enough but that would go out the window if they spoke to me like I was the gardener.

See, that's exactly the kind of attitude I was talking about when I suggested that some of us need to dial it back. Sometimes it is necessary to rise above and be professional. Anything less would be unprofessional.

 

[Oceanic1]

mrb, I just don't understand how the request could have some how increased liability or made you less accurate. But to each his own I suppose.

I deal with the original posters dilemma at least once a month. Borrower greets you and the door and just wants to be on their way so they ask you to do the inside first so they can just lock up and go. I've always said no because I want to know where I'm putting these rooms with respect to their location inside the house. I have caved a couple of times in 10 years, and one of those times I missed a 1/2 bathroom off of the family room. I had to revisit the property get a picture of this 1/2 bath. (20 minute drive) It would have been easy enough to pick up had I done the exterior first. If the house was a big rectangle, maybe, but that's rarely the case.
And I don't like being rushed through my inspections. I do it my way, not theirs. They want a loan, they didn't want an appraisal, but they have to have one in many cases. So I wouldn't really consider myself a guest. To the borrower, I'm just a necessary distraction for them to get what they want. However it's never gotten to the point where the borrower copped an attitude with me over which I do first.

 

[CANative]

Bull. I'm always professional and respectful and aware that I am representing my client. But I have to control the situation.

 

[TJSum]

Today half way through the exterior inspection, the wife comes out and asks that I come inside and do the interior first. I explained that I need to finish taking measurements due to the number of jogs and cantilevers and that I would be another 10 minutes. She said "but cant you just do it after". I explained again that I could not.

It seems to me the HO was polite in their request up until this point, the disrespect did not start flying until after the HO felt disrespected by the appraiser ignoring their polite request.


Then she says "but you're taking too long and we want to put the baby to sleep". The husband comes out and says "didn't the bank already give you a floor plan? don't you already have it". After being barraged by the wife and approached by the husband, followed by a short pause so I didn't misspeak, I answer him "no". He then actually mocks me in a condescending voice and asked if I "have a problem"! I couldn't believe it. At that point, I could only cancel the inspection and tell them they would receive a call from another appraiser. She even asked that I just continue. Unreal.

See my red above, I see no disrespect coming from the HO until AFTER they felt disrepsected with their polite reasonable request. Most people will have a short rope when they feel disrespected on what goes on within their own home.

 

[Kulzer and Co]

I have caved a couple of times in 10 years, and one of those times I missed a 1/2 bathroom off of the family room. I had to revisit the property get a picture of this 1/2 bath.

It sounds like you failed to open a door. Measuring first won't cure you of that.

 

[Mr Rex]

I have caved a couple of times in 10 years, and one of those times I missed a 1/2 bathroom off of the family room. I had to revisit the property get a picture of this 1/2 bath. (20 minute drive) It would have been easy enough to pick up had I done the exterior first. If the house was a big rectangle, maybe, but that's rarely the case.

Please do explain how doing the exterior first would have revealed a 1/2 bath on the inside? I usually just open all the interior doors and look inside. I note on my sketch where there are exterior doors and open them and look outside. When I get outside and there is an exterior door that I have not opened from the inside, I open it from the outside.

I am having a hard time with all those that say they "find" rooms by measuring the outside first.

 

[Roy Courtney]

OMG, I'm being disrespected. You wouldn't do this to the cable TV guy or the telephone guy would you?