HomeMy WebLinkAboutLakeshore Advance, 2013-11-20, Page 9"Buy or Run" Scary truth
about home inspectors
Industry insider
provides details
So, you've found your dream home, taken out a
mortgage, and all that's left to do is have the house
inspected. But who is this inspector looking at the
house that you're going to make a home?
"'this hook is going to cause controversy in Canada
and the U.S.," says author Bruce McClure.
Buy or Run is an insider's look at the home inspec-
tion industry written by McClure, a former director
of the Ontario Association of 1 lome Inspections and
a 0A1II registered home inspector since 1999.
"i don't know everything," admits the former
builder and real estate agent who now coordinates
the home inspection program at Conestoga College.
"But the public needs to know they are not being
protected the way things are working now:' I le says
the lack of rules and regulations in many states and
provinces are an issue. " Anyone can become a home
inspector simply by printing a business card," he
says.
McClure says that while the province has moved
to regulate home inspection, it is taking advice from
the wrong quarter.
Hence, his book's subtitle: I'm a Real Home
Inspector Not a TV Celebrity!
1 -le won't name the celebrity. But he says that's
what motivated him to put pen to paper.
"Maybe if we can get the public's attention, things
can change. But it's not going in the right direction
naw:'
McClure welcomes regulation of home inspectors
to ensure they know their business.
I -le tells tales of incidents such as where a home
inspector shied away from telling a client bad news
about a potential property.
Ile quotes the inspector, "'i didn't say anything to
my client. I didn't want to upset them. So, 1 put it in
my report."'
McClure maintains that after a verbal briefing, cli-
ents rarely read their inspections.
"Typically not:"
McClure's book has the horror stories that grab the
headlines about home inspections gone wrong.
But he reserves his most pointed criticism for real
estate agents who he says wrongly control the home
inspection industry by recommending inspectors
and influencing what they report.
McClure says he, himself, has been blacklisted by
some agents.
Not all agents are at fault, he says.
One agent hoped McClure's inspection would
thwart the sale of a problem house that was pushed
by relations and friends of a newlywed couple.
McClure said the agent, young but successful in
his business, was one of the good guys in real estate
to whom a client as a person is more important than
a client as a customer.
"I le didn't care about losing the clients -- he cared
about his clients:"
Doug Pedlar, the president of the London and St.
'Ihonnas Association of Realtors, a 29 -year veteran of
the real estate business, says that while he may sug-
gest a list of inspectors, he never has refused a client's
preference for another, and wouldn't.
1le says he has had sales fall through because of
problems uncovered by inspections and accepts
that. With repeat clients making up 6O% of his busi-
ness, he doesn't want an unhappy buyer.
"I've never felt I had an influence on a home
inspection. If there's a problem with a house, I want
to know."
Both McClure and Pedlar agree on regulation of
the home inspection industry.
Says Pedlar, "I think more real estate agents are
well-qualified and professional, and would like to
have a good home inspector." Ills website is BruceM-
cclurelU lI.c:om.
With files from Lakeshore Advance/St. "I homas
Journal.
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t' �INedtlestaay,'NbVember 20:20113 • Lakeshore Advance 9
Bruce McClure
Kill, AC1
I'm a Real Home Inspector
Not a TV Celebrity!
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