3.6 The promises, the predictions, the panic and the fight for the dwindling appraiser dollars

[Sandra Koutsopoulos]

For the amount of time going to/from the property, completing inspection and sending in the report, I'm guessing it would take less time than doing an appraisal from start to finish, including drive-time, research, photos, typing, (analyzing & thinking), potentially dealing with ROVs or 'missing info'. From what I've read, one could do 1 or 2 of these inspections per day... at? $300? $400?? I suspect they would send an ORDER, not fish for low-ball QUOTES. But I may be completely mistaken. Might be worth looking into though.

 

[Carnivore]

whether a house is vacant has nothing to do with whether the inspector gets paid. unless your a contractor inspector So the answer is be employed W2 not a 1099 contractor


The real challenge for 3.6 what is the Customary and Reasonable fees I wonder if Fast Eddie will survive

I have not said much that you did not already know

 

[Terrel L. Shields]

NO house is perfect, not even new construction,

 

[Non Sequitur]

Builders and REVAA, cross them and they will go after you. Cy and Dr. Chance should have lunch and exchange war stories.

 

[Alsie35]

whether a house is vacant has nothing to do with whether the inspector gets paid. unless your a contractor inspector So the answer is be employed W2 not a 1099 contractor


The real challenge for 3.6 what is the Customary and Reasonable fees I wonder if Fast Eddie will survive

I have not said much that you did not already know

Cute way to put it, but - it's a point that bears some elaboration.

Yup, the easy-peasy full 'cookie-cutter' appraisal refis and purchases will be going away completely once the "Abomination Hits".

Complex properties may command a fee premium, but they are less fun and that fee premium is highly unlikely to ever make up for the lost work.

So, yeah, "Fast Eddies" will either have to change their business model and become "Abomination Monkeys working for Peanuts" while not having much fun - or simply leave the business. It's tough, but it's life. (Though, in a sane world, changes would have come more slowly over time and been sensibly designed, rather than blatantly intended to "Crater" the number of appraisers overnight as "The Abomination" was designed to do).

But, some "Fast Eddies" managed to - through planning, or happenstance, or maybe a little bit of both - "time it right" and will walk away on their own terms rather than have to deal with the "World of The Abomination" - or with the thoroughly unpalatable prospect of changing careers at an advanced age.

So - for them, their business model worked out.

Ask me how I know.

 

[Carnivore]

Cute way to put it, but - it's a point that bears some elaboration.



Ask me how I know.

OK I will bite tell me how you know

side note Iran is going to use ballistic missles against israel in a different way the warheads will be like a dirty bomb loaded with nuclear
material Imagine how hard that will be to clean up. there will not be a mushroom cloud like areal nuke
Their missles can now reach western europe

 

[Alsie35]

OK I will bite tell me how you know

side note Iran is going to use ballistic missles against israel in a different way the warheads will be like a dirty bomb loaded with nuclear
material Imagine how hard that will be to clean up. there will not be a mushroom cloud like areal nuke
Their missles can now reach western europe

Now you cheated ... that response called for TWO emojis, but I could only leave ONE. So here's the "missing emoji" for the first part of your post ...

 

[Alsie35]

OK I will bite tell me how you know

side note Iran is going to use ballistic missles against israel in a different way the warheads will be like a dirty bomb loaded with nuclear
material Imagine how hard that will be to clean up. there will not be a mushroom cloud like areal nuke
Their missles can now reach western europe

I'll take "Tell me you want us to invade your country without telling me" for $1000, Alex

 

[Sadie]

Re: actual real home inspectors. Lady down the street was trying to sell her house. After getting an accepted offer, the Buyer hired the most detailed, correct, exacting, competent home inspector which produced a MULTI-page killer report... which killed the deal of course. In reading the report, I was impressed by his knowledge, and detailed photos. What was left out of course was the fact that NO house is perfect, not even new construction, and all the flaws revealed failed to give the Buyer a competent idea of what the cost to correct those flaws would be, so the Buyer cancelled the contract. If I were buying a house, I would appreciate all the detail so I could take care of necessary things, but it just scared this Buyer away. So, a better way, IMO, would be to do a good inspection and then point the Buyer in the direction of what the typical cost/time range of the fixes would run, and where they could go to get solid quotes to have things repaired correctly. Often, Buyers are skittish anyhow, and see something as minor as a missing electrical outlet cover as a "sign" that they shouldn't buy the house.

I did actually get a good look in that house, and found numerous problems from electric, to plumbing, to improperly homeowner-installed vinyl plank flooring, to slobbery paint at the 14' ceiling level, missing hardware etc. Yup, it needed some work, was priced too high, and ended up being rented to folks who clearly were not perfectionists.

A competent realtor would should have been able to interpret that report and have a list of pros to provide bids.

 

[Sandra Koutsopoulos]

A competent realtor would should have been able to interpret that report and have a list of pros to provide bids.

AHhhh...! There's the rub. I've been a Realtor for 50 years, used to run my own brokerage in Wisconsin for 20+ years before relocating to CA. I'd follow around the best home inspector I knew as he checked furnace, basements, electric etc. I was probably a PITA, but I learned a LOT! In CA, as in many places I'm sure, the agents do not accompany the Home Inspector for an hour or two as they do their inspections, and so those agents miss out on a bunch of knowledge that would help them help their clients. The Home Inspector I used wouldn't give a cost to repair, but he would tell me generally what the issue was so I could follow up with the best problem-solver. It was very helpful and educational. Unless agents have been in the biz for a long time, I'll bet they haven't invested time in gaining that kind of knowledge. Their client is their pocketbook in most cases, despite what their license says.

As I am basically starting from scratch over here in switching back to sales, I am once again sifting through service providers to add to my "stable" of problem-solvers. I doubt 90% of agents do that on their own here; often they rely on referrals from within their sales office. Unfortunately, my broker's focus is primarily on commercial, so he has little to offer on the res side. On the good side, he pays me a good split and is not a control freak, and doesn't require office meetings, tours etc. On the bad side, I'm basically on my own, like when I had my own brokerage years ago, but without the management responsibilities.