May 22, 2026 • 22 mins
One missing step can turn a “sold” sign into two weeks of stress, renegotiation, and a buyer who wants to walk. We’ve been living that reality on the buyer side lately, and it’s made one thing painfully clear: skipping a pre-listing inspection is one of the easiest ways to create surprise, fear, and price cuts.
Rowena Patton, Deanna Allen, and Kelly Denney break down what really happens after a contract goes under agreement, when due diligence begins and the home inspection report drops 40 to 60 items on the table. We talk through the inspection problems that consistently derail deals, from galvanized pipes and outdated wiring to deck safety issues, septic root intrusion, and the big red-flag photos buyers hate most: crawl space moisture and “fungal growth.” Even when the fix is straightforward, the uncertainty can push buyers toward environmental testing, bigger credits, or walking away entirely.
We also connect the inspection chaos to today’s housing market reality: prices softening, interest rates rising, and buyers already nervous about overpaying. That’s why we keep coming back to the certified pre-owned home method, a proactive approach that puts the seller inspection up front, builds trust through transparency, and reduces the odds of a contract falling apart. We close with why home warranties don’t replace inspections, and what sellers can do right now to protect their net proceeds and their peace of mind.
Subscribe for more real-world real estate strategy, share this with a seller who’s on the fence, and leave a review with your biggest home inspection surprise so we can talk about it on a future show.
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00 (00:17):
Good morning.
This is Rowena Patton on theReal Estate News Radio Show with
Deanna Allen and Kelly Demi.
And we're talking aboutchallenges we've had in real
estate in the last couple ofweeks.
So I'll kick it off if that'sokay, guys.
You want to say hi to everyone?
Hi, everybody.
(00:38):
Great to have you on the calltoday.
Hey everyone.
Here's my interesting take onit, or it's been very
interesting and I've learned alot from it.
So it's interesting in my world,I guess, that I've been working
with a few buyers recently.
Um, I have a uh a number oflistings and I focus on the
listing side.
(00:58):
I've been working with a fewbuyers, and it has been, I'm not
gonna say intolerable, but very,very difficult being on the
buyer's side.
Why?
Because most listing agentsdon't take the time to certify
pre-own the homes.
All it means, guys, is get aninspection up front.
So if you've got your houselisted or you're thinking about
(01:21):
listing it, get thepre-inspection.
I love it when I went out to alisting this week and the lady
said, I've been listening to youfor years, and here's my
pre-inspection, because she'sbeen listening for so long,
right?
So I can tell you from thebuyer's perspective, here we
are, we're two weeks into buyernegotiations.
(01:43):
This is the bit that you don'trealise happens when you buy a
house or sell a house.
Most states have some form ofwhat is called due diligence
now.
Due diligence, period, everybodyhas.
That's a time in which you getto check out the house, look at
the area.
Um, sometimes people say there'ssex offenders next door.
As the buyers, you can check allof that out when you're going
(02:06):
there, right?
So that's your due diligence,period.
And then you have yourinspections.
Please don't not have yourinspections.
You may be in construction orsomething like that.
Just have an inspector look atit.
So here's the difference.
When you're going to a certifiedpre-owned listing, it's already
had an inspection, and thelisting agent's going to say to
me, This listing is certifiedpre-owned.
(02:27):
Let me share the inspection withyou before we go into contract.
Right?
Because a third of contractsdrop out on average when they
don't use the CPO process, itdrops to 7%.
And here's why.
So I'm representing the buyers,they haven't had the
pre-inspection.
We have been two weeks back inrenegotiation.
My buyers a few days ago said,I'm walking.
(02:48):
Like, you know, they asked for$15,000, and most of it was
very, very reasonable in whatthey were asking for.
Roots into the septic tank, adead tree that was in close
proximity to the house, all thatgood stuff.
What are the things do you seeon inspections, guys, when you
look at inspections?
SPEAKER_01 (03:06):
You know, things like uh those old galvanized
pipes that a lot of older homeshave, or uh knob and tube wiring
that nobody wants anymore.
SPEAKER_00 (03:14):
Oh, yeah.
And it could be things the themost uh annoying things for
sellers are the uh thebalustrades on a deck, what do
you call those pickets on adeck, when they're half an inch
too far apart, and a baby, ifthey push the head really hard,
could get the head through it.
Right?
(03:35):
So the I've had sellers get veryannoyed by that.
Um but yeah, there's all kindsof things that come up.
So I've had one, there's youknow, minor root intrusion into
the septic tank, a tree comingdown, but the worst thing was
some mold in the crawl spacearea.
Now, the the people who own thehouse, it's not my clients, um,
haven't been in the house for ayear, and it had closed up
(03:57):
vents, and it turns out theytook the dehumidifier with them.
So, about 50% of the time hereyou'll find people, if it's
encapsulated, you need to dothat in in the crawl space area.
So you'll find people putdehumidifiers in and they close
off the vents.
Well, that's fine when thedehumidifier's there, but the
minute you take it out, you'regonna have some mold growing.
(04:20):
And when the inspector goes in,most inspectors in most states
aren't allowed to say um mold,but they say fungal growth,
right?
That's pretty scary to a buyer.
Have you guys ever seen that?
In the crawl space.
Have you ever seen fungal growthor moisture in the basement?
I've done whole radio showsabout moisture in the basement.
(04:42):
We used to make always.
unknown (04:44):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (04:45):
Right.
I would I would say always whenthey're at the crawl space.
Yeah.
Because who the who no one nonobody puts that even the wife
doesn't even put that on thehusband's to-do list.
I need crawl into thecrawlspace, make sure there's no
single crawl space.
SPEAKER_00 (04:59):
That doesn't ever happen.
That's not one of the things todo.
And it's very it's very common.
And it's because you've closedit up, right?
The vents aren't open.
And usually when you close thevents, you're gonna put a
dehumidifier.
They took the dehumidifier withthem, and it's been sitting for
a year, of course, there's somegrowth.
But of course, that scared mybuyers to the point where they
said, Do we need to get anenvironmental uh survey on it?
(05:23):
You know, do we need to get theenvironmental inspectors in to
do a fully fledged survey?
So we looked a bit more closelyat the pictures and didn't look
like there were any damage.
It just looked like some, youknow, surface fungus on there.
So agents, if you're listening,or buyers if you're listening,
of course you can go ahead andhave that full inspection if you
want to.
Just in this case, we didn'tthink it was that necessary.
(05:44):
So we finally got through it,but it took two weeks of
negotiation.
We had buyers that had beenlooking for months that now were
going to pull out.
We had sellers that had beenlisted for eight months and
hadn't been in the house andthey're divorcing for eight
months, now facing the buyerspulling out.
We had an agent who was lookingto disclose all the items we
came up with.
(06:05):
This is the real life mess.
Real life mess.
This is what destroys deals.
It almost destroyed this one.
Now, put it on the other foot.
Had this house been certifiedpre-owned, it's not magic,
right?
But we'd have done theinspection first.
We'd have found all the wood andstuff and things.
I mean, you don't expect anagent to crawl in the crawl
(06:25):
space and check that out either,right?
I mean, you're right, Kelly,that's what husbands are for.
So who's crawling in the crawlspace really?
Apparently they'd like left lotsof wood under there, like
building materials.
Perfectly normal when you've gota dehumidifier, right?
It's a good place to store them.
But not now.
We've got fungal growth.
It just creates this reallyscary picture.
(06:47):
And that's what comes out of theinspection often.
So that's why pre-inspect,pre-inspect, pre-inspect.
I'm gonna hand it over to Deannaand she can say her real estate
chat challenges in the last fewweeks, and then we'll hand it
off to Kelly.
SPEAKER_01 (07:03):
Okay, thank you, Ro.
Yeah, so I mean, obviously thereare a lot out there, and we're
speaking specifically today tothe inspection and the
importance of it.
Um, you know, the negotiationsthat come back and forth after a
home buyer does their inspectionis, like you said, really what
stalls things.
And the home seller oftenthinks, hey, the buyer's gonna
(07:25):
do their inspection anyway.
Why on earth would it make sensefor me to do it now?
Well, this is exactly why,because these surprises come up.
And what happens with a buyer'sviewpoint is they see a price on
a house.
Let's say they're looking at ahouse and it's 500,000 is the
asking price.
Well, the second they get thatinspection back and see all of
the things that are on thereport that need to be repaired,
(07:47):
according to the inspector, whathappens in their mind?
They deduct, deduct, deduct.
Things that need to be fixed anddated homes are automatic
deductions in a buyer's eyes.
And that's just what happens,yes.
Can I build onto that, Deanna?
SPEAKER_00 (08:02):
Of course.
So in all of our markets, andyou're across the other side of
the country, in all of ourmarkets, we're in a declining
market right now.
Mine is anywhere between fourand 10% forecast decline in the
next year, and it declined thatin the last year.
You you're actually on the otherside of the country, and your
(08:22):
figures are very, very similar.
And Kelly, your figures arevery, very similar too.
So the interesting thing thereis a lot of sellers are, a lot
of buyers in their mind arethinking, oh my gosh, these
prices have gone up so crazy.
Right?
They already f that and theyknow the market's declining, so
they're nervous.
You've got a lot of nervoussellers out there, nervous
(08:44):
buyers out there that aresitting, or nervous sellers too,
but nervous buyers that aresitting on the fence going, is
it the time?
Are interest rates going todrop?
You know, we're having some ofthe lowest sales in the last 10
years right now.
So you've already got this smallpocket of buyers.
So when you do get thisbeautiful goose egg, is it goose
egg a bad thing?
(09:05):
Beautiful eagle's egg that'sgolden, that that's in your
nest, which is your wonderfulbuyer, hatch it out.
Because guess what?
That buyer's already nervous,they're worried they're paying
too much.
So, in your point, Deanna, whenthey get the inspection report
back, when it's not a certifiedpre-owned home, you're gonna
have 40 to 60 items on thatinspection report.
(09:25):
When they get that back, aren'tthey using those as a big
negotiating ploy?
Hey, I've got 40 items on here.
Let's just get 20 grand offbecause we're paying too much
anyway.
Exactly.
SPEAKER_01 (09:36):
Yeah, that's always what happens.
And so, you know, using usingthe certified pre-owned method
for people to sell their home,for home sellers to sell,
really, you know, decreasestheir chances of the contract
falling out by, you know, from athird to about 7%, is what we've
seen across the board.
And so what does that do for thehome seller?
(09:58):
That puts more money in theirpocket and everyone goes in eyes
wide open.
Yeah.
The buyer feels more confidentand everyone's happy at the end,
and we make it to the closingtable.
SPEAKER_00 (10:08):
And we don't have those awful negotiations where
it's all so stressful.
I mean, I, you know, over thelast few weeks, I've seen text
coming back going, well, fromthe buyers, and and you know,
the it because we're agents, wesit, we're sort of peeling back
the curtain here.
So from the buyers, they'll saythings like, I almost want to
read you one, we should do thatone day.
(10:28):
Say things like, Um, I can'tbelieve these home sellers think
they're an inspector and knowbetter than the inspector.
This is absolutely necessary tobe done.
I know you've both seen those.
You know, everybody gets veryagitated.
Um, they curse, they get veryangry, they often blame it on
the agent, uh, whichever agentside, you know, that they're
(10:49):
blaming it on.
It gets it can get very, veryugly.
I've actually seen back in theday when sellers and buyers sit
around the closing table, I'veseen fists, fisticuffs pulled.
I've seen like punches pulledacross the table.
Like it can get and it's notunusual though for it to get
very uh tense, right?
I mean, in in our both of ourmarkets, our average price,
(11:11):
average price point is about500,000.
So you're buying somethingthat's half a million dollars,
of course it and sellingsomething that's half a million
dollars, of course it getstense.
Of course, you know, people getthe the gets their IRE up and
all that good stuff.
What do you think, Kelly?
What have you seen?
SPEAKER_02 (11:31):
Well, yeah, I agree with you.
I haven't seen fisted cuffs, butas we're sitting here discussing
this, the things that pop intomy head is we are with the
interest rates going up andhouse prices coming down, which
is great, but interest ratesmake them unaffordable.
I've been sitting here thinkingwe need this is a paradigm
shift.
We need to happen.
(11:52):
We are historically, I meanforever, it has been a reactive
market.
And the home buyer brings in theinspector and they see the list.
What do we say on average?
45, 50 items, 46.
And their eyes pop out of theirhead, and they're like, Oh, I
didn't think this home would bethat bad.
(12:13):
And they send it to thehomeowner, and the homeowners
think their house is fantastic,but they don't know everything
about it because they just theyjust know about the things they
use day to day or they deal withcommonly.
And it's like, so they getblindsided, so they're both
they're both reactive.
SPEAKER_01 (12:30):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (12:30):
So using the CPO method, it becomes proactive.
And I had the thought that'slike it's like if you're
thinking of going to the gym,this strengthens the homeowner's
muscles.
So one day you think, hey, I'mgoing to the gym, and you go to
the gym and you do everything,and what do you do?
You pull a muscle, you hurt yourback, and you don't go back out
for 30 days.
Well, doing this will help youstrengthen your home seller
(12:51):
muscle, so to speak, and itgives you the information you
know.
So when this buyer comes backwith their inspection, you can
marry them together.
But we've talked about thisbefore is the level of trust and
transparency it creates from theseller to give their own
inspection to the homeowners,the home buyer's agent, and then
they can see what's coming on.
(13:11):
And it means and the seller isnot going to be blindsided.
That happens, it's got to behigh 90%.
Nobody does the certifiedpre-owned with the inspection up
front, and they have to.
It's just it just strengthenstheir house, and we're always
aiming to make their house standout on the market, and this is
the way to do it versus justgoing, I'm gonna put my house on
(13:33):
the market, and I sure hope itsells.
But you literally have no ideaif it's gonna sell in this
current market because unlessit's just the diamond and all
the cliches you can come upwith, it's not gonna sell if you
haven't done your homeworkfirst.
SPEAKER_00 (13:50):
So, Kelly, riddle me this Batman.
So, can I call you Batman?
Is that alright?
You'll can't see the screenbehind Kelly, so now he's
Batman.
Um, let me be Robin for aminute.
So why don't honestly, I've beentearing my hair out about this
because I've been, you know, onthe buyer's side for the last
(14:11):
two or three.
Um actually, people we've helpedthrough the cash offer in
different states who have movedhere, that's why I ended up on
the buyer's side, helping thebuyers.
So it's infuriating to me whenwe're going through this mess
when I know a simple inspectioncould have cured all of this.
Right?
We've nearly had two drop outnow.
A simple inspection, and I canhear the homeowners saying,
(14:33):
Yeah, but the buyers do that.
And why would I spend 550 bucks?
Because it's a massive insurancepolicy, that's why.
And you end up losing way moremoney.
$4,000,$6,000,$10,000 becausethe buyers will ask for it.
I can hear the sellers saying,well, I won't pay that.
I can tell you from over 3,500transactions, when you're in the
(14:54):
midst of it and you're in adeclining market and you finally
got that buyer after a year, youprobably will.
And I I know that feels roughand I know it feels tough.
Do the inspection up front.
Why are more agents not?
I mean, how would home sellersmove, you know, know about it?
That they probably haven't solda house in 10 years.
(15:14):
They're not in the business.
Any successful agent is sellingone, two, three homes a month.
They know what happens.
They know we're not just tellinga story here, guys.
Honestly, every single deal.
People don't go, oh, theinspection's great, wonderful,
okay, move on.
Oh, happy closing day.
I don't remember the last onethat went like that.
Everybody gets a little nervous.
(15:36):
The market's declining, interestrates are going up.
What's gonna happen with thewar?
You know, all these things aregoing on, politics are going on,
everyone's nervous.
It just doesn't happen likethat.
There is there's either there'sanything from a little tenseness
where people are nervous toreally all out, all out freaking
out about something that's goingon in the house.
(15:56):
Would you say that's fair, guys?
I'm not exaggerating, am I?
SPEAKER_02 (16:01):
Not at all.
I I can honestly tell you in myentire history of the number of
sales I've done, there hasliterally never been a seller
inspection done.
Never.
And it's like, unless your agentis a general contractor, well, I
(16:21):
happen to be one, but I'm notgonna go inspect their home.
I mean I could, but agents ingeneral do not inspect a home.
They have they should knowwhat's going on with the house,
and the more they know, thebetter.
But I've literally never had apre-inspection.
SPEAKER_00 (16:39):
What why so why are a so you are a contractor is a
little bit different, and youknow, you were recently exposed
to this, but why do you thinkagents aren't you know isn't it
a blinding sellers and agentswhen they learn about this say
that is a blinding glimpse ofthe obvious.
It's a no-brainer.
Like, why aren't we all doingthis?
Right?
In California, it's widespread.
(17:00):
So, so why is it, do you think,that agents aren't explaining
this stuff?
We can't expect home sellers toknow.
We do lots of these shows, beendoing this for 14 years, talking
about certified pre-owned,best-selling book on it.
You know, we do lots ofmarketing on it, all the good
stuff and things.
But you can't expect homeownersto to to know about it because
they sell a home once every 10years, maybe once every seven
(17:22):
years.
Agents know this goes on.
So have they just not got tothat blindingness of the obvious
piece?
Is it because it is more work,we have to explain to the home
seller why it's such a goodidea.
Like, why are more agents notdoing this?
SPEAKER_02 (17:39):
They're running around, they're running along
with tradition.
This is tradition.
You get a listing agreement, youput a sign in the yard, you
throw it on the MLS.
Unfortunately, today it goes toevery website in the country in
the world.
But it's just not part of theirtraining and it's just
(17:59):
commonality and and it's nottaught.
It is not taught through thebrokerages to their agents.
It's not.
They don't know it.
And the other thing, when youmentioned dropping, you know,
putting out five hundreddollars, oh I don't want to do
that.
I will you we've talked about itmany times, and you bring it up
all the time, bro.
Is you you're gonna have to makeadjustments, and that first
(18:20):
adjustment they're gonna have tomake is gonna be ten times the
price uh of a five hundreddollar inspection.
SPEAKER_00 (18:25):
Yeah, easy.
SPEAKER_02 (18:26):
Absolutely.
Without without question.
SPEAKER_00 (18:29):
In fact, on our cash offers, what we do is we put in
an amount.
Uh, so we do, you know, we dofive ways to sell your house.
Sale by owner, we give you thenet, a grandma's listing, we
give you the net, a conventionalCPO where you do the inspection,
we give you the net.
Um, certified pre-owned, wherewe give you the majority of your
cash out up front, and then welist it CPO when you get another
(18:51):
check.
And now we have the new one anddone offer.
And all the net, in other words,the money you put in your pocket
is on one sheet.
So we put all of that in place.
Um, on that, when we do the cashoffer, we always put so it says,
you know, what what's themortgage amount outstanding?
By the way, guys, if you'relistening out there and you have
you're thinking about sellingyour house, go and put it in at
(19:14):
cash CPO.
That's for certified pre-owned.
CashCpo.com.
Go put it in.
It'll take you five minutes, seewhat home just for a home value,
see what home value comes back.
You'll actually get an offer,which is a real home value,
right?
That's a real home value.
On those cash offers, we alwaysjust estimate$5,000 for repairs,
(19:35):
right?
On the inspection report,because the inspection report
comes back, it's going to be atleast$5,000.
So we try and not put too muchin, but we know that's going to
come back, just like a normaltransaction.
So you're right, Kelly.
Five you said 10 times.
It's at least 10 times the costof uh of an inspection.
But even more than that, it'snot just money.
(19:56):
Spend the money, it's aninsurance policy.
It's the fact, should yourlisting drop out a third of the
time, which what happens withgrandma's listings, which is
what you it may all you've everheard of are grandma's listings,
not certified pre-ownedlistings.
If it's that, it's gonna dropout a third of the time.
Here's the problem with that.
You've got a stigmatizedlisting.
(20:17):
Everybody in their dog calls andsays, What's wrong with it?
That drives your price down.
Isn't that worth the 500?
Plus all the stress and agonyand angst.
If you could just have aviewpoint, we need a reality
show.
You know, oh, selling BeverlyHills.
Yeah, right.
Let's look at real life realestate.
What happens, right?
Where people are almost, theywould throw punches, they're
(20:38):
just keyboard warriors instead.
All the stuff and things that goon, that would be interesting,
right?
Because it is agony.
Take the agony away for$500.
Go for it, Kelly.
Take us home.
SPEAKER_02 (20:51):
So the the other thing, too, is some of it may
be, oh, we'll offer from theseller's side, we'll offer them
a homeowner's warranty for oneyear.
Great.
That covers major things, butthat doesn't cover everything an
inspection's gonna re show.
So they're it they're tied intothis commonality of like, we'll
give them a homeowner'swarranty, it'll all be fine.
(21:11):
It's like, hey, save yourself.
You're likely you're gonna bringyour money back by doing a home
inspection.
You will get your money back onyour house better than that.
SPEAKER_00 (21:21):
I agree because if you've got mold or a tree that's
dead or something, the homewarranty isn't gonna cover that.
And it needs not to ship on theinspection.
Any last words, Deanna?
SPEAKER_01 (21:32):
I would say if if you're selling your home, find
find someone who can representyou using the the CPO method.
Uh, you'll you'll have a lotbetter experience in the end, as
will your buyers, and everyonewill be happy at the end of the
day.
SPEAKER_00 (21:46):
Much happier, right?
You'll you'll be on the nine outof ten instead of the two out of
ten, which is normally how itscores.
This has been Kelly and Deannaand Roe on the Real Estate News
Radio show.
Anywhere in the country, ifyou'd like to find an agent,
actually anywhere worldwidethese days, um, with the sleep
CPO method or that are taking itto the next level for you, give
(22:08):
us a call twenty four seveneight two eight three three
three forty four eighty three.
Eight two eight three threethree forty four eighty three
You can see all the episodes atrealestate newsradio.com.
That's realestateradio.com.
See you on the radio next week.
Good morning.
This is Rowena Patton on theReal Estate News Radio Show with
Deanna Allen and Kelly Demi.
And we're talking aboutchallenges we've had in real
estate in the last couple ofweeks.
So I'll kick it off if that'sokay, guys.
You want to say hi to everyone?
Hi, everybody.
(00:38):
Great to have you on the calltoday.
Hey everyone.
Here's my interesting take onit, or it's been very
interesting and I've learned alot from it.
So it's interesting in my world,I guess, that I've been working
with a few buyers recently.
Um, I have a uh a number oflistings and I focus on the
listing side.
(00:58):
I've been working with a fewbuyers, and it has been, I'm not
gonna say intolerable, but very,very difficult being on the
buyer's side.
Why?
Because most listing agentsdon't take the time to certify
pre-own the homes.
All it means, guys, is get aninspection up front.
So if you've got your houselisted or you're thinking about
(01:21):
listing it, get thepre-inspection.
I love it when I went out to alisting this week and the lady
said, I've been listening to youfor years, and here's my
pre-inspection, because she'sbeen listening for so long,
right?
So I can tell you from thebuyer's perspective, here we
are, we're two weeks into buyernegotiations.
(01:43):
This is the bit that you don'trealise happens when you buy a
house or sell a house.
Most states have some form ofwhat is called due diligence
now.
Due diligence, period, everybodyhas.
That's a time in which you getto check out the house, look at
the area.
Um, sometimes people say there'ssex offenders next door.
As the buyers, you can check allof that out when you're going
(02:06):
there, right?
So that's your due diligence,period.
And then you have yourinspections.
Please don't not have yourinspections.
You may be in construction orsomething like that.
Just have an inspector look atit.
So here's the difference.
When you're going to a certifiedpre-owned listing, it's already
had an inspection, and thelisting agent's going to say to
me, This listing is certifiedpre-owned.
(02:27):
Let me share the inspection withyou before we go into contract.
Right?
Because a third of contractsdrop out on average when they
don't use the CPO process, itdrops to 7%.
And here's why.
So I'm representing the buyers,they haven't had the
pre-inspection.
We have been two weeks back inrenegotiation.
My buyers a few days ago said,I'm walking.
(02:48):
Like, you know, they asked for$15,000, and most of it was
very, very reasonable in whatthey were asking for.
Roots into the septic tank, adead tree that was in close
proximity to the house, all thatgood stuff.
What are the things do you seeon inspections, guys, when you
look at inspections?
SPEAKER_01 (03:06):
You know, things like uh those old galvanized
pipes that a lot of older homeshave, or uh knob and tube wiring
that nobody wants anymore.
SPEAKER_00 (03:14):
Oh, yeah.
And it could be things the themost uh annoying things for
sellers are the uh thebalustrades on a deck, what do
you call those pickets on adeck, when they're half an inch
too far apart, and a baby, ifthey push the head really hard,
could get the head through it.
Right?
(03:35):
So the I've had sellers get veryannoyed by that.
Um but yeah, there's all kindsof things that come up.
So I've had one, there's youknow, minor root intrusion into
the septic tank, a tree comingdown, but the worst thing was
some mold in the crawl spacearea.
Now, the the people who own thehouse, it's not my clients, um,
haven't been in the house for ayear, and it had closed up
(03:57):
vents, and it turns out theytook the dehumidifier with them.
So, about 50% of the time hereyou'll find people, if it's
encapsulated, you need to dothat in in the crawl space area.
So you'll find people putdehumidifiers in and they close
off the vents.
Well, that's fine when thedehumidifier's there, but the
minute you take it out, you'regonna have some mold growing.
(04:20):
And when the inspector goes in,most inspectors in most states
aren't allowed to say um mold,but they say fungal growth,
right?
That's pretty scary to a buyer.
Have you guys ever seen that?
In the crawl space.
Have you ever seen fungal growthor moisture in the basement?
I've done whole radio showsabout moisture in the basement.
(04:42):
We used to make always.
unknown (04:44):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (04:45):
Right.
I would I would say always whenthey're at the crawl space.
Yeah.
Because who the who no one nonobody puts that even the wife
doesn't even put that on thehusband's to-do list.
I need crawl into thecrawlspace, make sure there's no
single crawl space.
SPEAKER_00 (04:59):
That doesn't ever happen.
That's not one of the things todo.
And it's very it's very common.
And it's because you've closedit up, right?
The vents aren't open.
And usually when you close thevents, you're gonna put a
dehumidifier.
They took the dehumidifier withthem, and it's been sitting for
a year, of course, there's somegrowth.
But of course, that scared mybuyers to the point where they
said, Do we need to get anenvironmental uh survey on it?
(05:23):
You know, do we need to get theenvironmental inspectors in to
do a fully fledged survey?
So we looked a bit more closelyat the pictures and didn't look
like there were any damage.
It just looked like some, youknow, surface fungus on there.
So agents, if you're listening,or buyers if you're listening,
of course you can go ahead andhave that full inspection if you
want to.
Just in this case, we didn'tthink it was that necessary.
(05:44):
So we finally got through it,but it took two weeks of
negotiation.
We had buyers that had beenlooking for months that now were
going to pull out.
We had sellers that had beenlisted for eight months and
hadn't been in the house andthey're divorcing for eight
months, now facing the buyerspulling out.
We had an agent who was lookingto disclose all the items we
came up with.
(06:05):
This is the real life mess.
Real life mess.
This is what destroys deals.
It almost destroyed this one.
Now, put it on the other foot.
Had this house been certifiedpre-owned, it's not magic,
right?
But we'd have done theinspection first.
We'd have found all the wood andstuff and things.
I mean, you don't expect anagent to crawl in the crawl
(06:25):
space and check that out either,right?
I mean, you're right, Kelly,that's what husbands are for.
So who's crawling in the crawlspace really?
Apparently they'd like left lotsof wood under there, like
building materials.
Perfectly normal when you've gota dehumidifier, right?
It's a good place to store them.
But not now.
We've got fungal growth.
It just creates this reallyscary picture.
(06:47):
And that's what comes out of theinspection often.
So that's why pre-inspect,pre-inspect, pre-inspect.
I'm gonna hand it over to Deannaand she can say her real estate
chat challenges in the last fewweeks, and then we'll hand it
off to Kelly.
SPEAKER_01 (07:03):
Okay, thank you, Ro.
Yeah, so I mean, obviously thereare a lot out there, and we're
speaking specifically today tothe inspection and the
importance of it.
Um, you know, the negotiationsthat come back and forth after a
home buyer does their inspectionis, like you said, really what
stalls things.
And the home seller oftenthinks, hey, the buyer's gonna
(07:25):
do their inspection anyway.
Why on earth would it make sensefor me to do it now?
Well, this is exactly why,because these surprises come up.
And what happens with a buyer'sviewpoint is they see a price on
a house.
Let's say they're looking at ahouse and it's 500,000 is the
asking price.
Well, the second they get thatinspection back and see all of
the things that are on thereport that need to be repaired,
(07:47):
according to the inspector, whathappens in their mind?
They deduct, deduct, deduct.
Things that need to be fixed anddated homes are automatic
deductions in a buyer's eyes.
And that's just what happens,yes.
Can I build onto that, Deanna?
SPEAKER_00 (08:02):
Of course.
So in all of our markets, andyou're across the other side of
the country, in all of ourmarkets, we're in a declining
market right now.
Mine is anywhere between fourand 10% forecast decline in the
next year, and it declined thatin the last year.
You you're actually on the otherside of the country, and your
(08:22):
figures are very, very similar.
And Kelly, your figures arevery, very similar too.
So the interesting thing thereis a lot of sellers are, a lot
of buyers in their mind arethinking, oh my gosh, these
prices have gone up so crazy.
Right?
They already f that and theyknow the market's declining, so
they're nervous.
You've got a lot of nervoussellers out there, nervous
(08:44):
buyers out there that aresitting, or nervous sellers too,
but nervous buyers that aresitting on the fence going, is
it the time?
Are interest rates going todrop?
You know, we're having some ofthe lowest sales in the last 10
years right now.
So you've already got this smallpocket of buyers.
So when you do get thisbeautiful goose egg, is it goose
egg a bad thing?
(09:05):
Beautiful eagle's egg that'sgolden, that that's in your
nest, which is your wonderfulbuyer, hatch it out.
Because guess what?
That buyer's already nervous,they're worried they're paying
too much.
So, in your point, Deanna, whenthey get the inspection report
back, when it's not a certifiedpre-owned home, you're gonna
have 40 to 60 items on thatinspection report.
(09:25):
When they get that back, aren'tthey using those as a big
negotiating ploy?
Hey, I've got 40 items on here.
Let's just get 20 grand offbecause we're paying too much
anyway.
Exactly.
SPEAKER_01 (09:36):
Yeah, that's always what happens.
And so, you know, using usingthe certified pre-owned method
for people to sell their home,for home sellers to sell,
really, you know, decreasestheir chances of the contract
falling out by, you know, from athird to about 7%, is what we've
seen across the board.
And so what does that do for thehome seller?
(09:58):
That puts more money in theirpocket and everyone goes in eyes
wide open.
Yeah.
The buyer feels more confidentand everyone's happy at the end,
and we make it to the closingtable.
SPEAKER_00 (10:08):
And we don't have those awful negotiations where
it's all so stressful.
I mean, I, you know, over thelast few weeks, I've seen text
coming back going, well, fromthe buyers, and and you know,
the it because we're agents, wesit, we're sort of peeling back
the curtain here.
So from the buyers, they'll saythings like, I almost want to
read you one, we should do thatone day.
(10:28):
Say things like, Um, I can'tbelieve these home sellers think
they're an inspector and knowbetter than the inspector.
This is absolutely necessary tobe done.
I know you've both seen those.
You know, everybody gets veryagitated.
Um, they curse, they get veryangry, they often blame it on
the agent, uh, whichever agentside, you know, that they're
(10:49):
blaming it on.
It gets it can get very, veryugly.
I've actually seen back in theday when sellers and buyers sit
around the closing table, I'veseen fists, fisticuffs pulled.
I've seen like punches pulledacross the table.
Like it can get and it's notunusual though for it to get
very uh tense, right?
I mean, in in our both of ourmarkets, our average price,
(11:11):
average price point is about500,000.
So you're buying somethingthat's half a million dollars,
of course it and sellingsomething that's half a million
dollars, of course it getstense.
Of course, you know, people getthe the gets their IRE up and
all that good stuff.
What do you think, Kelly?
What have you seen?
SPEAKER_02 (11:31):
Well, yeah, I agree with you.
I haven't seen fisted cuffs, butas we're sitting here discussing
this, the things that pop intomy head is we are with the
interest rates going up andhouse prices coming down, which
is great, but interest ratesmake them unaffordable.
I've been sitting here thinkingwe need this is a paradigm
shift.
We need to happen.
(11:52):
We are historically, I meanforever, it has been a reactive
market.
And the home buyer brings in theinspector and they see the list.
What do we say on average?
45, 50 items, 46.
And their eyes pop out of theirhead, and they're like, Oh, I
didn't think this home would bethat bad.
(12:13):
And they send it to thehomeowner, and the homeowners
think their house is fantastic,but they don't know everything
about it because they just theyjust know about the things they
use day to day or they deal withcommonly.
And it's like, so they getblindsided, so they're both
they're both reactive.
SPEAKER_01 (12:30):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (12:30):
So using the CPO method, it becomes proactive.
And I had the thought that'slike it's like if you're
thinking of going to the gym,this strengthens the homeowner's
muscles.
So one day you think, hey, I'mgoing to the gym, and you go to
the gym and you do everything,and what do you do?
You pull a muscle, you hurt yourback, and you don't go back out
for 30 days.
Well, doing this will help youstrengthen your home seller
(12:51):
muscle, so to speak, and itgives you the information you
know.
So when this buyer comes backwith their inspection, you can
marry them together.
But we've talked about thisbefore is the level of trust and
transparency it creates from theseller to give their own
inspection to the homeowners,the home buyer's agent, and then
they can see what's coming on.
(13:11):
And it means and the seller isnot going to be blindsided.
That happens, it's got to behigh 90%.
Nobody does the certifiedpre-owned with the inspection up
front, and they have to.
It's just it just strengthenstheir house, and we're always
aiming to make their house standout on the market, and this is
the way to do it versus justgoing, I'm gonna put my house on
(13:33):
the market, and I sure hope itsells.
But you literally have no ideaif it's gonna sell in this
current market because unlessit's just the diamond and all
the cliches you can come upwith, it's not gonna sell if you
haven't done your homeworkfirst.
SPEAKER_00 (13:50):
So, Kelly, riddle me this Batman.
So, can I call you Batman?
Is that alright?
You'll can't see the screenbehind Kelly, so now he's
Batman.
Um, let me be Robin for aminute.
So why don't honestly, I've beentearing my hair out about this
because I've been, you know, onthe buyer's side for the last
(14:11):
two or three.
Um actually, people we've helpedthrough the cash offer in
different states who have movedhere, that's why I ended up on
the buyer's side, helping thebuyers.
So it's infuriating to me whenwe're going through this mess
when I know a simple inspectioncould have cured all of this.
Right?
We've nearly had two drop outnow.
A simple inspection, and I canhear the homeowners saying,
(14:33):
Yeah, but the buyers do that.
And why would I spend 550 bucks?
Because it's a massive insurancepolicy, that's why.
And you end up losing way moremoney.
$4,000,$6,000,$10,000 becausethe buyers will ask for it.
I can hear the sellers saying,well, I won't pay that.
I can tell you from over 3,500transactions, when you're in the
(14:54):
midst of it and you're in adeclining market and you finally
got that buyer after a year, youprobably will.
And I I know that feels roughand I know it feels tough.
Do the inspection up front.
Why are more agents not?
I mean, how would home sellersmove, you know, know about it?
That they probably haven't solda house in 10 years.
(15:14):
They're not in the business.
Any successful agent is sellingone, two, three homes a month.
They know what happens.
They know we're not just tellinga story here, guys.
Honestly, every single deal.
People don't go, oh, theinspection's great, wonderful,
okay, move on.
Oh, happy closing day.
I don't remember the last onethat went like that.
Everybody gets a little nervous.
(15:36):
The market's declining, interestrates are going up.
What's gonna happen with thewar?
You know, all these things aregoing on, politics are going on,
everyone's nervous.
It just doesn't happen likethat.
There is there's either there'sanything from a little tenseness
where people are nervous toreally all out, all out freaking
out about something that's goingon in the house.
(15:56):
Would you say that's fair, guys?
I'm not exaggerating, am I?
SPEAKER_02 (16:01):
Not at all.
I I can honestly tell you in myentire history of the number of
sales I've done, there hasliterally never been a seller
inspection done.
Never.
And it's like, unless your agentis a general contractor, well, I
(16:21):
happen to be one, but I'm notgonna go inspect their home.
I mean I could, but agents ingeneral do not inspect a home.
They have they should knowwhat's going on with the house,
and the more they know, thebetter.
But I've literally never had apre-inspection.
SPEAKER_00 (16:39):
What why so why are a so you are a contractor is a
little bit different, and youknow, you were recently exposed
to this, but why do you thinkagents aren't you know isn't it
a blinding sellers and agentswhen they learn about this say
that is a blinding glimpse ofthe obvious.
It's a no-brainer.
Like, why aren't we all doingthis?
Right?
In California, it's widespread.
(17:00):
So, so why is it, do you think,that agents aren't explaining
this stuff?
We can't expect home sellers toknow.
We do lots of these shows, beendoing this for 14 years, talking
about certified pre-owned,best-selling book on it.
You know, we do lots ofmarketing on it, all the good
stuff and things.
But you can't expect homeownersto to to know about it because
they sell a home once every 10years, maybe once every seven
(17:22):
years.
Agents know this goes on.
So have they just not got tothat blindingness of the obvious
piece?
Is it because it is more work,we have to explain to the home
seller why it's such a goodidea.
Like, why are more agents notdoing this?
SPEAKER_02 (17:39):
They're running around, they're running along
with tradition.
This is tradition.
You get a listing agreement, youput a sign in the yard, you
throw it on the MLS.
Unfortunately, today it goes toevery website in the country in
the world.
But it's just not part of theirtraining and it's just
(17:59):
commonality and and it's nottaught.
It is not taught through thebrokerages to their agents.
It's not.
They don't know it.
And the other thing, when youmentioned dropping, you know,
putting out five hundreddollars, oh I don't want to do
that.
I will you we've talked about itmany times, and you bring it up
all the time, bro.
Is you you're gonna have to makeadjustments, and that first
(18:20):
adjustment they're gonna have tomake is gonna be ten times the
price uh of a five hundreddollar inspection.
SPEAKER_00 (18:25):
Yeah, easy.
SPEAKER_02 (18:26):
Absolutely.
Without without question.
SPEAKER_00 (18:29):
In fact, on our cash offers, what we do is we put in
an amount.
Uh, so we do, you know, we dofive ways to sell your house.
Sale by owner, we give you thenet, a grandma's listing, we
give you the net, a conventionalCPO where you do the inspection,
we give you the net.
Um, certified pre-owned, wherewe give you the majority of your
cash out up front, and then welist it CPO when you get another
(18:51):
check.
And now we have the new one anddone offer.
And all the net, in other words,the money you put in your pocket
is on one sheet.
So we put all of that in place.
Um, on that, when we do the cashoffer, we always put so it says,
you know, what what's themortgage amount outstanding?
By the way, guys, if you'relistening out there and you have
you're thinking about sellingyour house, go and put it in at
(19:14):
cash CPO.
That's for certified pre-owned.
CashCpo.com.
Go put it in.
It'll take you five minutes, seewhat home just for a home value,
see what home value comes back.
You'll actually get an offer,which is a real home value,
right?
That's a real home value.
On those cash offers, we alwaysjust estimate$5,000 for repairs,
(19:35):
right?
On the inspection report,because the inspection report
comes back, it's going to be atleast$5,000.
So we try and not put too muchin, but we know that's going to
come back, just like a normaltransaction.
So you're right, Kelly.
Five you said 10 times.
It's at least 10 times the costof uh of an inspection.
But even more than that, it'snot just money.
(19:56):
Spend the money, it's aninsurance policy.
It's the fact, should yourlisting drop out a third of the
time, which what happens withgrandma's listings, which is
what you it may all you've everheard of are grandma's listings,
not certified pre-ownedlistings.
If it's that, it's gonna dropout a third of the time.
Here's the problem with that.
You've got a stigmatizedlisting.
(20:17):
Everybody in their dog calls andsays, What's wrong with it?
That drives your price down.
Isn't that worth the 500?
Plus all the stress and agonyand angst.
If you could just have aviewpoint, we need a reality
show.
You know, oh, selling BeverlyHills.
Yeah, right.
Let's look at real life realestate.
What happens, right?
Where people are almost, theywould throw punches, they're
(20:38):
just keyboard warriors instead.
All the stuff and things that goon, that would be interesting,
right?
Because it is agony.
Take the agony away for$500.
Go for it, Kelly.
Take us home.
SPEAKER_02 (20:51):
So the the other thing, too, is some of it may
be, oh, we'll offer from theseller's side, we'll offer them
a homeowner's warranty for oneyear.
Great.
That covers major things, butthat doesn't cover everything an
inspection's gonna re show.
So they're it they're tied intothis commonality of like, we'll
give them a homeowner'swarranty, it'll all be fine.
(21:11):
It's like, hey, save yourself.
You're likely you're gonna bringyour money back by doing a home
inspection.
You will get your money back onyour house better than that.
SPEAKER_00 (21:21):
I agree because if you've got mold or a tree that's
dead or something, the homewarranty isn't gonna cover that.
And it needs not to ship on theinspection.
Any last words, Deanna?
SPEAKER_01 (21:32):
I would say if if you're selling your home, find
find someone who can representyou using the the CPO method.
Uh, you'll you'll have a lotbetter experience in the end, as
will your buyers, and everyonewill be happy at the end of the
day.
SPEAKER_00 (21:46):
Much happier, right?
You'll you'll be on the nine outof ten instead of the two out of
ten, which is normally how itscores.
This has been Kelly and Deannaand Roe on the Real Estate News
Radio show.
Anywhere in the country, ifyou'd like to find an agent,
actually anywhere worldwidethese days, um, with the sleep
CPO method or that are taking itto the next level for you, give
(22:08):
us a call twenty four seveneight two eight three three
three forty four eighty three.
Eight two eight three threethree forty four eighty three
You can see all the episodes atrealestate newsradio.com.
That's realestateradio.com.
See you on the radio next week.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Betrayal Weekly
Betrayal Weekly is back for a new season. Every Thursday, Betrayal Weekly shares first-hand accounts of broken trust, shocking deceptions, and the trail of destruction they leave behind. Hosted by Andrea Gunning, this weekly ongoing series digs into real-life stories of betrayal and the aftermath. From stories of double lives to dark discoveries, these are cautionary tales and accounts of resilience against all odds. From the producers of the critically acclaimed Betrayal series, Betrayal Weekly drops new episodes every Thursday. If you would like to share your story, you can reach out to the Betrayal Team by emailing them at betrayalpod@gmail.com and follow us on Instagram at @betrayalpod and @glasspodcasts. Please join our Substack for additional exclusive content, curated book recommendations, and community discussions. Sign up FREE by clicking this link Beyond Betrayal Substack. Join our community dedicated to truth, resilience, and healing. Your voice matters! Be a part of our Betrayal journey on Substack.