eBook - Home Inspection Business from A to Z

I have done many inspections where I would find personal items intentionally placed by a third party to cover termite and water damage. Luckily I detected these problems so my clients didn't get hit with any surprises after they moved into the houses. However, since the third party never told me or my client about these problems and left it up to us to find them on our own with their little game of "hide and seek", then what is that called? Dishonest, Immoral, and Fraud!! Plain and simple.

Let's say the inspector and the client didn't happen to notice a problem condition that a third party to the deal knew existed but never told them about. How can that third party morally justify their actions by not mentioning the problem condition to the appraiser and/or the client? You can call it a business negotiating decision by the third party; you can call it a mistake that is the fault of the buyer's appraiser and/or home inspector; you can blame the buyer for not hiring a more thorough appraiser and/or home inspector; or you can call it good or bad luck. But no matter what you call it, and I don't care how you rationalize it, it has to be called one thing - DISHONEST! The third party person simply is not telling someone something they know that person should and would want to know about. Let alone the fact that they are legally required to disclose all known defects - unless they want to commit fraud! Whatever happened to the golden rule in today's world? "Do onto others as you would want others to do onto you." People should ask themselves: If I were buying this house, would I want the seller to tell me about this problem?

I'm using this example to make you realize there are dishonest and ignorant people out there that rationalize their unethical actions, which you probable already know. However, often people get too emotionally involved in the decision to buy or sell their home and this clouds their judgment. When that happens, they are more susceptible to being scammed or cheated by "smooth talking" salespeople and third parties in the deal. Often the same person who refuses to answer your questions, or doesn't tell you about a problem they know you should be informed about, is the same guy that brags how he goes to church every Sunday because he's such a good, ethical person in society.  BALONEY!!  They can't hide behind that excuse.

There is something that you might consider when you're dealing with a dishonest person like that. You might want to inform them that if something comes up after your client buys the house that they knew about, then your client can sue the seller, the Realtor, and other third parties. That's because you cannot intentionally hide a problem from anyone, whether you're the buyer or the seller. Just about all houses are sold in "As Is" condition. This doesn't mean that the seller has a license to steal, nor does it mean that the seller can commit fraud. A lot of people believe that an "As Is " sale means that the Realtors and sellers don't have to tell anyone about known problem conditions at the property. That's totally false! The old theory of "buyer beware " is no longer valid. When a house is sold in "As Is" condition, it means that the seller is required to disclose all known defects to the buyer and the buyer agrees to accept the house with those known problems. The seller doesn't have to be a home inspector, however, they do have to inform you about the problems they know about and they cannot hide them from you.

Realtors and some other third parties have a fiduciary responsibility to lay all the cards out on the table for the client, whether it is the buyer or the seller. They are required to disclose to the buyer and the seller any problem conditions that they know about. Since they're professionals in the real estate business, they are held to a higher standard than the public. As a result, they can be found liable for something they knew about, or that they should have known about, if they did not inform the buyer or seller about the problem condition.

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