A Signed Agreement Is The Difference Between An Inspection And A Cancelled Deal

A home inspection can’t happen on good intentions, it happens on paperwork. We walk through the Ohio state law that requires a signed inspection agreement before we can legally set foot on a property, and why “we’ll sign it later” can turn into a cancelled appointment, missed deadlines, and a deal that suddenly feels fragile. If you’ve ever wondered why a reputable inspection company draws a hard line here, we lay it out plainly: licensing rules are strict, and ignoring them puts everyone at risk. 

From there, we share a frustrating real-world moment where a simple request for a signature and access clarity spirals into confusion between buyer’s agent and listing agent, plus an agent who takes it personally. It’s not gossip, it’s a case study in how communication and professionalism impact your timeline. We also explain what we wish every buyer knew: choose your real estate agent for trust, competence, and follow-through, not just promises about price or speed. One of the smartest moves is asking a local home inspector which agents they’d trust with their own family. 

We then zoom out to the bigger point: always get the inspection, even on a renovated home or a brand new build. We’ve seen moisture issues, damaged trusses, and surprising material choices show up where buyers least expect them. We also touch on common add-ons like radon testing, mold concerns, sewer scopes, and chimney scopes, plus why commercial inspections are a different animal where a roof or rooftop unit can change the entire financial picture. 

If this helps you think differently about inspections and agents, subscribe for more, share this with a buyer or agent who needs it, and leave a review so more people can find thorough, practical home inspection advice.

Transcript

Why A Signed Contract Comes First

SPEAKER_01 0:00

All right, Laura.

SPEAKER_03 0:02

So Yes, Jim.

SPEAKER_01 0:06

So let me start this one. Yeah. Yeah, you this is the one you you have to deal with.

SPEAKER_03 0:11

So it's a state law that a home inspection company can't do an inspection without having a signed contract. That's part of the home inspector licensing law. Like, period end story, no exceptions. Like we can't even leave to head there unless that contract is signed.

SPEAKER_01 0:30

We we could leave. We just can't go stop on the property.

SPEAKER_03 0:33

It depends. I anyways.

SPEAKER_01 0:35

It's a public street. I can go down the street toward that house as long as you don't get on the property.

SPEAKER_03 0:40

Right. But I mean, if I've got guys that are like an hour or two away, I I don't make them leave if the the contract's not signed. So that's that's what I mean.

SPEAKER_01 0:47

What's this but you're gonna do? Drive two or two hours and it's not two hours to a place and hope that's gonna get signed before they show up.

SPEAKER_03 0:53

So we we don't do that. So if it's so that having been said, if we have a hard time getting a client to sign the agreement, what Amy and I have taken to doing is texting the client and the buyer's agent together to say, hey, we need this contract signed, or we're going to have to cancel the inspection. Which,

The Text Message That Saves Deals

SPEAKER_03 1:15

you know, that kind of tells the buyer, hey, I need to get my head out of my butt and sign this. And it tells the agent, hey, they need some help getting this signed, or this inspection's not going to go through. And ergo the deal may not go through, especially with some of the shortened um time frames now. Like if we if if we have to cancel it because it's not been signed and you've only got like one or two days, you could have a problem. So we ran into that situation last night. And Guy hadn't signed and hadn't signed and hadn't signed. And so before Amy left, she texted the buyer and the agent and said, Hey, you know, per state law, we need to have this signed, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

SPEAKER_01 2:00

Well, yeah, we right.

SPEAKER_03 2:02

So nothing happened, nothing happened, no response, no response. So I texted and I was like, you know, hey, if this doesn't get signed, I'm going to have to cancel this. We have no choice. This is a state law. And so the buyer finally comes back and he's like, Oh, hey, I've signed it. The buyer's agent pops in and he's like, I don't know what you're asking me for. I'm the listing agent. You need to go through showing time. I'm like, what?

SPEAKER_01 2:34

Wait, the the

When An Agent Turns It Ugly

SPEAKER_01 2:35

listing agent said you have to go through showing time.

SPEAKER_03 2:37

The buyer's agent said he was the listing agent and we needed to go through showing time. Got completely confused.

SPEAKER_01 2:43

So at this point, it sounds like a brand new agent who maybe wasn't taught properly.

SPEAKER_03 2:49

No, no, no. Dude's been licensed almost as long as I've been alive. I'm not joking. So I'm like, okay, something's not right. So like I pull up the the order, I see the names for the buyer's agent and the listing agent. I go to showing time, I pull up the approval, the listing agent there matches the listing agent and I'm in our order. And so then I text the group chat and I'm like, hey, client, who is your agent?

SPEAKER_00 3:17

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 warranty. For a great home inspection, you really can't go. Visit home inspections in Ohio.com.

SPEAKER_03 3:42

And client text back. Valid question.

SPEAKER_01 3:44

Valid question.

SPEAKER_03 3:45

Client text back the dude that said they were the listing agent. So at this point, I'm like, what's going on? So I call said agent who all of a sudden decides to go off on me for having the audacity to text him and ask him for help getting access. I'm like, dude, that's not what we did. And so I explained to him that, you know, this is company policy when we've got somebody that doesn't sign the and he just kind of went off because he was prepping for a vacation for 10 days, which he repeated 10 days going out with his grandkids, and he didn't want to be bothered by anything. He just I recommended you guys that I'm I'm I'm I'm done. I've already spent three years and I I'm not getting paid as much as I deserve. And so he just kind of like washed his hands of it, said, Yeah, the buyer's agent, and then that was it.

SPEAKER_01 4:40

So all right. So I was confused. So you you looked up his license. When did he get licensed?

SPEAKER_02 4:47

In 75.

SPEAKER_01 4:48

1970 five. He's been licensed.

SPEAKER_02 4:51

He's been licensed almost as long as I've been alive.

SPEAKER_01 4:54

And home inspector licensing has been like seven years ago.

SPEAKER_03 4:58

2019.

SPEAKER_01 4:59

2019, and he does not understand how we need to have the the agreement needs signed.

SPEAKER_03 5:07

Well, and it wasn't just that, he was rude. I mean, we're we're sitting here and we're trying to make sure that this inspection happens, uh, you know, within the laws that we're given. And you're too focused on going and and doing a vacation and treating me like crap to see that we were trying to work with you to get this done.

SPEAKER_01 5:31

Yeah, I mean, we could have just not even asked for the the signatures and just go, all right, we're just we're just we're just canceling because they didn't sign it, and then he'd be he'd be all pissed because we didn't get it.

SPEAKER_03 5:41

Because we didn't we can't see warned. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:44

And he's gonna be pissed when we do contact, go, hey, we need to get this signed so we can do the inspection for your for the client who wants to buy the house that you're selling. So this really I this this story just we have to deal with well, you and Amy deal with this quite a lot more than I do regarding uh people not signing the agreements, sellers not given access information. Well, I should say sellers

How Buyers Should Choose Agents

SPEAKER_01 6:10

not agreeing to the inspection time periods, or list agents not giving us the code for access. We deal with this all the time, and we're and here we are trying to make things happen that benefits that benefits these this listing agent, the buyer agent, and the seller. And half the agent's gonna give us a hard time for trying to make sure this happens. So if you're a home buyer, you need to pick your agent very well. Don't listen to how much they think they can sell it for or any of that stuff. You need to go on their personality and how trustworthy they are. And if you don't know who to use, call us. Call a local home inspection company and ask them what agent would they trust to sell their place, their kid to work with.

SPEAKER_02 6:58

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 7:01

To me, that's that's the best way. We'll have agents who don't recommend us because we find too many things wrong.

SPEAKER_03 7:07

But second, their kid is buying a freaking house. We're the first ones they call.

SPEAKER_01 7:12

Oh yeah. Yeah. Same agent, same agent, different different standard of inspection that they want. So I would always ask your home inspection company, go, hey, what real estate what yeah, what real estate agent would you recommend that uh we use? Because we know who who the all honest ones are.

SPEAKER_03 7:32

Very much so.

SPEAKER_01 7:34

And and and this not a high percentage that are like dishonest, but you don't want to get them. It can be very costly to pick the wrong real estate agent. Because if all they care about is the sale, they're not gonna recommend the uh a thorough award-winning home inspection company.

SPEAKER_03 7:53

Much less recommend an inspection. I mean, how many have we heard that, you know, well, we just have two days to do this, so you can't come in and and get your inspection. We've gotta do do this or do that so that you get your um contract approved.

SPEAKER_01 8:10

Or here's another one, like yeah, you don't need an inspection, it's just been renovated.

SPEAKER_03 8:13

Oh, yeah, those are the worst.

SPEAKER_01 8:15

Or it's a brand new bill, you don't need to get that looked at.

SPEAKER_03 8:17

No, that is not true. Think about it this way we're all human, all humans make mistakes, all humans have deficiencies and and whatever.

Why Inspections Matter Every Time

SPEAKER_01 8:30

And some humans pick the wrong real estate agent.

SPEAKER_03 8:32

Right. Speaking of deficiencies, so you you want that third party to come in. The home inspector is literally the only thing in the whole process that has nothing to gain, whether you buy that house or whether you sell that house. We make no money on the sale of the property. We're coming in, we look at the condition of the house and we report it. If we don't report it accurately, that's going to impact our reputation, and then people aren't going to want to use it. So it's important. We represent the house properly. That snapshot in time. This is what we see, this is your information. Period end story. You at least want to have that so that you have an idea of what you're walking into when you buy it, yes, and how to fix it. And I I call it the honeydew list.

SPEAKER_01 9:23

Yes. So so you always want to get inspected. There's never per there's never a perfect place.

SPEAKER_03 9:28

We've never seen that, and everything is repairable, it just depends on what you want to put in to fix it.

SPEAKER_01 9:34

What is changing is we we figured the stat out years ago that of new builds, only 3% of those actually had inspections. Approximately that. That has definitely gone up.

SPEAKER_03 9:47

Well, and how many new builds have we seen recently that have had moisture issues, or that have had damaged trusses, or that have had really weird like they weren't using pie board, they were using some other system and like just you're talking about the exterior sheathing? Yeah, that exterior sheathing that's supposed to hold the house up and waving it.

SPEAKER_01 10:12

It was very, very thin foam board, which was was improved in some, I think, California, but why it was being used here on a windy hilltop makes no sense. It was cheaper at all.

SPEAKER_03 10:25

And the and the the clients didn't know that's what they were getting when they signed the contract. They they didn't know that it wasn't going to be actual wood. So don't don't sign away your rights for inspections. Always read what you're

New Builds Still Hide Big Defects

SPEAKER_03 10:40

signing. And if you ever have questions, just call us. We will be happy to help you out. We've been doing this for almost 24 years at this point, and we have absolutely no problems helping people and and being your backup.

SPEAKER_01 10:53

Yep. So always get inspected. Always. And and this goes for home inspectors too. Because that real estate agent's been what 40 years as a real estate agent?

SPEAKER_02 11:03

I'm a little bit older than 40, but okay. Yeah, that's true. That is true.

SPEAKER_01 11:08

So but anyway, just because you've been doing a profession for a long, long time does not mean you know everything.

SPEAKER_03 11:14

Or that you stop learning.

SPEAKER_01 11:15

I mean, I alright, I've been an inspector since 2002. I'm still learning things.

SPEAKER_03 11:20

In fact, we're going to a class here coming up next month. Yeah, which learn stuff for commercial.

SPEAKER_01 11:26

For commercial, but while pricing, the repairs are commercial, which is totally different than houses, as as our commercial branch uh is growing. Yeah. We this is another thing we may offer is help give um the buyers of the commercial inspection uh you know rough estimates of what it would cost to replace and fix some things. Because you think uh if you think a furnace is expensive to replace, you should look at a rooftop unit.

SPEAKER_03 11:56

Yeah, some of those flat units that have the EPDM or some of the other different types of roofing. That that one inspection that we did, they walked from it because replacing the roof was gonna cost an easy million, period. End story, before they even did anything else. They had to buy a new roof.

SPEAKER_01 12:15

Yeah, commercial is a total different animal in this. So I'm I'm still learning. Every home everybody should be a lifelong uh learner of things.

SPEAKER_03 12:25

Well, and and okay, and one other thing. If you're an agent, please, we're not here to sabotage your deal. We're not here to make your life miserable. We have state laws that we have to abide by just like you do. That whole home inspector licensing made things very specific for us that we have to do. That's all we're

Commercial Inspections And Million Dollar Repairs

SPEAKER_03 12:45

doing. We're just doing our job so that we can get there and give your client and our client the best service that we possibly can.

SPEAKER_01 12:52

And we actually do our job very, very well. Very well. So we won best in the Midwest four years.

SPEAKER_03 12:58

Four years in a row, and then Consumer's Choice 2.

SPEAKER_01 13:00

Yep, Consumer's Choice Award for Ohio, for Columbus, well, Columbus area. We've won that twice. So we we are the home inspection company to you. Or to ask, ask questions. If you have questions about things that maybe your inspector did. But I got I gotta be honest though. If you did a home inspection with another company in central Ohio, then you call us up for help. Man, I'm I'm gonna be a little bitter. Why didn't you use this in the first place? When you come, when you come to us to help help fix your your complaint or explain things to you, I I I don't feel bad for you if you chose why chose poorly or you listen to your agent who goes, No, no, you don't use habitation medication. We've had problems with them. The only problem the agents have ever had with us is we do our job well is we give them more things they have to negotiate for you. Yep. That's well, assuming you're a buyer.

SPEAKER_03 13:55

And if you go to another company that doesn't do everything, don't call us to come in and do a sewer scope for you because that other company didn't do it or a chimney scope. Just call us in the first place.

SPEAKER_01 14:07

I don't mind those. I don't mind doing those, but I'm not gonna give you the the the rate, the discount that you would have if you'd had it with the inspection.

SPEAKER_03 14:15

That was gonna be my next statement that it's it's twice as much if we come out and do it as a standalone service as if we're out there and we're doing it during an inspection. So just have us like we're basically a one-stop shop. The only thing we don't do because the

Working With Agents And Final Advice

SPEAKER_03 14:30

county wants this is septic inspections.

SPEAKER_01 14:32

So, all right, so let's assume we've got a real estate agent listening to this.

SPEAKER_03 14:36

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 14:37

What recommendation would you make for them to help things go smoothly? Because I because we have some really good, really, really good agents that use us a lot.

SPEAKER_02 14:48

For years.

SPEAKER_01 14:49

For years. What and and they close deals. We're not we're not deal killers. No. I think it's a level, it's a skill level. I I think the lower skilled agents use other home inspection companies.

SPEAKER_03 15:04

Can can we do another podcast on this? Because I have some ideas. Can can we just go straight into another podcast on this one?

SPEAKER_01 15:11

We can we can do we can do that. So remember, remember that?

SPEAKER_03 15:14

I I've I've got it. So let's wrap this up and listen to the next podcast that comes in.

SPEAKER_01 15:19

I I really do think real estate agents that have us on their list.

SPEAKER_03 15:22

I think they do better.

SPEAKER_01 15:24

They they have a better reputation and they're more likely to get uh recommended by their clients. Because you did not recommend them to a home especially to use a home especially company that was not award winning and was not thorough. There's there's there's a different standard there. All right. Thank you, everybody. Bye bye.