Buyer’s Choice Realty blog

I recently heard about an unfortunate situation on Boston’s north shore, in Manchester. You can find more about it at the site of WCVB tv. Here’s what happened: some unfortunate homeowners purchased a house that was most likely built on an old landfill. They tried to sell their house and potential buyers balked at the last minute. After learning why, the owners had their soil tested. Chemicals galore were lurking in their back yard. Lead, arsenic, mercury. Not exactly healthy. The worst part? Mom was weeks away from giving birth.

Who’s responsible? Surely the builders knew what type of land they were building on, right? Maybe they had no idea - could have just been fulfilling a contract. Surely the town knew the history of the land that was to be built upon, right? It turns out they did, and sent lent a letter to the builder ordering them to stop construction. No one followed up, the house was built, and the rest is history.

The family moved out right after learning about what was present in their yard, and hopefully they will raise a healthy baby. What about the person that sold them the house? If they had done their due diligence about the property, they would have found out this information.

Maybe, maybe not, but if the buyers had used an exclusive buyer’s agent, they would have avoided this unfortunate situation. I can’t express enough how important it is to have someone working on your behalf, not someone just trying to sell you a house. Most consumers are still not aware that they could hire someone, for essentially no money, that would work in their best interest. Something to think about if you plan on ever buying a house.

Inman News recently featured an article entitled, “Ethical Home Inspector Loses Referrals”. It focused on real estate agents who are more interested in their commission than recommending a thorough, experienced home inspector who may uncover defects that could give reason for renegotiating or at times withdrawing from the transaction. A home inspector named John says, “I’ve inspected homes in the Midwest for more than 15 years and have performed more than 7,000 inspections. My reputation for thoroughness is widely known among local real estate agents, but this has not been good for my business. Instead of referring me to their clients, most agents have labeled me as a “deal killer.” The inspectors they prefer are not nearly as experienced or qualified and tend to miss many of the defects that I routinely include in my reports.“While it may be somewhat understandable that a seller’s agent would not want to recommend an inspector who may “kill the deal”, it is imperative that a Buyer’s Agent is recommending a thorough home inspector.  In Massachusetts it is illegal for a seller’s agent to recommend a home inspector to a buyer because of the evident conflict.  Only a buyer’s agent may recommend.  That clearly makes sense from a fiduciary perspective. 
 Our company has been recommending specific inspectors with a proven track record for years.  But today, most of the agents in our state are designated buyer’s agents.  Many are told they may not recommend a specific inspector.  If they are going to recommend at all, they need to provide a list of inspectors for the sake of risk management.  Consumers should know that a good buyer’s agent will not hesitate to refer specific inspectors who will do the best job.
Barry Stone, known as the House Detective, is the author of the article.  Barry says, “The highest expression of true representation is to provide total, complete and unabridged disclosure. When a buyer asks an agent to recommend a home inspector, the actual question, regardless of how it is stated, is “Who is the best home inspector available?” Agents who recommend someone they do not regard as the best are not representing the client’s interests and are thereby guilty of misrepresentation.  I say Amen to that.

Barry also maintains that even seller’s agents should think carefully about making a poor home inspection referral.  He points out that every defect that is overlooked by a marginal inspector is a potential lawsuit at some time in the future, and such suits are commonly filed against agents who compromise the interests of their clients. 
In a perfect world agents would recommend good inspectors.  But given the world we live in, a buyer is smart to pursue this question with diligence.  Typically, an Exclusive Buyer’s Agent is willing to go out on a limb to recommend an exceptional home inspector.

Over the holidays my wife and I were invited to our daughter and son-in-laws home for dinner.  He is also my dentist and he has a brother-in-law in California who I thought was also a dentist but discovered he is an ondontist.  A discussion emerged about root canals. 

I was aware that my son-in-law can perform root canals and was interested to know if there was any difference.  He explained that his brother-in-law was a specialist in root canals and that was the only dentistry he practiced.   

I asked if that meant his brother-in-law was better at root canals than he.  He smiled and indicated yes, an ondontist is better at root canals because that is all they do.  Then he assured me that if I needed a root canal I need not go to California to get one.  He was confident that he could handle it.  I laughed and asked, “but an ondontist could do a better job, right?”

I was not aware there was such a speciality that excluded other dental procedures.  He laughed and said it’s kind of like what you do in real estate.  Any real estate person can help people buy or sell real estate.  But your practice is a speciality.  You only help people buy real estate and if I understand it properly, you don’t sell properties because you to focus only on the buying side.

I laughed and asked, so if you were in real estate and I was a specialist in home buying would you agree that my speciality compared to your generalist approach is better?  He was adamant about the fact that any specialist brings more to the table than a generalist.

I left their home affirmed in my exclusive buyer broker approach in real estate.  I was affirmed as a specialist.  That, along with the wine and great food made that holiday dinner memorable.

If you want a root canal find an ondontist.  If you want to buy a home, find an EBA.

Are you aware that the EBA difference is to your advantage?
 

If the real estate company your are considering represents both sellers and buyers, ask yourself these questions:

1. Do they benefit more from you paying a lower or higher purchase price?
   
2.  Why would they choose to protect you over the seller?
   
3. How many of their own firm’s listings will they nudge you toward?
   
4. Would they prefer you buy their listing or some other firm’s?
   
5. How many problems and issues will they want to uncover for you?
   
6. Will they recommend a thorough home inspector and inspections?
   
7. Will they negotiate repairs and price cuts after the home inspection?
   
8. Will they help you walk away from a lemon, or try to convince you to buy?
   
9. How eager will they be to help you walk away from their own firm’s listing?
   
10. How will they insure confidentiality to you and the seller? 
    
11. How does their company explain this conflicted relationship?
    
12. Will they hold back money for you to cover your walk-through issues?