Most real estate agents we deal with are good honest people who want the best for their clients. However, like in all types of work, there is that small percentage that is only interested in themselves and they do not care if others are harmed. The average is not memorable so most average people are forgotten, it is only the bad and the great that gets remembered. According to Choice Home Warranty, 67.5% of Americans don’t trust real estate agents (link below). Below are some signs for you to watch out for to help prevent you from dealing with bad agents.
When you stalk their Facebook page before working with them you see drama all over the place. This is a bad sign regarding anyone. Why work with anyone who is a hot mess and has drama? It is only a matter of time until that drama gets directed to you or affects you. Look for someone with more sanity.
If they suggest that you use a certain home inspector or home inspection company, fine. However when you intelligently research the online reviews (you should always do this) and see that this home inspector seems to suck and has all sorts of bad reviews. This is a sign that the agent is directing you to a home inspector who may be looking out for the agent’s sale and commission instead of protecting the home buyer. At this point in time you likely already are committed to the home you are wanting to buy and to the agent who showed it to you. From this point on doing your online research and find your own home inspector. This occurred recently for a Springfield Ohio home inspection.
The agents get upset when the inspector finds an issue. Well, the inspector is always going to find some things wrong. Even brand new homes have issues. This is why we also do home inspections on new home construction and do 11-month warranty inspections. If your agent gets mad because the home inspector does what you hired him for, to find issues where they exist, then this is a sign that the agent may be used to inspectors not looking closely or it is not the inspection company the agent wanted you to use. Some bad agents actually tell home inspectors not to use the word mold or suspected mold growth in the home inspection reports. These agents obviously do not care for the buyers or for their children’s health and safety. This has occurred for a London Ohio home inspection as feed back from a London Ohio real estate agent telling us not to use the mold.
They tell you not to use a certain home inspector or home inspection company because they are too picky or find too much. This is a total red flag. As a home buyer, you want thorough. The only agents that do not want thorough inspections are the ones that care more for their sale and commission than they care for the buyer is fully informed and able to make a fully informed decision. The question is, are they protecting home buyers or the deal?
They minimize issues found at the home inspection. Like I stated every house has issues, so it should be expected that something will be found. To really know exactly how much a repair will cost a contractor should be contacted to take a look so as to be accurate with the estimate. Some things are easy to estimate, like a water heater replacement or a leaking faucet. When a leak is known to be behind a shower (water observed dripping in areas below the shower) you really should contact a contractor to come to take a look. When the issue is behind a wall no one knows for certain what is going on until the wall or area is opened up. If the agent tells you not to worry about where the leak is coming from or tells you that the home warranty will take care of this pre-existing condition (it will not), tell them that you definitely want a contractor to look at the issues and give estimates.
This last tip is totally biased and I admit it fully. If you are a home buyer in Central Ohio including Columbus, Springfield and Dayton areas and the real estate agent does not have Habitation Investigation on their list of recommended home inspection companies then you need to find a new real estate agent. Habitation Investigation is the most and best reviewed home inspection company in Ohio. With over 2000 online reviews and warranties to protect home buyers there are no good reasons for a good agent that cares for the home buyer to not have them on a recommended list. Good honest agents recommend Habitation Investigation.
The Habitation Investigation company provides home inspections in the Central Ohio Columbus and home inspection in the Dayton Ohio areas, Hilliard, Powell, Pickerington, Pataskala, New Albany, Delaware, Gahanna, Westerville, Galloway, Grove City, Worthington, Dublin, Marysville, London, West Jefferson, Springfield, Mechanicsburg and other cities surrounding Columbus, Ohio. The most/best-reviewed home inspection company in Columbus Ohio is Habitation Investigation LLC. The website is: https://www.homeinspectionsinohio.com Habitation Investigation can also do pool inspections as part of the home inspection
