Standing Out in Ohio Podcast
Listen and learn how some stand out from competition and gain market share. Information helpful to agents and buyers. Conversations with professionals and entrepreneurs regarding their stories and what makes their companies and themselves stand out and gain competitive advantages. Listen to stories from Ohio real estate agents and related businesses to help you know how to improve and who to consider using for yourself or friends. Created by the owners of a highly rated home inspection company in Ohio and the Winners of Best Home Inspection Company in the Midwest https://homeinspectionsinohio.com/
Standing Out in Ohio Podcast
Guarding Against Misunderstandings: Protecting Your Reputation in Real Estate
Ever had a seller accuse you of breaking a ceiling tile with a dog toy? Jim and Laura, the office goddess, share eyebrow-raising tales from the real estate world where truth sometimes becomes stranger than fiction. In this episode of the Standing Out in Ohio podcast, we unravel the chaos that ensues when misunderstandings occur during home inspections and real estate showings. Learn from our personal experiences about how to protect yourself from outlandish claims and maintain a strong reputation in the competitive real estate market.
Discover our bulletproof strategy to safeguard against false allegations: recording an exit video after each inspection. We guide you through this simple yet effective process, starting from showing the water meter to taking a brief video tour of the property. This practice not only fosters transparency and accountability but also provides peace of mind for everyone involved. Stand out confidently in the marketplace with our insights and practical advice, ensuring that you cover all your bases and keep your assets protected.
To learn more about Habitation Investigation, the Two-time Winner of the Best Home Inspection Company in the Midwest Plus the Winner of Consumer Choice Award for Columbus Ohio visit Home Inspection Columbus Ohio - Habitation Investigation (homeinspectionsinohio.com)
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For home buyers: What to expect from a home inspection. YT video for home buyers
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Welcome to the Standing Out in Ohio podcast, where we discuss topics, upcoming events, news and predictions with real estate professionals and entrepreneurs. Listen and learn what makes their companies and themselves stand out and gain advantages over the competition and gain market share. Subscribe for the latest news and discussion on what it takes to stand out from the crowd. Now here's your host, jim.
Speaker 2:Hey everybody, welcome to the Standing Out and how podcast. This is Jim, of course. With me is Laura, the office goddess.
Speaker 3:Hello everyone.
Speaker 2:Alright, so let's talk about CYA. Cover your ass or assets, how do you want to phrase it? So home inspectors go into people's houses?
Speaker 3:Real estate agents go into people's houses.
Speaker 2:And there's that 5% of people's houses in which these sellers are crazy and will make up things, make up stories.
Speaker 3:Especially if the sale didn't go through and they're pissed at everybody.
Speaker 2:It doesn't matter if they go through or not. So, anyway, we're going to tell you something that we do to help protect ourselves. And you, as an agent that goes into strangers houses you, I recommend you do the same thing, but first let's listen to this.
Speaker 4:Habitation investigation is the way to go for a home inspection in Ohio. Trusted licensed home inspectors for your needs. From radon to mold to warranties For a great home inspection, you really can't go wrong. Visit homeinspectionsinohiocom All right, Laura we.
Speaker 3:Yep, okay, honey.
Speaker 2:This happened a couple of times. Yes, it does.
Speaker 2:Where a? Well, well, this is what started. This was what kind of prompted it. Years ago we did an inspection. We we finished up. I was. I was there with another inspector, I was helping them out, somehow we were both there. That buyer's agent comes along with the buyers and we're we finished up. The agent's gonna comes along with the buyers and we finish up, the agent's going to stay there with the buyer. I'm like, okay, cool. So we took off. Later on that, I think the very next day, we got a complaint from the seller. The seller is saying that we threw dog toys and broke ceiling tiles.
Speaker 3:Pulled their sump pump.
Speaker 2:That's a different story. They say we pulled the sump pump out no. I thought it was the same one, maybe maybe because it was so ridiculous. Yeah so, and the agent was like the buyer's age was like no, I was there after they left and there's nothing like that going on, and that shut that thing down pretty quick. And they're also there with the buyers and like no, none of this, none of that happened we had another.
Speaker 2:Well, one time I had a sump pump. So I go hey seller saying you, you pulled the sump pump out of the pit. I'm like no, no, I have no reason ever to do that. And the buyer was with me and he's like, no, it's ridiculous.
Speaker 3:Or the other one where, um, we put stuff in the toilet and flooded it and the guy called his insurance company saying that we flooded his toilets in his basement.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I bet they had a kid. It's just my guess, but I don't know what happened. But anyway, here's what we have been doing to protect ourselves, and I suggest you, as a real estate agent, do this as well. When we're done with the inspection, we get our phone out and we record an exit video top to bottom, so everybody's out of the house, it's only us there and we're not doing this here.
Speaker 2:But we're telling the buyers this is what we're doing. Hey, we're doing. As soon as we're done, we're all, we'll go back in and do an exit video just to show the house as we left it. And they're like oh, and then they go that makes sense. So usually at least when I do it, I start in this basement, I start at the water meter to show there's no water moving through the line. There's no water coming into the house.
Speaker 2:And it's just a quick little video tour. It takes maybe three minutes, five minutes if it's a big house, different floors. Just do a little video and then we don't show that video to anybody.
Speaker 3:Unless needed.
Speaker 2:Unless we need it, which is rare, very rare, since people know that we do these exit videos. It's it doesn't happen very, very seldom, but we then we take that video and I upload it somewhere. It's on the computer, it's saved. Uh, then google drive yep by date. There's no address even on it and it just sits there unless needed. Yep, I remember one time we had, or twice we have had, people say we got the rugs all muddy, and both times we had the exit video.
Speaker 3:We had exit videos and also both times the people you were talking to refused to send any pictures of dirty rugs and actually the one with the dirty rugs, said that we had left the water on in the sinks in the bathrooms and we had the exit video and I pulled it up and I watched the whole way through it. There was no water running, the carpets were nice and clean and we we said that you know. We asked for pictures and the agent was like well, I have no reason to doubt my seller. And I said, well, I have an exit video that we took before we left. Would you like to see it, crickets?
Speaker 2:crickets. Yeah, yeah, there was an inspector. Um, I don't, I kind of want to think Arizona, okay. So anyway, he did an inspection. A week later, maybe the buyer's agent goes hey, you guys damaged the air conditioner, you took it apart when you did your inspection.
Speaker 4:They're like no we don't do that.
Speaker 2:It's like yeah, you did, it was good before you guys got here. Then, after you guys left, it was all opened up and damaged. So he's like well, let me come out and take a look. What was she talking about? Is she confused about something else? Don't know. He gets out there. He's looking at it yeah, the cover for the air conditioner. It's off. And then she looks up and goes wait, you're the guys that do the body cameras, don't you? He's like, yes, and then she gets mad and just walks away, never responds to him again about any question about the air conditioners, because she knew that they didn't do it because they had the body cam footage to prove it yep, so make it make inspectors, a lot go away yeah, it really does so.
Speaker 2:If you're a real estate agent, I would recommend you, after you show the house, do a video. You can even do the video while it's going on, while you're doing the tour and showing everybody, and then exit with your as I'm assuming you're there for the showing leave.
Speaker 3:And make sure that you show you putting the key back in and locking the whatever lock box it is, because you would be amazed how many times I hear agents getting blamed for not putting keys back in or for not closing lock boxes from other agents.
Speaker 2:Well, sometimes we go to the house and there's no key in the lock box. Now I got to admit, though, when I do the exit video, I cannot hold the phone and put the key in the lock box same time. I cannot do that but it's happening.
Speaker 2:Trust me, Laura, it's happening cannot do that, but but it's happening. Trust me, lord, it's happening. But also, when we're doing the exit video, I I purposefully will show my shoes they're on the floor by the front door. Or or show me in socks because, listen, I'm not traipsing mud through your house. I take my shoes off all the time that was what happened last week.
Speaker 3:So we did an inspection and all of a sudden we get calls from this listing agent wanting us on her do not use list, because we came in and we trashed her white carpet. Okay, she said carpet. It was not carpet, it was a little rug in front of the toilet and in front of the door coming in and in front of, like, the bathtub. They were little white rugs.
Speaker 3:I looked at the exit video and I see little socked feet walking around the house where they're socks. How are we tracking the rugs on the video the rugs were perfectly white, but of course the agent didn't want to see it, she just wants us to call so that she can scream at us. But I'm like why here? Everything's in the video. We did nothing.
Speaker 2:Yeah, at one point the inspector would go that buyer just slandered us.
Speaker 3:Or that agent just slandered us.
Speaker 2:Yeah or the seller. Yep, or that agent just slandered us, yeah, so. Or the seller, yep, so. Anyway, if you're an agent, do exit videos, video where you're at, protect yourself plus this is kind of one reason why we don't typically don't talk to listing agents on the phone right unless it's on a recorded line well do you remember why that?
Speaker 3:one. Oh, I know exactly why. I know exactly why. I know exactly why.
Speaker 2:We had one of our specialists did an inspection. Foundation had a crack that was big enough that it should get looked at by you know, a foundation repair company Should get looked at. He talked to the listing agent.
Speaker 3:Into the seller at the same time.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and then magically that crack seemed.
Speaker 3:According to her emails, that crack magically shrank to just a minor normal crack and we said that they did not need to have anybody look at it, and that's what she told to the buyer's agent, who knew us and had the report. And so she calls.
Speaker 2:She knew our consistency Right.
Speaker 3:So she's seeing something in the report and she's like why would they say this if this is what they have in the report? So she called us the buyers, the buyer's agent did, and so what ended up happening with that is, I had the inspector write out an email of exactly what was said in that conversation and I sent it to everybody in that deal so that we were all on the same page, and so there was no more confusion so you said that thing to the buyer's agent and the listing agent and the client and the client, the buyer and, yeah, and the client so, and amazingly enough, from the listing agent I got a thank you for the clarification and then wait, wait, and that thank you was an email went to everybody yes, hi to all.
Speaker 3:Yes, okay, however, privately, I got a text only to you yes, only to me talking about what a horrible person I was for setting her up and making it look like she was lying she was she was so, so anyway, put things in writing.
Speaker 2:Video is the easiest way to protect you against somebody making claims about how you left the house that and it's. It's easy. It takes three minutes. You you could just keep it on your phone for maybe a month and then just delete it that'd be. That'd be easy way. That'd be easy way to do it. So I think that's about it for this one do you think of anything else?
Speaker 3:just just cover yourselves, and and you know it's sad that we have to do that nowadays, but that is reality. So the better protection you can give yourself, well, there's that five percent of the population. That I would consider not trustworthy right and you don't know when, when you're going to run into them. So it's always better to cya than to not so so, and we do.
Speaker 2:It depends on how busy are like 200 inspections a month right, which means we probably get one to two crazy people a month.
Speaker 3:Easily.
Speaker 2:On just one side, yeah.
Speaker 3:That's what I said easily.
Speaker 2:Yep, yep. So anyway, take care everybody. Thank you and bye-bye. Yep, yep. So anyway, take care of me.
Speaker 1:Thank you and bye, bye, bye. You've been listening to the standing out in Ohio podcast. Be sure to subscribe on Spotify or Google podcast to get new, fresh episodes. For more, please follow us on Instagram, twitter and Facebook, or visit the website of the best Ohio home inspection company at homeinspectionsinohiocom or jimtroffcom. That's J-I-M-T-R-O-T-H and click on podcast. Until next time, learn and go do stuff.