Why Your Clients Should Hire a Certified Inspection Expert

I recently learned something about the home inspections process that will benefit your clients that I wanted to pass along.

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We've all been trained to give the names of three home inspectors when your clients ask for a referral, but I suggest that you highly encourage them to seek out a certified inspections expert. Since home inspectors are not regulated by the department of commerce, so this certification provides valuable benefits to your clients.

For starters, they provide a 90-day warranty for any items that were inspected and deemed to be in good order. This is important because not all of your clients will buy a home warranty plan, even though you recommended it. That 90-day window is critical because many things that can go wrong will go wrong during those first 90 days in the home.

Certified inspections come with a national resource line that homeowners can call for any questions.

With a certified inspection, your clients can also get sewer and septic inspections that use cameras to inspect the pipes and other areas. They can also bridge the gap between the inspection warranty and home warranty, which is another nice added benefit. Additionally, they have a national resource line that homeowners can call with questions. 

They also have specific coverages pertaining to mold, which can be an issue sometimes up here in the mountains. They also have very specific roof leak protection that I haven't seen in the general home inspection process. 

If you have any questions about this topic or you'd like to talk further about how it can benefit your clients, don't hesitate to give me a call or send me an email. I'd love to talk and help you with your career however I can.

Embrace the Zestimate

Instead of rejecting Zillow, use it as a tool. Here’s how you can use their own information against them.

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As most of you know, Zillow is by far the largest consumer facing web portal out there for real estate. Many of your clients use it as they are contemplating selling their homes. Instead of fully rejecting Zillow and their Zestimate, I challenge you to embrace the concept and allow Zillow to be your friend rather than your foe.

On Zillow’s home page, you can find what they call their “data accuracy table.” It gives you several points that they use to assess the valuation. This table is your best friend when dealing with sellers who want to take Zillow's word as law.

Here in Utah, one key thing to note is that we are a non-disclosure state. In other states, Zillow looks at the deed transfer information to get home sale prices. In Utah, they don’t have access to that information. This means their accuracy will be off significantly, adding more value to your listing presentation.

Utah is a non-disclosure state.

Before you go on a listing presentation, check out the Zestimate for that particular property. Be prepared for the seller to bring that value up, and be prepared to rebut it with facts from the data accuracy table. Show them that Zillow doesn’t take upgrades to their home into account nor does it differentiate between properties with different locations and amenities. Zillow’s algorithm treats them all the same.

All you need to do to embrace Zillow is understand what it does and does not do when it comes to determining a home's value. If you have any questions for me in the meantime, don’t hesitate to give me a call or send me an email. We look forward to hearing from you.

Helping Your Buyers Avoid Down Payment Pitfalls

Today I’m going over some great ways to avoid down payment pitfalls.

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As you’re beginning to work with buyers who you know will require a loan to purchase a home, typically 90 days before closing, talk to them about their fund’s availability. If they’re going to be pulling together funds to come up with a down payment, which might include a gift from their parents, they need to do that outside the 60-day window because lenders will typically look at two months worth of bank deposits. 

So, if the down payment is going to be a gift from a family member, or, say an engaged couple is going to be putting their funds together for a down payment, make sure all of that is done outside of the 60-day window. 

Also, if they are for some reason stashing cash in their home instead of putting it in the bank, they need to start depositing that money in small deposits on a regular basis.

There will be final credit check so don’t make any unwise purchases.

Although the engaged couple might be splitting the down payment, they both need to qualify, so funds should be in both accounts. They also shouldn’t wait until the last minute to consolidate their funds. Liquidating assets takes time, and they want to make sure they have the funds for their part of the down payment. 

Finally, counsel your buyers not to buy something like a car or furniture until after the closing. There will be a final credit check, so they need to wait until after the home is bought to make those kinds of purchases.

If you have any questions about avoiding down payment pitfalls, don't hesitate to reach out to me. I would be happy to assist you.