iaink

Why not? Some of them are absolute cowboys. Its a "profession" in desperate need of better regulation!

Hudman

This is true, HI's have only been around 30 years or so. However organistions like CAHPI/CAHI have members that have passed 7 exams @75%, done over 400 hours study, 5 "dummy" exams that are assessed, plus 250 paid Inspections without major problems. Added to this a huge percentage also bring considerable experience from construction careers.
Presumably your definition of a cowboy is someone who is clueless? The guys I have met at all stages of CAHPI membership clearly are not.
The Assoc have been pushing for regulation but are already implementing better self regulation and education practices in the industry.
HI's should be viewed as GP's rather than specialists, and as the methods, systems, materials used over here are so diverse they have a huge remit to cover, a lot of the points folk are moaning about as pointed out by jcexit are beyond the recognised scope of HI's.
Another point buyers should be aware off is that 98% of basements will leak at some time and warranty statistics lead to 38% call back for leaks in basements under 5 years old.
A good HI should not have any business links with realtors and as corny as it sounds their loyalty is to the property being examined. They will also encourage buyers to attend and deal with concerns (after you leave them some peace to do HI)
I would say if you get a good HI, as a percentage of the value of most homes the 2/3 hours is money well spent.
You would not slag off all doctors after a bad episode, or indeed stop going to see a doctor...just find a better one.

dbd33

Actually, I don't go to doctors as going to a doctor causes one to have illnesses and conditions. The case of a home inspector is rather different though, unless one buys a lot of houses, one has no way to know which inspectors are good and which bad and there is no realistic option to "find a better one".

Hudman

I should not have aligned HI's with doctors, as they do have vested interest not often in the best interest of patients.
What I was getting at was a collective recognition and recommendation of good HI's

iaink

No, in the case of the bad ones, negligent, lazy, corrupt, any or all of the above.

Too many have incentives to keep the realtors, not the clients happy. Happy realtor = many many repeated recomendations to use a particular inspector or two to potential home buyers, some of whom will hire that inspector without checking references. Happy customer = occasional word of mouth recomendation, and perhaps a return booking the next time the customer moves in the area. $$$ vs $.

FWIW my inspector was OK, but I know a few unhappy punters too. As usual it a case of buyer beware, and there is little or no legal comeback against an inspector who does not do a good job as far as I can tell. That is why, as its not likely that a new immigrant would know enough people to get a valid personal recomendation or three, my initial advice was to make sure you get references from them of happy clients and to follow up on them to make sure they arent bogus.

Hudman

Equally happy punter uses a good HI and does not buy home. If you are continually going to hold up worst practices than off course no-ones happy.
There is some recourse against bad HI, but the template is "Would a proficient HI found the problem within the scope of HI, under the same circumstances"..

iaink

Unfortunatley these worst practices dont seem that uncommon. Im sure there are realtors out there for example who would not be thrilled to recommend any HI who results in sales falling through at their expense.

Buying and selling a house here is certainly not the nightmare it is in the UK, but people should be aware that the people you think should be helping on your side (the buyers agent and home inspector) potentially have vested interests elsewhere, so its important to make sure that the people in your team are the good guys.

jcexit

You know this for sure do you? Home Inspector's fees are $250 to $350 out of which they have to pay their overheads. Quite a few also pay franchise fees. So how much do you think they would be able to afford to give to a Realtor? The peanuts you are talking about would not be worth it. We are grateful enough if the HI manages to do the inspection within a tight schedule (frequently the case). It's to our advantage for him to find faults as we can quite often re-negotiate and that makes for a happy buyer who one day may become a happy seller listing with me and buying through me. We are all self-employed and our biggest investment is client satisfaction - repeat business.

Calgal

Hmmmm, I have been watching this thread and 'biting my tongue', but I can't any longer.........

Home inspectors;

What ticks me off is the generic "I'm not accountable" clause in the small print! Been through it twice, and as a result probably wouldn't bother again. I know there are 'good guys' out there - it's finding them that's difficult, and I believe they are a dying breed.

Realtors;

In our experience - having gone through the purchase process seven times, and the sale process three times, they simply wanted to get the deal done, for the highest possible price - regardless (more commission in their pocket). When listing a home, they want to price it as low as possible to get their commission ASAP, for the minimum amount of effort. I found ONE exception whom was excellent, and put all the others to shame.

.....and dont get me started on builders and the so called 'inspectors' that are supposed to see that your home is built according to provincial building codes - the whole thing is a big JOKE! This is our personal (not to mention expensive) experience.

iaink

I think you are missing the point I was making.

I was not suggesting that the realtor is getting a kickback on recomending one agent over another (but its an interesting suggestion you raise), or that a HI would take a bribe from a realtor to turn a blind eye, but for me its seems that home inspectors have more to gain by satisfying an agents wish for a deal to go ahead (in the hope of repeated recomendations of there services from the agent to other prospective buyers) than in helping the home buyer spot serious (but hidden) issues such as that with the oil tank I mentioned earlier.

As I said earlier I see no reason why the buyers agent would want to negotiate a much lower price that would result in less commision for themselves, as long as the client remains a happy mushroom, so finding stuff that gives the buyer leverage to lower the sale price is not going to be much more popular than reporting stuff that might put the whole transaction in jeopardy.

Anyone but either a realtor or a home inspector would see the logic in that. The whole agent thing would be a lot less suspect if the buyers agent got a pre negotiated flat fee regardles of the selling price in my view. After all it is no more effort for them to drive a client to an expensive house than it is a cheap one, and the cost of "preparing" a pre prepared word processed contract is not going to change much either. Any actual selling of the property should be left to the sellers agent, thats where they would earn there commision. Good sellers would rise to the top and be able to legitimately charge a bigger commision for there tallents. As things stand there is nothing in it for the buyers agent to do anything but stand back and wait for their half of the commision.

steve of 5-0

What you need is a real man to take charge of your destiny, so that when one has to deal with these issues, you can feel secure in all it`s goings on

When we had guys into do alterations, I gave them the firm London barrow boy approach - "We do not need anything in writing re. the job, we`ll shake hands on the plans. But if any of you try to "shaft" us, on hours worked etc. and no, we are`nt leaving the keys, for ya to work alone, then you are OFF the site/job and there is no money"!
And with that plus giving them a completion time limit that allowed US a months leeway, everything was fine at the end.

House Inspectors - We go around with them, using our "common" plus their comments, to come to a decision.

Realtors - Rather deal with the ones in Atlantic Canada, then back in the UK.

Calgal

Thanks for the sentiment, Steve - but I don't need no man (real or otherwise) to take charge of my destiny, thank you very much! I can fight me own battles (always was a bit of a tomboy..lol :P )

steve of 5-0

REJECTION is a hard pill to swallow!

Nickola

So thanks for all of that but the question is now................

Is there anyone out there who can recommend a reliable,trustworthy and not stupidly expensive realtor in the Ottawa area, who would be prepared to assist in the successful relocation of a young family of 5 to the Ottawa area??????

Visiting the area in January 2006 for job interview and house hunting.
Looking forward to your replies

Souvenir

Erm, realtors make their money from sellers, not buyers.

You're coming to Ottawa in January? Are you mad?