KeptGuides

Should the buyer's agent attend the home inspection?

Yes, at least for the inspector's final walkthrough. What to do while you're there, what to avoid, and how to turn it into a repair request.

Updated · By Ben Sikes

Does the realtor need to be at the home inspection?

Yes. The buyer's agent should attend the home inspection, at least for the inspector's closing walkthrough. In many cases the inspector shares information on site that never makes the written report. Your notes from that walkthrough feed the repair request your client sends before the deadline.

Key takeaways

  • North Carolina's Realtor association says the agent should attend any inspection inside the home, other than an appraisal.
  • Inspection standards don't require the inspector to price repairs. Plan the pricing before the report arrives.
  • One inspection firm books at least four hours per inspection and brings buyers in for the last hour.

Does attending raise your liability?

Structure Tech, a Twin Cities inspection firm, says many agents skip the inspection because someone told them attending adds liability. It disagrees: conduct at the inspection creates the risk, not presence. About half the agents it works with attend at least part of the inspection.

The trouble starts when an agent argues. Structure Tech says agents who downplay or dispute the inspector's findings expose themselves to significant liability. Playing second inspector is a problem too. It can give your client the idea that you're as qualified as the inspector.

So stay neutral and don't steer your client's view of the findings, as Working RE advises. Ask your broker and your errors and omissions (E&O) carrier what they expect from you on site.

Do any rules say you have to be there?

North Carolina's Realtor association knows of no written rule on it. But the Real Estate Commission's lawyers have consistently said the agent should attend, with two exceptions. Appraisals are one. Inspections that don't need access to the inside of the home are the other.

The reason is access. The agent "should be present to supervise access to the seller's property," and that's especially true when the buyer is there. Being there also helps if an inspector's test damages something and the repairs are disputed later. Other states may differ, so confirm yours with your broker.

When should you show up?

Plan on the end, with your client, unless your inspector runs a different format. Structure Tech used to take two to three hours per home. It now schedules at least four. When it inspected without buyers during Covid, it made fewer mistakes, because nobody needed real-time explanations. It also started letting buyers show up for the last hour, and says that gives them a more polished summary of the home.

Some agents stay the whole time but keep out of it. One Virginia Realtor told Working RE she sits and works quietly on a laptop. Others come only for the end and the report review. Ask the inspector when you book which format they run, then plan your client's arrival around it.

What should you do while you're there?

  • Let your client ask first. Step in only to explain a term or to ask the inspector to clarify a point.
  • Write down location and next step for every item. Note where it is and whether the inspector says to repair or monitor it. That's the raw material for the pricing work after the report.
  • Book specialists early. If the inspector says a line needs a specialist, schedule that visit right away.
  • Don't draft the addendum on site. Structure Tech tells agents who push a signature before the client has seen the report to stay home.

If anyone smells gas, get everyone out. Then, from a safe distance outdoors, call the gas utility's emergency number or 911.

What should your buyer do during the inspection?

Your client should attend. InterNACHI (the International Association of Certified Home Inspectors) tells buyers to attend, and to reconsider any inspector who won't allow it.

The American Society of Home Inspectors (ASHI) suggests how to prepare:

  • Write questions down ahead of time.
  • Reread the seller's disclosure and the MLS sheet for more questions.
  • Bring a notepad and a phone camera.
  • Clear half a day.

On site, your client should follow the inspector from room to room and ask as they go. The inspector may not answer questions outside the inspection's scope, so cost questions wait for later. NerdWallet warns against wandering off and running water elsewhere, since that can throw off the inspector's water pressure test.

Ask your client to leave friends, family, young kids and contractors at home. Structure Tech says the inspection isn't the time to show off the house or collect remodel bids. Your client gets the most out of it with full attention on the inspector.

What if you can't be there?

Ask your client to take photos of anything the inspector flags and to forward the report the moment it arrives. Line up how you'll price it before the report arrives, so the days left in the window go to the request. Inspection report repair estimate services compared shows which options price from the report alone, with no site visit. The scope, report page and dollar figure come together in the repair request letter.

Which findings should worry your client most?

A missing shingle or a dirty air filter is a cheap fix. InterNACHI puts a major foundation crack, a wood-destroying organism infestation and evidence of mold in the more serious group. For those, your client should find out how the problem gets fixed and whether its cost can be negotiated with the seller.

ASHI draws the same line. A furnace that needs cleaning is maintenance, but a cracked heat exchanger "may trigger a new furnace or a costly repair." A rusted main bar in an electrical panel "is costly and is a fire hazard."

Will the inspector tell you what the repairs cost?

No. InterNACHI's Standards of Practice list "correction, replacement or repair cost estimates" among the things an inspector isn't required to determine. Your client needs those numbers before the contingency deadline, and your contract sets that date. Kept prices every line of an inspection report for $79, usually under 4 hours, and marks the ones that need a professional quote.

If your client's report lands this week and you're drafting the request, upload it to Kept and send the listing side a priced list instead of a guess.

Sources

Cost figures are modeled from public wage and materials data unless a line says observed. Kept is accountable for the numbers on this page, and corrections go to support@usekept.com. How we price.