Article: How to set home buyers' expectations

Hi Home Inspection Forum!

Stephanie here with InspectorPro Insurance. We've been putting out a bunch of educational material for home inspectors, and we'd love to share it with you. You don't have to be insured with us (or insured at all) to benefit from most of the articles, which focus on risk management and business growth. Find an excerpt from our most recent article below. I'll make a point to post excerpts and links to the articles more in the future.

Enjoy!

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How to set home buyers’ expectations

We’ve discussed how to set expectations with inspection clients in the past. You know that appropriate expectations are essential for mitigating risk and ensuring client satisfaction. But do you have a good understanding of what you need to explain and how?

In this article, we continue our series of interviews with recent home buyers. We reveal what expectations typical home buyers walk in with and how you can help them have a more accurate understanding of your services. In so doing, you provide quality customer service while mitigating your risk of potential claims.

set expectationsWhat is a home inspection?
First-time buyers Jessica and Brandon Finch did research before purchasing their inspection. They understood what a typical inspection includes, and they knew which services they wanted to add on. Knowing that home inspectors only test representative samples, they went so far as to test every outlet with a blow dryer and to turn on every light switch themselves.

However, the Finches are the exception to the rule.

“Jess was more prepared than the average bear. I think she was trying to [understand] some of the things that [the home inspector] could be looking for and trying to understand what that means more [than most],” Brandon Finch said. “Explaining what [they’re doing], why they’re doing [it], and…the consequences of their findings [is important].”

However, few home buyers come as prepared as the Finches. Of the first-time home buyers we interviewed, the majority did little to no research prior to the inspection. Instead, they expected their home inspector to explain the process to them.

Recent buyer Shelley Olson thought she’d be able to get information about the inspection process from her home inspector. Instead, the conversation with the inspector was “very short” and “uninformative.”

“The home inspection that we thought we were getting was not what we got,” Olson said. “There was never a grounding or providing [of] some base expectations. We ended up really disappointed because we had higher expectations.”

Because most home buyers don’t have the time or the forethought to research the inspection process ahead of time, it’s important for you to provide them with some basic information. By defining a home inspection for your client, you can make sure they understand your responsibility. In so doing, you decrease the likelihood of receiving a claim for something outside of your scope.

READ MORE: https://bit.ly/2vWq4Dd

Hi Stephanie,
I have gone through your articles and I feel like many home inspectors like me deserve this type of educational material for improving their skills. This article will open new horizons for the growth of professionals so that they become Best Home Inspection Companies Schaumburg. Thanks once again.

Afranio,

Thanks so much for your feedback! We're happy to hear that you are reading and enjoying our articles. We hope to continue to publish material that is both interesting and useful to the inspection community.

Best,
Stephanie

While it is important for inspectors to know how to relay information to clients when a home inspection is completed, it is also important for the agents to do their part on preparing their buyers before the home inspection. One of our company missions is education and that is not only the home buyers/clients, but also for the real estate agents. Here is an article we did for the real estate agents on how to prepare the buyer, so that they have expections of what is going to happen and how handle the report.

https://yourrhi.com/an-agent-guide-preparing-your-buyer-for-a-home-inspection/

Creating video content for this would be great. That would be something we would add to one of our initial emails that go out so our clients (and agents) are educated (setting expectations) so the home inspection process goes as smooth as possible.